San Francisco City Hall Wedding

weddings

Mar 28

Remember that time I flew to San Francisco to shoot Sophia + Ray’s wedding and I almost just laid on the floor of SF City Hall and sobbed the whole time over how happy I was that I flew to San Francisco to shoot Sophia + Ray’s wedding?

Sophia and I connected while working a wedding in Toronto years ago, and in fact it was one of my favourites of all time. Since then, we’ve kept tabs on following each other’s work until the next opportunity to collaborate came around. Cut to; I receive a message from Sophia that they’re going to be eloping in San Francisco in September. I screamed. San Fran city hall is on every photographer’s bucket list (you’ll soon see why). It is ornate, grand, romantic, and so unique to anything we have here in Canada. I couldn’t believe they were entrusting me with such an opportunity. Some time after booking, Sophia let me know that plans had changed a little. It was now getting upgraded from an elopement to a whole wedding. That meant even more incredible places and things to capture in the gorgeous city of San Fran, I was thrilled.

Over the coming months we chatted back and forth about all the exciting inspiration, the florals (designed by herself and her family, of course), the food, photo locations, etc, and it all felt too good to be true. And yet, it was. I remember essentially isolating myself away from the world the whole week before the trip, because I refused to get sick and risk anything not being perfect for these two (but, I of course got sick on the way back thanks to coughing airline passengers).

The day itself was everything we could have dreamed up. We got up EARLY, but thankfully with the time difference, 6am California time isn’t so bad. We made it to SF city hall for the first ceremony slot of the day. Sophia knew that would be when it was most quiet, so we were able to execute first look, portraits, and family/friend photos perfectly. The sun began to rise even brighter and their ceremony space on the third floor was breathtaking. Soon after we made 2 pit spots for portraits: The Palace of Fine Arts, and Legion of Honour. Both, again, breathtaking. I felt like we transported to a different country with each new location. The rented Roll Royce + its charismatic chauffeur were a great addition.

One of the best parts of the day: the scheduled mid-afternoon nap. A couple after my own heart! Since the ceremony time was so early and the reception began at 5pm, we broke off to our respective Airbnb’s and got to relax. Me, to already start backing up and looking at photos from the morning. That literally never happens on wedding days but it just made perfect sense.

Their reception took place at Fiorella on Sunset. Friendly staff, incredible food, and a gorgeous intimate wedding space. The cocktails were creative and delicious, and the couple’s rented vintage photo booth made a great souvenir. And of course we have to shout out the bride’s to-die-for outfit change.

Sophia & Ray are not only the kind of people to fly you to California for their wedding, but they’re also going to gift you a themed colouring book for the plane ride, immerse you into all their friends and family, AND get you a birthday card because they know you turn 32 the day after their wedding. It became clear this is not one-off behaviour for them after listening to the speeches at their reception, where their loved ones corroborated the same thing. That it’s just who they are. I could go on and on about what this day meant to me, but I’ll just say I will be pinching myself for ever having met them indefinitely.

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