Lisa Whalen Photography Blog!

A few weeks ago Mary Ellen and Alison flew in from New York City to get married in San Francisco’s beautiful City Hall. When I met them in the city on the morning of July 24th, the weather was already gorgeous, and it just got better as the day went along. By mid-morning, the sky was cloudless and blue without even a hint of that famous San Francisco fog.

We started out by taking a few photos at their hotel. I must admit I quite enjoyed taking pictures in the elevator:

Then we were off to City Hall! We had plenty of time to take photos in-between getting the marriage license and the actual ceremony, so we explored the building both inside and out. We found this amazing stairwell:

We investigated several outside locations as well. There’s this one row of tress in front of City Hall that creates a very park-like feel:

Here they are back inside getting ready to fill in the paperwork for their marriage license:

The whole morning had this wonderful air of expectation to it. It was tremendous fun to be in the presence of so many people getting married, and to be able to catch glimpses of everyone else’s celebrations. Ceremonies are performed at the top of the huge staircase in the rotunda, in a setting as beautiful as that of any church or wedding venue I have ever seen.

A few pictures of the ceremony:

After the ceremony there was time for a champagne toast and few more pictures outside before they left for a honeymoon weekend in Sonoma!!!

Congratulations, Mary Ellen and Alison!