I’m often asked by couples getting married at San Francisco City Hall for my tips on how to personalize their day. Whatever kind of wedding you’re having – civil ceremony or private ceremony – there are ways to bring more of a sense of occasion as well as touches of your values and personality throughout.

Whatever type of ceremony you’re planning, there are a few things you can do to add some personality, fun, and a sense of occasion.

While the ceremony itself is templated, the rest of your day doesn’t have to be.

In this article, I’m going to share 10 ways that you can personalize your simple ceremony at San Francisco City Hall.

For more details about getting married in our beautiful monument, be sure to read through my comprehensive guide to wedding ceremonies at San Francisco City Hall.

1. Get a bouquet and boutonniere

Natural flowers crafted by a skilled professional

Nothing says ‘wedding’ like a tasteful bouquet and boutonniere set – or whatever combination of florals is right for you! Florals always add a sense of occasion.

When we think of florals, nothing beats fresh, natural flowers.

I do recommend looking into different floral designers’ portfolios before committing. There are a great number of styles and price points out there, and just like when choosing your photographer or dress, you need to find something that you vibe with! A disappointing bouquet is worse than no bouquet at all.

All of the floral designers I recommend have specific experience with City Hall couples, meaning much lower minimums than those that cater to regular weddings. Your order can be just two floral pieces (for example a bouquet and a boutonniere).

Floral displays in your private ceremony space

See point #2 below! This deserves its own point on this list!

Alternatives to florals from a wedding florist

However, if you don’t want to allocate too much of your budget toward fresh flowers, did you know there are other options?!

You can make your own (though do watch YouTube tutorials that show you how!). We do recommend a trial run so you know how long it takes, and so that you can ensure the resulting bouquet is sturdy enough to last a few hours of being held.

I also have recommendations for companies that mail fresh flowers to you and you assemble the bouquet yourself, so it’s somewhat in between professional level and DIY!

Another option is renting artificial flowers from companies like Something Borrowed Blooms, or purchasing wooden flowers that will last for years from small businesses like My Dinosaur Dreams. These options have the added benefit that you don’t have to rush around town to pick up flowers or have your florist meet you early in the morning! Super handy if you have an 8am call-time for photography!

If you’re having extensive portrait time (romantics of the two of you together) beyond the minimum 2-hour package, then some kind of floral touch is even more highly recommended as it will give you more benefits:

1. Elevate a large proportion of your photos
2. Add a point of interest aside from solely the two of you
3. Give you something to do with your hands!

Extra time needed: Zero 

Budget: $350+

Ask me for my recommended City Hall-specific floral design recommendations (who often work within lower minimums than full-service wedding florists)

2. Decorate your space

For private rentals only, there are some things you can do to really bring your rental area to life!

Floral display in your ceremony space

For a more stunning display, you can even choose to have small floral displays marking the spot you’ll be getting married. Think: an alternative to an arch or arbor, which are not permitted for private ceremonies at City Hall.

You’ll need a floral team that will attend to the install and potentially moving them to your reception location. A floral installation should definitely be repurposed for your reception.

Note: there is a size limit to displays permitted, and I’m insure if plinths are included or not! Just make sure you use an awesome, experienced floral vendor that will load in/ out for you. Displays can become unwieldy with the plinths as well, so it’s not a job to just entrust to a guest.

I believe the florals must be less than 3 feet in height when passing through security. Anything larger will not be allowed into the building.

Chuppah (for Jewish couples), jumping the broom, handfasting…

For Jewish ceremonies, we love to see a chuppah. This works perfectly because free-standing arch structures are not permitted, so having your chuppah-bearers holding it means great visual impact while staying within the rules!

We’ve also seen jumping the broom and handfasting ceremonies as ways of introducing meaningful traditions that also look visually striking in your photos.

You can even rent tables if you’d like to have more elaborate displays or have guests leave gifts there.

Extra time needed: Zero (the floral design team should install as part of your purchase)

Budget: Inquire with your florist for a custom quote. Ask me for my recommended City Hall-specific floral design recommendations.

3. Incorporate personal touches and heirlooms 

Whether it’s a family tradition or jewelry to commemorate someone special who can’t be there or is no longer with us, there are so many ways of adding meaningful details to your day.

I’ve seen brides attach lucky charms to their hair and lockets to their bouquet. I’ve also seen folks incorporate details from their mom or grandmother’s dress or veil into their own. The possibilities are endless. 

Just make sure you let your photographer know that you would like photos of any smaller items – they can be easy to miss. If the item is very small, such as a family locket, I’d also need to bring a macro lens so that the item fills the frame. Plus any props or backgrounds for styling purposes. 

Sometimes these items also need some styling and better light than for portraits. Therefore, I would also love to know in advance so I can plan my time, adding a spot on the timeline for these important photos. 

Extra time needed: 5-10 mins on the timeline

Budget: Depending on your details

4. Have a first dance

Having your first dance after your ceremony is SUCH a fun idea! I love it when couples introduce more traditional customs into the more matter-of-fact nature of getting married at City Hall.

Adding a first dance is an option that’s only possible for private ceremonies, not civil ceremonies. Of course, you need to make sure you have a musician that is open to it and can brainstorm ideas and make suggestions.

The best time to do this is right after your ceremony. You should ask your officiant to introduce the first dance, so guests’ attention goes from the first kiss right right to the first dance.

You may need to clear the chairs out of the way, which happens quickly when the guys help!

Otherwise, you can keep the guests in their seats and just have them turn towards where your first dance will be (depending on how much space you need). Some may need to stand to see.

Amplified music is not permitted at City Hall, nor is any kind of recorded music. When selecting a musician, you must choose a professional that’s on City Hall’s official vendor list.

Your musician can usually tailor a song to fit your time preference. From a photography perspective, we recommend not cutting your song too short, otherwise, you won’t get as wide a range of photos.

I have more info in this Instagram post:

Extra time needed: 5 mins on the timeline. Can be more if there is any delay getting started, so be sure to strategize a plan with your musician and let your photographer know in advance.

Budget: Inquire with a musician from the SF City Hall official vendor list for a quote for your event

5. Have a streamer or bubble exit

Confetti is not permitted for San Francisco City Hall exits. This includes biodegradable confetti such as rice, paper and flower petals.

While it might look great for your photos, it would ruin the next couple’s pictures. If every couple wanted to use confetti, the steps would be an absolute mess.

I have a few updates on the traditional confetti-throwing, that I’ll share with you.

We recommend using bubbles or ribbon streamers. Bubbles create fun rainbow colors and because they are natural, they photograph so beautifully. Kids especially love blowing bubbles. You can even get a portable bubble machine!

Ribbon streamers on a stick are great too! Absolutely no mess, reusable, affordable and they make for joy-filled photos!

Your guests can wave these on and on which keeps everyone engaged.

When people are engrossed in an activity, this tends to produce maximum opportunities for truly candid photos. There’s more color, more liveliness!

Just make sure you have someone (a guest) designated to hand out the items for the exit and that can wrangle everyone and position them outdoors. Usually two parallel lines facing each other, perpendicular to the door, (centered around the middle door which is the one with the City Hall sign), is what works.

Make sure to communicate with your photographer in advance if you’d also like to get some posed photos with everyone lined up perfectly on the steps facing the camera and smiling in addition to the exit. This will naturally take longer than candid exit photos, so time needs to be budgeted by the photographer to accomplish everything you’d like in the time we happen to have.

Extra time needed: 10 mins on the timeline on top of regular exit (the couple)

Budget: $20+

6. Bring your dog

It normally is not a problem to bring your dog into City Hall. The animal *should* be a service animal, but I heard somewhere City Hall is technically not supposed to inquire about an animal’s service status.

As long as your dog is not a nuisance or disruptive to others in the building and is kept under control the entire time (in which case, you may be asked to remove the animal), it should not be an issue.

It’s imperative to coordinate this to a T. We can only accept clients that want to include a dog if you have a dog handler. We recommend Dog of Honor Events that can offer everything from dog walking/sitting/wrangling and transportation on your wedding day.

This could be a friend, dog-walker / dog-sitter or hired help from a gig service. They would be wholly responsible for your dog, including crucially bringing Fido to the exact location we need before we need him for photos. 

It should be someone responsible and reliable. We may only have 5 minutes on the timeline to seamlessly grab a few photos and then remove your dog. You will not want your dog present for the entire time we’re shooting, but just a small segment of our overall shoot time.

Because of the short duration we’ll have to take dog photos, you can hopefully see why planning it out carefully is so important with the right dog attendant at the helm as there are no do-overs.

Another way of incorporating your dog into your SF City Hall ceremony is to have him be part of the ceremony. This is only possible for private ceremonies. It would not work for civil ceremonies. If you have a private ceremony booked, your dog could be the dog of honor, flower girl, or ring bearer!

Again with this idea, a handler would be present to bring the dog along at the right time, dress him/her if desired, walk the dog down the aisle (unless you are personally walking with the dog), and take him/her away at the end of the photo session.

And yes, dressing your pup can be a nice touch, for example with a tuxedo, tutu, flower garland etc.

Another idea is simply to take photos of your pup on the steps outside (or somewhere around City Hall or another location). This can be done either before or after your time in the building. It allows you to skip the hassle of bringing your dog if you’re worried about gaining entry or how your dog will do around other people and even other dogs while in a crowded indoor environment.

You dog will likely feel freer in an unrestricted environment and we have the significant bonus of much nicer, natural lighting where everyone will look their best.

Extra time needed: 5-10 mins on the timeline

Budget: Cost of a dog sitter/ handler, or free if using a friend! + extra treatos for a goodboi

7. Exchange personal vows

For private ceremonies, I highly recommend going with personal vows and your own officiant, where you can have the kind of ceremony you want, just like at any ‘regular’ wedding. You can include readings, anecdotes, a re-telling of your story and religious/cultulral customs and traditions (for example, breaking the glass, jumping the broom, hand-fasting, prayers etc).

So you guys can skip ahead to the next section!

For civil ceremonies however, NO personal vows are permitted. Instead, you will recite the standard courthouse vows. These are listed out below, in case you’re curious:

This is especially the case for civil ceremonies – after all, you cannot even personalize your wedding vows you’ll be reciting the standard courthouse vows. 

For civil ceremonies, there’s nothing to stop you from carving out some time and a little space in a nook of City Hall, in which to recite your own vows. Completely unofficially, nothing to do with the civil ceremony itself. 

There are plenty of areas where ceremonies don’t take place and tend to have less foot traffic. So you’ll be less likely to be interrupted. These include the 2nd and 3rd floor North and South sides. Really beautiful spots where you shouldn’t be disturbed. 

If you’re doing this, be sure to write out your vows in advance and make sure to get yourselves some vow books for a keepsake, awesome photos, and a sense of occasion. 

Of course, this does need to be mapped out with your photographer and strategized. It takes time to find an area, get set up, gather guests around if applicable, and begin proceedings. Plus it is quite an emotional moment so it needs time.

You wouldn’t want to miss out on your couples’ session, so for this option, more time would be needed, preferably after your civil ceremony. Ask me how!

More information is given below about how to have your own ‘private ceremony’ without renting a space if you wanted this to be your official wedding ceremony.

Extra time needed: Requires an extra ½ hour of coverage time added to the 2-hour base package. 

Budget: $20+ for beautiful vow books

8. Add on other events or locations 

This one isn’t strictly part of your ceremony but I’d be remiss not to mention it. 

The beauty of a civil ceremony at San Francisco City Hall is that it can be your entire celebration or just a building block in the story of your day.

From this as your focal point, you can add events before (getting ready, first look, portrait session at a San Francisco landmark) or afterward (brunch/ lunch/ dinner, even a full, traditional wedding reception program at another venue). 

If you’re planning a first look, be sure to check out my guide to first looks at San Francisco City Hall:

Below is a blog post with some of my favorite restaurants for your post-City Hall reception!

You can have as much or as little of these other events photographed as you wish! But just know that it doesn’t have to begin and end in one place – your wedding day can truly be your own creation. 

Extra time needed: At least one hour (including some of that being travel & setup time) but aside from the basics of scene-setting, candids & toasts, it depends on what else you’d like captured. 

Budget: Inquire with your reception venue for a quote. For photo locations, I recommend using public locations such as beaches, parks, neighborhoods etc to avoid hefty permit / entry fees.

9. Stay in a luxury hotel

Even if you live in the Bay Area, booking a home base closer to City Hall is SUCH a great way of minimizing stress and elevating your experience. It becomes especially handy if:

• You are having an early morning ceremony.
• You want getting-ready photos or to stage a vow renewal somewhere relatively private and beautiful.
• You want some downtime and somewhere to chill between your wedding events.
• You don’t want to deal with bridge traffic on your wedding day.
• You want to prolong your experience, not just rush into San Francisco then rush out! Use this opportunity to create memories. Enjoy your wedding night. Soak in the nervous anticipation and the just-married bliss in your own private sanctuary with a touch of luxury.

I have gotten so many questions about which hotel to stay in that this warranted another article that goes in-depth into more than a dozen of my favorite 3-, 4- and 5-star hotels.

They are all so stunning and different, so it’s worth checking out this article linked below for some personal recommendations before you check out what deals are available for your wedding night!

Budget: For an upscale hotel room in San Francisco for two nights, you can expect to spend a minimum of about $650+. For a suite, expect to pay more. I definitely recommend checking ‘deal’ websites to see if you can take advantage of specials, reservice far in advance – and checking to see if you can get a better deal if you were to make a fresh booking closer to the time.

10. Book a great photographer!

It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway), you’ll want a professional to capture it all! Not just a great photographer, but also someone who’s an expert with the ins and outs of how it all works at San Francisco City Hall. At the very least, ensure you check out my guide to creating your very own custom timeline for SF City Hall weddings, in case you’re working with a photographer who isn’t familiar, or you’re forgoing a photographer altogether.

City Hall isn’t just a venue like any other. It’s a process, a certain ordering of events, guidelines for best practices that will yield best results. An experienced photographer can act as your guide, seamlessly taking you through the day, but preparation is still key to getting the most out of your wedding day experience. There’s no substitute for that!

This is one type of wedding in which thorough knowledge of the venue and process will pay dividends. 

Even the simplest of ceremonies deserves sweet little touches and an experienced photographer to do it all justice. 

Budget: See FULL pricing information here.

Zoe Larkin

I’m Zoe, a wedding photographer based in San Francisco! My style is candid, capturing authentic moments for my couples all over the Bay Area and Northern California. Creating content is my passion! Follow along the blog and Insta!

Zoe Larkin Photography