If you’d like romantic outdoor photos alongside your photos inside San Francisco City Hall, I usually recommend two locations: Memorial Court behind the building and Civic Center Plaza in front. Both offer gorgeous City Hall views, and the big plus is that you don’t have to deal with the hassle of driving to another location.

Our base 2-hour package includes photographs inside City Hall and your exit through the iconic doors. Outdoor portraits at Memorial Court or Civic Center Plaza require at least an additional half-hour. The only exception is an elopement with no guests, so no formal group photographs: in that case, we can often fit outdoor portraits into the base two-hour package.

This is added directly before or after your City Hall photography coverage, and flows right into or out of the main event. In the morning, I usually favor Memorial Court, which is the area directly behind San Francisco City Hall. 

In afternoon lighting, I usually favor Civic Center Plaza. Where we go and when we photograph also depend on the season, the light and your plans for the rest of the day.

Why add outdoor portraits to your City Hall coverage?

City Hall’s interiors are beautiful, but stepping outside gives your wedding photos a brighter, more open feel. Natural daylight, greenery and the surrounding streets add variety to your gallery, while views of the building capture the scale of the place where you got married. If you picture a classic wedding photo of the two of you with San Francisco City Hall behind you, this is the part of your coverage to include.

The appeal is also the proximity. An extra half-hour nearby gives you outdoor photos without arranging transportation, dealing with traffic or adding a longer session at somewhere like the Palace of Fine Arts, Legion of Honor, Lands End, Crissy Field or Golden Gate Park. My location guide below covers those options if you’d like to venture farther.

If you’re more interested in the interiors and would rather head straight to your celebration afterward, you can skip this optional extra. The additional half-hour includes walking between City Hall and the photo location. Memorial Court involves more walking than the front plaza, so keep that in mind when choosing shoes and planning around a dress or veil.

What’s the best time for outdoor portraits at San Francisco City Hall?

For the most flattering outdoor light, I generally favor the first couple of hours after sunrise or the hour or two before sunset. The lower sun gives us softer light and opportunities for the backlit glow you’ll see in many of my photographs.

Around midday on a sunny day, overhead light can create more contrast and prominent shadows on your faces, particularly under your eyes. To avoid that ‘raccoon eyes’ effect, we may need to turn so the sun is behind you or at a more flattering angle. That can mean using different backdrops from the classic City Hall views shown in my examples.

Your schedule may make midday more practical, and outdoor photos can still be a worthwhile addition. We’ll choose our position and backgrounds to work with the available light. For softer, backlit photos, I recommend adding this half-hour before morning City Hall coverage or after afternoon coverage.

Starting photography early can mean a pre-dawn call time for hair and makeup. I cover the practicalities in the two posts below, but in my opinion, the light is worth the inconvenience if you can manage it.

I recommend choosing one of my recommended City Hall-specific hair and makeup artists who are used to these early starts. Many include those hours in their standard service without an additional early-start fee. However, if you’d rather not start that early on your wedding morning, we’ll plan around a later start.

Memorial Court or Civic Center Plaza?

Since the building is symmetrical front to back, you can get the same beautiful perspective of this iconic building, no matter which side we’re on. Both locations can put City Hall behind you, but the direction we face changes the light on your faces. I’m looking for a position that gives us flattering light on you while keeping the building in the photograph.

That’s why my recommendation changes during the day. You may prefer the appearance of one location, but the light at the time we’ll actually be outside is an important part of the choice.

Memorial Court: my morning preference

Memorial Court is behind City Hall, across Van Ness Avenue. In the morning, I generally favor this side for couple portraits with City Hall in the background.

Allow about 5-7 minutes to walk between the portrait area and City Hall’s rear public entrance on Van Ness. Although the building is directly across the road, we need to walk to the intersection to cross, then back toward the entrance.

That route can take longer or feel less comfortable in high heels, a trailing dress, or a heavy or hard-to-manage veil. Below are shots from Memorial Court in the morning:

Civic Center Plaza: usually my afternoon preference

Civic Center Plaza is across the street from the front of City Hall. It’s located right on Polk Street, which is also known as Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place for this stretch. In the afternoon, I can photograph toward the building with the sun behind City Hall and behind you, rather than shining directly into your faces.

There’s very little walking involved here. We cross the street from the front entrance and can begin photographing, making it an easy addition before entering or after leaving City Hall.

Below are photos from Civic Center Plaza in the afternoon:

These are useful starting points rather than fixed rules. Weather, the season and the exact hour can change the light. A protest, press conference or event setup may also occupy the area we hoped to use. We can adjust our position, try the other side or use another nearby spot, depending on what’s happening and what you’d like.

A quick morning option at the front

I also frequently photograph first looks at the front of City Hall, or take a few outdoor romantics when couples arrive early enough before heading inside. It’s convenient if you’d like something quick without the walk to Memorial Court.

In the morning, I’ll often photograph toward the rising sun for flattering backlight. That means shooting away from City Hall, with the plaza and surrounding streets behind you instead. The examples below show what that looks like. If having City Hall in the background is your priority, Memorial Court is usually my morning recommendation. However, I absolutely love the way the light streams shortly after sunrise.

Below are photos from Civic Center Plaza in the morning:

More about the first look / early morning bonus time is included below:

Should outdoor portraits come before or after City Hall?

The outdoor half-hour sits directly before or after your booked City Hall coverage. If we photograph outdoors first, we then head inside for the City Hall portion. If we photograph outdoors afterward, we finish all our photography within the building, then go outside before ending the session. 

Location and timing are separate decisions. Morning portraits often work well before City Hall, and afternoon portraits often work well afterward, but the flow of your day may lead us to a different plan.

Taking outdoor portraits before City Hall may suit you if you want to:

• Leave with your guests once you finish your City Hall photos.
• Get to lunch, dinner or your reception sooner afterward.
• Use more dependable daylight during the shorter days of the year.
• Avoid fitting another activity between City Hall and a fixed reservation or reception time.

Taking them afterward may suit you if you want to:

• Wait until the ceremony to see each other.
• Take your outdoor portraits once you’re married and feel more relaxed.
• Have your wedding rings on in the photographs (though these can be placed on for photos).
• Use some of the time between finishing at City Hall and the start of your reception, for example if it doesn’t start until later that evening. 

If you’re deciding whether to see each other before the ceremony, my guide to first looks at San Francisco City Hall goes into that choice in more detail. You can take portraits together beforehand whether or not you arrange a separate first-look moment.

Also think about when you want to finish photography. Adding half an hour at the beginning means being dressed and ready earlier; adding it at the end means leaving later. Your guests’ plans, travel time and meal or reception arrangements can make one option much more convenient.

The discussion is part of a wider timeline conversation about whether to have your City Hall romantics before or after your ceremony. This is dealt with in an in-depth section of the guide linked below, which talks more also about the ‘best’ time of day to pick for your ceremony:

How short winter days affect early and late portraits

During the shorter days of the year, we need to check daylight at both ends of the schedule. 

For context, on the shortest day of the year, December 21st, the sun rises (at sea level) at 7:21am and sets at 4:54pm.

Very early Memorial Court portraits may fall before the sun is fully up, while portraits following late-afternoon City Hall coverage may run into fading light.

The late-afternoon issue comes up mainly from November through January. With a 3:30 p.m. civil ceremony, we still have the remaining indoor photographs to finish before heading outside. A sunset near the end of coverage leaves little room for delays.

For one December wedding with a 3:30 p.m. ceremony and a 4:53 p.m. sunset, I recommended moving the outdoor portraits to 2:00–2:30 p.m., before the City Hall coverage. That gave us more dependable daylight and an earlier departure for the reception afterward.

These January wedding photos (above) were taken shortly before sunset, with the final image captured 18 minutes before the published sunset time. The sun was below the horizon and darkness was setting in, giving a blue-hour feel on an overcast day.

Portraits in the hour or two before sunset can have beautiful, soft light on a clear day. Cloud cover and delays can leave much less natural light by the time we’re outside, though, so I wouldn’t treat the published sunset time (which is at sea level, and doesn’t take into account urban locations with buildings blocking out the sun) as a guarantee of usable portrait light until that minute.

The same planning applies in the morning: an early start needs enough daylight for the outdoor photographs you want; beautiful sunrise light is a great bonus. We’ll look at the date and the actual outdoor portrait time before settling on either end of your coverage.

When we plan your timeline, let me know whether you have a location preference, whether you want to see each other beforehand, and when you need to reach your next destination. My San Francisco City Hall wedding timeline guide covers the wider schedule, including the ceremony and the rest of your photography coverage.

I hope this blog post was informative. If you’re already booked with me, I’m looking forward to continuing to plan this important photography aspect of your day. If you haven’t booked yet, then get in touch with me via the button below, and I’d love to guide you through everything you need to know about planning photography for your San Francisco City Hall wedding.