San Francisco City Hall

d about the gorgeous setting—certainly not your average courthouse. The drawback: Our wedding was at 3pm on a Friday and the space was LOUD. Packed with other weddings and tourists, many of our guests said they couldn't hear anything the officiant said or our vows. Luckily we had a videographer who had a mic connected to the camera, so we have it captured for guests to see later.

timate ceremony. We had about 60 seated guests. The event coordinators were also very responsive and helpful. They made booking the venue a breeze. I would highly recommend one of the balconies for your small wedding ceremony.

otal for all the various fees, plus $10,000 for the space. Then 7 days before the wedding we receive another invoice for an additional $3,000 security fee, separate from the $11,000 we had already paid. There is no set or agreed upon amount in the contract for the security fee; according to article 7 the security fee should have been brought up during the planning phase and settled between both parties. This didn't happen. The security fee was brought up by City Hall 8 days before the event. There was ample opportunity for City Hall to disclose the $3,000 fee over the previous 18 months. Disclosing the fee the week of the wedding, what can I do, right? I've already paid half, and they know I'm not going to cancel. It is what it is. This is their business practice, and it obviously left a bad taste in my mouth. So all in all, it's $14,000 minium. You can rent additional hours for $500 an hour or so. You will need to. Otherwise you have the space starting at 4pm, which means your vendors get two hours tops to set up the space before the ceremony. Hard stop at 12am at night. Your vendors get one hour to shut it all down from 12am to 1am. In hindsight I would have gotten married somewhere else. Not worth the cost or headache.

f the marble floors, no confetti or small particles, no open flames.. among other restrictions. There are several spaces that can be reserved, the most beautiful being the rotunda grand staircase. These reservations should be made well in advance - lots of competition for the space. If these are not deal breakers, the space is absolutely breath taking and the photos turn out amazing.

d then City Hall double booked our space didn't realize it and accommodated poorly. They were mean and horrible, especially the head lady.

s so friendly and so helpful. Our judge said just the right words and was truly engaged in how we met and we felt like we had known her forever. If you want a simple, elegant, intimate wedding then this is the place!

s calm and accomodating. The chairs set up at the base of the grand staircase were according to plan and the venue was breath taking!

iant was also just wonderful. She really made us feel special.

wedding there. From not allowing guests to bring gifts in the building without them going through security in the back of the building, to their extremely strict rules for everything imaginable, they sure don't make it easy to have an event there . . . still, the end product (and the pictures) make it worth the trouble and high price tag.

sband to be to say his vows because they were "too long" & he had to marry other ppl..I nearly cried but kept composed..We had seen like 20 couples a couple days prior getting married here in front of the Chrismas tree that they display for the holidays which I was soooo deeply in love with & excited to have that as my back drop for the wedding picures but instead my officiant said we couldn't get married there because tourist needed to see it and not have a wedding party there in the middle. I thought "We paid to have this ceremony so why treat us so bad?" plus he said he didn't want anyone to fall down the steps...I didn't understand that because you have to walk up and down the steps to see everything But instead I bit my lip....he married us in the middle of the steps, the pictures had ppl in the background because we didn't have the tree as a back drop...all in all I shed some tears but my hubby said it didn't matter because he was the luckiest man to have married me....He read his vows during our wedding dinner that night..just me and him..I cried and said Damn I'm LUCKY.

aned it out, all we had to do was enjoy ourselves. It is amazingly beautiful there as well and made for some really special photography.

married!

better choice. The people who helped set everything up were also very nice and accommodating. And the people who are there a very sweet. :)

ces are closed). Our ceremony was delayed because our guests were still going through security! Also, consider sound issues/solutions in the large area. Although our guests could hear our officiant, they could not hear the husband-to-be and me give our vows. Otherwise, simply beautiful!

ening the Friday we got married. Also, the cost of the ceremony was only $75.