HOW TO GET MARRIED AT (SAN FRANCISCO) CITY HALL

San Francisco city hall gets a disproportionate amount of City Hall press, because it’s one of the most beautiful buildings in the world (I don’t say that lightly, it ranks with the best of Europe), plus it’s the birthplace of the Gay Marriage movement in the US.  We know lots of you are getting hitched at city halls all over the world, but our article on How To Get Married at San Francisco City Hall is still a pretty good place to start (and we promise more localized articles for you soon).

THINKING OF CALLING OFF THE BIG WEDDING YOU PLANNED?

It’s bad enough you had to plan something that doesn’t feel right. You don’t have to DO it too. You can totally call it off and run away to city hall.

CITY HALL WEDDING DRESS SHOPPING

We get it. You may not be wearing a strapless wedding ball-gown to your city hall ceremony (though if you are, clearly send us pictures). But that doesn’t mean you have to miss the fun. In our shopping section, we regularly round up affordable white (or sparkly, or black) dresses that would make rad wedding frocks. Plus, check out this city hall wedding dresses for less than $100 roundup for inspiration, along with these hot wedding dresses with sleeves (someone wear one of the minis, please!).

BOUQUETS & BOUTONNIERES

City Hall weddings are so super awesome, because they are a stripped down celebration of love. You have zero pressure to have All The Things. But, you do get left with some of the very best things—like bouquets and boutonnieres, if you want them. If you feel like making them yourself, check out our grocery store wedding bouquet tutorial (for doing things on the fly), or our bright colored bouquet, or our crazy wild beautiful oversized wedding bouquet tutorial, or our single flower bouquet tips. And we’ve got you covered on boutonnieres too.

DOING YOUR OWN HAIR AND MAKEUP BEFORE THE COURTHOUSE?

Probably. I mean, if you’re wearing makeup.

AFTERPARTY? AFTERPARTY!

City hall weddings give you options. Sure, you might have a small crowd with you for the ceremony, but you can have any kind of afterparty you want. Some of our favorites are: the bar/brunch reception followed by the taco truck afterpartythe brunch with friends, the huge city hall wedding with an art gallery reception. And then there are the folks who have a city hall wedding followed by a full scale traditional wedding. That’s rad too.

Or no afterparty, other than… a private afterparty. IfyouknowwhatImean.

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