Tammy & Rainier // City Hall Wedding // San Francisco, California

Tammy and Rainier found us through the VERY first wedding that Tim and I photographed together in California.

That very first wedding was the marriage of our dear friends, Eileen and Brian. We have received many referrals from Eileen and Brian for their friends getting married, and for that, we are infinitely grateful. Furthermore, Tammy and Eileen were both a part of our Boudoir Session day at the Claremont Hotel. (No Tim for that one…ladies only!) Needless to say, I already felt close to Tammy leading up to the wedding.

We loved how unique this wedding was! City Hall is frequented for small and intimate wedding ceremonies, as well as total buyouts for large and elaborate weddings. However, they do have a mid-size offering as well, and these ceremonies are held on the gorgeous fourth floor of City Hall. 

We did a first look with Rainier and Tammy in a quiet corner of the fourth floor, followed by a sweet little session in the garden outside across the street. The two had a certain effortless chic – simplicity to them, from Rainier’s traditional Hawaiian lei to her beautiful lace dress. Did I mention the way they look at each other?

The ceremony included about 80 people gathered in front of the huge clock where you have a view of the whole hall. This was perfect for us photographers to wander on the other side and get a wide shot of the whole ceremony. However, one also has to tread very lightly to make sure your shoes are not too “tappy” during an intimate ceremony! Marble floors are beautiful, but not necessarily ninja subtle, now are they?

After the ceremony at City Hall, we set out down the road to Bluxome Street Winery, which is quickly becoming one of our new favorite venues, as it combines our two favorite things––the city and wine. The styling for their reception was very simple and elegant, with plenty of twinkling, hanging lights and wine barrels that made for a great backdrop.

Suddenly during the toasts, the power went out…what?! Kind of wild…so we ended up cutting the cake outside on the patio where we could manage some light. We then took perfectly dramatic photos with the fire trucks, because obviously. Shoutout to SF Fire for letting us snap some photos! This exchange made Tammy’s son very happy indeed.

Amidst the candlelight, while the maid of honor was wrapping up her final toast, the lights came back on! The timing was monumental, as we could tell the couple was beginning to feel a bit defeated by the untimely outage. But alas! The power came back on just in time for the first dance to take place with even more joy and excitement.

The music commenced, the partying went on, and they lived happily ever after. . .Congratulations Tammy & Rainier!

Thank you to our fellow creatives!

Reception // Bluxome Street Winery // @bluxomewinery

Catering // Salt and Honey // @saltandhoney

Floral Design // Fringe Flower Co. // @fringeflowerco

Videography // Woo Nguyen // @woonguyen

DJ // DJ Jeremy Productions // @djjeremyproductions

Rentals // Standard Party Rentals // @standardpartyrentals