Since the first time Rahul and I talked about us getting married, we always imagined it in San Francisco. Not only because it is such a beautiful city, but also because San Francisco is where we met and fell in love.

San Francisco City Hall

Looking for a place to elope was easy. Pinterest helped a lot, and by looking at the amazing pictures of SF City Hall, we knew we had to get married there. Located at Civic Center, the current San Francisco City Hall took two years to build, due to the 1906 earthquake which destroyed the previous one. Its beautiful architecture and endless lightning made it the perfect place.

The Process

To be honest, the process to get married is very easy. If you are not an American citizen, you can still get married in San Francisco, as long as you have your passport. Besides having an ID, the only rule left is that you must be eighteen years old.

First, you have to schedule a marriage license appointment, then book the civil ceremony, both of these steps are appointment only and can be booked on the City and County of San Francisco website. The cost of the marriage license is $108 (the price is subject to change), and you can schedule the appointment from Monday to Friday, and from 8 am to 4pm. One very important point about the marriage license is that it is valid for 90 days from the issuance date, so you have plenty of time to organize your wedding or, like us, elopement.

Then,  you have to schedule the civil ceremony which, again, can be done online and costs $81 (price is subject to change). The ceremony appointments at City Hall are available every half hour between 9 a.m. through 3:30 p.m. from Monday thru Friday. Also, you will need at least one witness to be present during your ceremony, and, If you need a certified copy of your marriage record ($15 each), they will not be available for purchase on the same day after the ceremony, you have to order them online.

Time to get Married

In our case, we decided to get married on a Monday (October 24th of 2016). We chose that day because our parents will be present, and also because a Monday is not a busy day at City Hall.

Our wedding day consisted of the following:

• 11 a.m. License marriage Appointment
• 12 p.m. Photoshoot before the ceremony in City Hall
• 1 p.m. Get married at the Rotunda
• 1.30 p.m. Final Photoshoot at Shakespeare Garden

We arrived on time and managed to get our marriage license. In this appointment, we filled a form with our information and our witnesses (two friends of us came as well) signed the license.

After that, we decided to have a photoshoot at City Hall. Our photographer Katrina Lui was amazing and she made us feel so ease during the whole photoshoot. Then at 1 p.m., we went to the Rotunda and so the judge would marry us.

It was such an emotional moment, that we will never forget. The whole experience of getting married to your best friend in such a beautiful venue surrounded by the people that you love dearly would always be close to our hearts.