Zoe Larkin Photography

Move over, San Francisco City Hall! There’s a new City Hall in town (well, a ‘civic center’ and it’s not actually new, groundbreaking for the building took place in 1960). But some of us, including myself, have been a bit slow catching on to this architectural wonder that you can get married in! In this guide, I want to share some of what I’ve learned about getting married at the Marin County…

Hello! Nice to meet you. I’m Zoe, and I’ve spent more than ten years photographing weddings in the Bay Area, including hundreds of weddings at San Francisco City Hall. Over the years I have worked with dozens of couples from the LGBTQ+ community, and I very much hope we’ll have the chance to work together. In this article, I’m going to share some of what I’ve learned so far on my ongoing…

If you’re here, it’s because you’re getting married at San Francisco City Hall (congratulations!) and you’re figuring out how to obtain the formal, posed group shots of your loved ones on your wedding day, whether you’re planning a civil ceremony, a private one-hour ceremony rental, or a Saturday two-hour ceremony buyout. This is an integral part of any wedding day – yes, even simple City Hall…

Wedding traditions exist for a reason. Many of them work well, and for couples who value them, they can add structure and meaning to the day. But as a wedding photographer in San Francisco, I’ve seen a wide range of couples explore non-traditional wedding ideas that better reflect how they actually want to spend their day. That doesn’t necessarily mean throwing everything out. More often, it…

Ah, The Terrace Room in Oakland – one of our favorite wedding venues in the East Bay. We’ve had the pleasure of photographing there multiple times and enjoy a great working relationship with the event staff, who helped us create this blog post.  In this guide, you’ll find information you won’t find anywhere else. I’ll cover it all, from the type of wedding that it suits, through to photography…

At Zoe Larkin Photography, we begin all San Francisco City Hall coverage at a two-hour minimum. No exceptions. This is not arbitrary. It reflects how City Hall actually functions on a wedding day. The two-hour minimum is the result of years of refining what actually works at City Hall. It reflects the structure we know protects the experience, not an arbitrary time block. Whether you’re having…

Couples often ask whether they should send photo inspiration (Instagram posts, Pinterest pins, mood boards etc) to their wedding photographer ahead of the day. Sometimes the question comes framed as etiquette: is it rude? Sometimes it’s practical: is it expected? Other times it’s driven by anxiety, a desire to feel prepared, or a fear of disappointment. It’s a reasonable question. Weddings are…

This is an idea I’ve seen floating around social media more and more lately. Namely, ‘if you want candid photos, be candid’. I’ve been breaking down what this means to me and how I can distill it into something that actually helps couples, without it sounding snarky or defensive. Candid wedding photography has become one of the most requested styles among couples, especially those planning…

Nearly every couple who reaches out to me says the exact same thing: “We’re awkward in front of the camera.” It doesn’t matter how beautiful, confident, successful, outgoing, or photogenic they are in daily life — almost everyone believes this about themselves. Out of hundreds of couples, I can count on one hand the people who were naturally at ease in front of a camera (and the one that stands…

Every wedding day has one moment where everything either holds together beautifully… or starts slipping away without anyone noticing. And despite what people assume, it’s never the ceremony. It’s not even traffic, per se. It’s not the family member who runs late, or the guest who somehow can’t figure out where the venue is. And no, it also isn’t because you didn’t do a first look…!  The real…

San Francisco City Hall is one of the most breathtaking wedding venues in the Bay Area — and in the entire country. For most couples, it’s known for quick weekday civil ceremonies or private 1-hour and 2-hour ceremonies. But there’s another option few people know about: a full evening buyout of the building. What is an evening wedding at San Francisco City Hall? An evening wedding refers to a…

At this point, it’s become common knowledge that 8am is ‘the time’ to enter San Francisco City Hall. 8am is when the doors open, and being so early in the morning, naturally, there are fewer people who want to go through the hassle of getting ready at the crack of dawn.  Truly, it IS undoubtedly a lot more effort preparing for photos at 8am than any other time of day. It’s a unique experience.…

Old Mill Park is one of those Bay Area ceremony venues that keeps coming up time and time again when searching for beautiful but inexpensive locations to tie the knot! Over the years, we’ve had the pleasure of shooting a few ceremonies at Old Mill Park, and would be honored to shoot more! In this blog post, I’d love to share with you some essential information as well as photo inspiration to help…

This is one of the most common questions I get from couples planning their City Hall wedding: can you book me before your ceremony slot is officially reserved with City Hall? With slots opening just 90 days out for civil ceremonies, the prospect of booking everything wedding-related in just 3 months is daunting for some. The short answer is yes — but with some important caveats. First of all,…

Why does it take so long to get your wedding photos? This question has been answered by many wedding photographers over the years (including myself in a previous article I wrote – see below), but I’ve never seen a satisfactory way of describing the reality of what our work involves. You see, there seems to be a lot of discussion around how, when editing, ‘it takes a long time to perfect…

Planning a wedding? Here are the 20 most common regrets couples have about their big day – and how to avoid them. I compiled this list myself from years of stalking Reddit, wedding planning podcasts, Instagram, TikTok, and other online research, as well as learning directly from the 500+ weddings I’ve photographed. Don’t make these mistakes when planning your wedding! 💍 Be sure to check out the…

If you’re planning a wedding at San Francisco City Hall, you probably have a lot of questions. As a photographer who’s documented hundreds of ceremonies in this stunning building, I’ve noticed that the same questions keep popping up online – many of them unanswered. So I’ve collected the most common – and sometimes a little random – questions about City Hall weddings! I’m going to answer them…