Our perfect day began at home as we got ready for our ceremony. I got up early and set about to all the details of my look. Francis soon joined me as we navigated our cozy bathroom and bedroom fussing all the frills. We had found some lovely details that brough our black and red theme together nicely, including F's tie from H&M for $1! (Yeah, we were pretty excited about that.)
I was worried my hair for a few months leading up to our big day, but decided to do it myself. It turned out really lovely and coupled nicely with the roses I had picked out and the earrings.
We didn't have time for breakfast, so we went straight to getting photos of us in our neighborhood on Central St. We really like that street and wanted nice photos of us there with Sasha. We had previously called City Hall to see if we could bring him, but they said only service dogs were allowed, so we opted for leaving him home and getting photos with him before we left for our ceremony.
When we were finished with a the photos we dropped Sasha off at home and packed up the car with our goodies and us and headed to downtown SF.
Our ceremony appointment was at 3 and we made it there early. Joe was our witness and the three of us went to sign our documents with the clerk. Then we walked to the main hall where we would ascend the stairs to recite our vows.
Francis was our photographer and he set up the tripod and got some awesome photos of us before during and after our ceremony.
Our justice was Mary and the ceremony lasted about 10 minutes. We did not get to read our own vows, and we took our photos after quickly in the spot we got married.
After our ceremony we took photos all around City Hall and ended up outside at the golden doors for our final photos.
Then we headed to Golden Gate park for our vows and photos in the rose garden. We found a great parking spot and headed in to the park. We walked past the De Young and saw a really beautiful cut in the trees that was secluded from the well-walked paths and knew that was the spot for our vows. There was a wonderful circle of trees and we took some photos first. Then F set up the camera and recorded a video of us reading our vows to each other. It was absolutely the most splendid moment of our lives! We paused there for a while and took more photos. The funny part is that even though there weren't many people walking in there, two different seguey tours came through with travel groups before we said our vows. It was pretty funny having a super private moment and then a group of segueys rolls though.
When we were finished among the trees we walked back out the way we came and continued to the rose garden. We took some more photos along the way.
The rose garden was the next best moment that day for me after our vows in the trees. I had been walking through the park and this particular garden for a decade and I knew it was the place I wanted to get married. We were pleasantly surprised that there were plenty of roses in bloom and we frolicked and smelled a bunch of them before settling into taking a bunch more photos.
It was an absolute dream come true to say our vows and take such wonderful photos in my very favorite place in SF. It is a day we will never forget and we will cherish it always.
When we were finished at the garden and the park we were really hungry! We had a reservation for 8, but we decided to go to the restaurant early. We went to Than Long restaurant for their delicious crab and seafood dumplings. After a big feed we headed home. We dropped Joe off at his hotel for the night and spent the night alone in love.