The Official SF City Hall Marriage Vows
What to expect during your SF City Hall ceremony
If you are getting married at San Francisco City Hall, the ceremony itself usually moves quickly. The officiant will ask you to face each other, hold hands, answer “I do,” and exchange rings if you choose to include a ring ceremony.
The words below are helpful if you want to feel prepared before the ceremony. And if you are still looking for a San Francisco City Hall wedding photographer, I photograph these ceremonies all the time and would be happy to help you plan the flow, timing, and best photo locations inside the building.
The Civil Ceremony Wording
We are gathered here in the presence of witnesses for the purpose of uniting in matrimony NAME and NAME.
The contract of marriage is most solemn and is not to be entered into lightly, but thoughtfully and seriously with a deep realization of its obligations and responsibilities. NAME and NAME, no other words of mine or any other person truly marry each of you to the other. That is done when you exchange your promises and commit yourselves to this marriage and each other.
By entering into this marriage, you are pledging yourselves to a lifetime in which each will enrich the life of the other. You will be partners standing together to cushion the difficulties of life. Rejoice in your partner’s graces. Nurture your marriage carefully and watch it grow gracefully. Please face each other and join hands.
Do you NAME, take NAME, to be your lawful wedded wife/spouse? To have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish as long as you both shall live?
You should say: “I Do”.
Do you NAME, take NAME, to be your lawful wedded husband/spouse? To have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish as long as you both shall live?
You should say: “I Do”.
NAME (OR WHOEVER HAS THE RINGS), the ring please.
Place the ring on her/his left finger and repeat after me, “I give you this ring, in token and pledge of my constant faith and abiding love. With this ring, I thee wed.”
The paragraph above repeats one more time for the second ring.
You have joined yourselves in solemn matrimony. May you strive all your lives to meet this commitment with the same love and devotion that you now feel. For love is truly the greatest gift we are given to share: love’s compassion is the glory of life. Delight in each other’s company and never take the other for granted, for you are destined to enjoy the blending of your two lives. And now, in as much as you, NAME and NAME have given and pledged your love and faithfulness, each to the other, and have declared the same by joining hands, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the State of California as Deputy Marriage Commissioner, I now pronounce you husband and wife/spouses for life.
These vows are only one small part of the day.
The ceremony may only take a few minutes, but the real story is everything around it: walking into the building, the way you hold each other, your family reactions, the portraits, the architecture, the quiet moments between instructions. That is what I love photographing at San Francisco City Hall.
