SF City Hall Photo — Local services in San Francisco

My husband and I planned a low-key elopement (just us and one witness) and decided to get married at San Francisco City Hall in March 2018. It made sense to find a photographer with lots of experience in this iconic venue; we had never even been inside City Hall before the wedding day. (We don't live in San Francisco.) After checking out the work of a number of photographers, I picked Boris, since I really liked what I saw on his website, and the price was right. And we couldn't be happier with him and his work.

He's a total pro, arriving well before our arranged meeting time, and he knows the building inside and out. We got married early on a Friday morning, so the building wasn't particularly busy, but he was able to work around the few folks there very easily. (It is a public building, after all.) He also knows all of the details involved in the whole process of getting married at City Hall, so we never had to worry about being in the right place at the right time. He's a super friendly, personable fellow, too, which really helped me with my nerves. I've never been particularly comfortable being photographed, but I was able to relax with him behind the lens. He was efficient with his time and even made it fun.

We got our wedding photos just a few days after the ceremony, and they are awesome. I'll definitely use him the next time I get married (ha!), and would absolutely recommend him to anyone planning a San Francisco wedding, especially...

We cannot say enough about how wonderful Boris is. We saw the good reviews and knew he was in our price point, but we were not sure what we were going to get. What we got was someone who was caring, sweet, go-with-the-flow, professional, and someone with a great eye for photography.

As a stressed out bride (without a wedding coordinator), I would say he handled me well (I accidentally hit him in the face while rallying guests for a cable car and he was funny and understanding about it). Boris took engagement shots for us, and later photographed the actual event which was at City Hall and the restaurant where we had our first date.

I gave Boris some examples of our preferred style/what we liked, and he did a great job at recapturing what we had in mind for us, but also for adding his own touches and style - thus, creating photographs that we truly value.

Afterward, he was so quick at sharing the photos with us via dropbox (which was so nice). He knew when to go to City Hall for our engagement shoot too, so we could avoid as many people as possible. We are so appreciative and would use Boris again for our future life memories to come.

Our guests also commented how much they liked him and his demeanor. Some mistook him for an old friend, just because he was just that sweet. He even made us a slideshow and was so generous with his time. ...

I love Boris! Boris was easy to engage, pleasant, professional and extremely soothing to be around. Emailing and communication was clear and concise. No drama, fuss or pretention. Not only was he an amazing photographer he was our unofficial tour guide of City Hall! He helped us navigate the building, pointed out various politicians (including the Mayor of SF to us!) and even served as our Crisis Manager. When I couldn't find my ID, when I got a low blood sugar and began sweating PROFUSELY in my dress, when my family drove me crazy - Boris was cool, calm and collected. He discreetly redirected my family when they were getting sassy. This man RAN to the cafe across the street to get me a juice for my low blood sugar and RAN back so I could remain lucid and coherent to check in for my ceremony. Literally saved my life and made sure my partner and I looked amazing in every photo. He even told our officiant where to stand because he knew the venue inside and out and was already anticipating lighting and crowd control. We chose to elope at City Hall to save money and stress but looking at the photos - it looks like we had an elaborate formal wedding and rented out a private estate...but it was a $96 dollar courthouse elopement! Not only was Boris wonderful to work with, his photos were delivered within two weeks and we will treasure them...