For those of you planning city hall nuptials look no further than Deb + Ken’s unique and stylish San Francisco City Hall wedding. Marble floors, grand and majestic pillars, ornate gold detailing…the architecture alone is breathtaking. And then add today’s featured Hayley Paige wedding dress paired with a stunning crystal bolero and the entire sense of grandeur is complete! PS – we love the Grecian pleated bodice and full silk georgette skirt with cascading ruffle in a soft tulle. Thanks for sharing Deb + Ken and congrats!
Deb + Ken | February 27, 2015 | San Francisco | Dress Listing: Hayley Paige, Paloma, HP6409
The Ceremony
Our ceremony was held at the gorgeous San Francisco city hall. Let’s be honest here – folks don’t always look forward to the ceremony. People often look forward to cocktail hour or the reception, so we wanted to make the ceremony short, sweet and nothing too formal. I also didn’t want to deal with the hassle of renting more chairs and having to deal with decorations, so city hall was perfect for that. Our really good friend, Jeff, officiated our wedding. We also chose San Francisco city hall because it’s has such wonderful lighting and architecture; I knew it would make a fantastic backdrop. We’re also not outdoorsy people and Ken grew up in SF, so it was the perfect place. While initially, I was a bit sad that I wouldn’t have a nice “aisle” to walk down, to my surprise, I got to walk through much of city hall on my way to my groom and I think it built up a nice anticipation.
The Reception
The reception was held at a loft like art gallery called Terra. We chose Terra because we were looking for an industrial, loft-like space to transform and Terra made that possible. It has nice floor-to-ceiling windows and exposed grey concrete, so it went really well with our vision. Our theme was winter-chic, so we decorated with light up birch trees from restoration hardware, European street lamps and hung twinkle lights from the ceiling as if they were a sky of stars. We also made use of candles to give it that romantic glow.
Deb’s Dress Search
I tried on about eight dresses, though I had my eye on two or three and I ended up picking the one of the three. I choose the Paloma by Hayley Paige because it was the perfect blend of comfort, style and also possessed that WOW factor. I found that the Grecian pleating and boning details that went into designing the dress hide every imperfection. Sweetheart necklines are flattering on almost everyone, so it makes sense many wedding dresses make use of that type of neckline. However, I didn’t want my dress to look just like everyone else’s dress, so I really liked the fact that the Paloma had a nice slit in the front of the dress, to show off some pizzazz and personality. The crystal bolero (part of the design of the dress, but sold separately) was definitely a statement piece…It’s such an eye-catching and commanding piece, no other jewelry was necessary. You don’t really see brides wear such statement jewelry with their wedding dress so it was nice to have a piece of jewelry that really stands out from the crowd. I’m also very into anything that sparkles and glitters, so the crystal bolero was a must have for me.
How Deb Felt in Her Wedding Dress
Powerful and commanding, in a feminine way, very comfortable and like a million dollars.
Why Deb Decided to Sell Her Wedding Dress
Deciding to sell my wedding dress was actually quite a very hard decision for me to make. I went back and forth many times before actually committing to creating a dress listing on PreOwnedWeddingDresses.com. What made me ultimately decide to post the dress was a combination of things: there’s no point in saving this dress for my future daughter. Styles change so rapidly and I wouldn’t want her to feel obligated to wear it. Plus, who knows if I’d even have a daughter later on! There’s really no other occasion where I could possibly wear the dress ever again. The bolero, yes, but not the dress. Rather than preserving it and having it tucked away in a box and taking up precious space in my closet, I’d rather have someone else feel the way I felt when I wore the dress on my big day. While I did consider having a wedding dress party, where all my married gal pals would wear their wedding dresses, I didn’t want to isolate my unmarried gal pals and I think that would’ve scared my husband, if he came home one day and saw a bunch of us in our wedding attire…
