San Francisco Called — and We Answered

Some sessions you plan carefully. And then some sessions find you.

Mallorey and Connor reached out asking if I’d be willing to meet them in San Francisco for their engagement session. They’re getting married later this year at the Amway Grand Plaza in Grand Rapids, Michigan — a venue I absolutely cannot wait for — but they wanted to weave a little piece of their current city into their story before they said their vows. San Francisco. Their home. A place they love.

My answer? In a heartbeat, yes.

California is a photographer’s dream. The light, the architecture, the layers of color and texture around every corner. And San Francisco City Hall specifically? It has lived in my mind rent-free for years. I still dream of Ivy Getting’s wedding, photographed by Jose Villa — those soaring arches, that rotunda light. The kind of images that made me fall even deeper in love with this craft.

So my husband and I packed our bags and jumped on a plane.

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The Session

We left home at 2am to catch our flight out of Chicago’s O’Hare. Landed the next morning at 8, checked into the hotel, took a breath, and by 11:30am we were standing inside San Francisco City Hall with Mallorey and Connor.

Breathtaking doesn’t even begin to cover it.

We roamed all three levels of that building — the grand staircase, the mezzanine, the quiet corners tucked behind the marble columns. And I won’t sugarcoat it: City Hall on a weekday is busy. Other photographers, visitors, city business happening all around us. My husband was a gem, hanging back and shooting some behind-the-scenes moments of me working. We learned to be patient, to wait our turn, to slip into spaces between the bustle and just be there with Mallorey and Connor.

That patience paid off. Every single minute of it.

(Peek our reel over on Instagram)

Cafe Zoetrope

After City Hall, we made our way to Cafe Zoetrope — Francis Ford Coppola’s little piece of cinema history in the North Beach neighborhood. We ordered coffee. Mallorey settled in, sipped, chatted. The kind of easy, unguarded moment that makes for the most beautiful photographs. We lingered, moved through some walking shots on the sidewalk, and let the afternoon stretch out the way good things should.

Filoli Gardens

Then came Filoli.

If City Hall is drama and grandeur, Filoli is quiet romance. The gardens were lush and unhurried — cypress alleys, lavender borders, golden hour light wrapping around everything. The perfect ending to a day that had started at 2am and somehow still felt like it flew by.

Mallorey and Connor, you two were worth every early alarm and every red-eye flight. Watching you together — easy, warm, genuinely you — reminded me exactly why I do this work.

I cannot wait to stand beside you both at the Amway Grand Plaza this fall.

–Alasandra Photography

//See more engagement sessions here