Weddings & Events in San Francisco

Weddings & events in San Francisco: flowers for a City Hall date

Weddings & events in San Francisco often start at the County Clerk's office in City Hall, where a civil ceremony is booked ninety days ahead, on weekdays between 9 am and 3:30 pm. That means the date and the hour are known three months out. The bride's bouquet and a gift from the guests can both be chosen without rushing, then ordered for a set day and time slot.

A small bouquet for a weekday ceremony at City Hall

A civil ceremony at City Hall admits up to six guests. Among the shapes in the wedding bouquets selection, a posy is a small, round bouquet, held in both hands.

Two bouquets name their flower outright: the Peony Bridal Bouquet, and the Duo of Peony Roses and Peonies, which sets a real peony next to a peony-shaped rose, usually one of the English David Austin varieties bred to open into the same dense, many-petalled head. Peonies are in flower for most of the year, though not every month of it.

Because the exact bloom can't be guaranteed for a specific date, it helps to message the florist before paying. They reply with photo options and prices, and a reference photo of a style brings back examples of similar work already made. If a particular peony isn't available on the day, it's replaced with one close in shade and price, and that replacement shows up in the photo taken before the courier leaves.

Weddings & events in San Francisco often need more than one bouquet moving at once, since the bride's home and the restaurant are rarely the same address. Several bouquets for different addresses can travel in one order, and delivery is charged separately for each address: one bouquet reaches the bride at home in the morning, a basket reaches the restaurant later for the evening.

Any zone in the city takes a booking for a specific day and hour, and because slots do fill up, ordering early leaves more of them open. A manager can also arrange handover to the exact minute for a small extra charge, which matters when a dinner reservation leaves no room to spare.

At the restaurant, the time is confirmed with the host or manager in advance, timing the arrival for dessert or the toast rather than the start of dinner. A photo of the finished bouquet reaches the sender's phone before the courier sets off, and zones and delivery terms are listed on their own page.

The buds of 51 Jumilia in Airy Wrapping can reach up to seven centimetres across, pale at the base and pink along the edge, holding up to two weeks in water with proper care. The wrapping is loose rather than tightly bound, so it's an easy shape for a guest to carry in and hand over, and the couple can take it home rather than leave it behind at the venue.

A lily basket sits on the table without a vase; the foam inside is watered daily, in a thin stream over its whole surface, to keep the stems fed through the evening.

If the couple keeps a cat, jumilia is the safer gift: a lily is poisonous in every part, from its pollen to the water standing in the vase. The pollen also marks fabric, so florists remove the anthers once a lily has opened.

For a couple from a Chinese-American family, white flowers and yellow chrysanthemums are best left out of a gift: in Chinese tradition, both are associated with mourning.

The simplest place to start choosing is the bride's own bouquet, in the bridal bouquet selection, matched to the posy or the fuller shape the ceremony calls for. A gift from the guests is easiest to find in the wedding section, where the baskets and the jumilia sit together. For a hotel delivery or an order placed from out of town, flowers in San Francisco covers both on one page.