Pasadena City Hall Wedding Guide

It is made from under the giant cream arches of the west entry, which frame the domed tower dead centre. At dusk the sky behind the dome turns peach and lavender while the arches stay softly lit, and the couple stands small in all that architecture. If you only have twenty minutes at City Hall, spend them here.

Late day sun rakes down the long arcaded loggias, throwing warm directional light across the cream plaster columns and the red herringbone brick floors under brass lanterns. The deep portico shade gives dramatic contrast for close, laughing portraits, with a shaft of sun to find a face. The courtyard reads best in open shade, so we save it for the middle of the session and chase the arcades when the light goes gold.

The courtyard's tiered stone fountain, ringed by boxwood hedges and a large oak, made for a veil sweep · The grand entrance stairs beneath the coffered barrel vault, monumental and always breezy enough to float a cathedral veil · The granite Gothic doorway with its heavy plank doors and scrolled iron hinges, a castle within the palace · Upper balconies whose arches frame the cupola and red tile rooftops against the sky · Weathered teak garden benches against clipped hedges and slender palms, with rose foliage for foreground bokeh

City Hall is a working civic landmark, so weekends draw other couples and quinceaneras; a weekday or an early slot keeps the arches yours. Organised photo sessions need a permit from the city, which we flag and arrange early. The palette of creamy plaster, buff stone, and terracotta flatters both a black tuxedo with an ivory gown and full Indian wedding colour, and Old Pasadena's streets sit minutes away when you want a second look.

Pure and Jeremy's June wedding at Pasadena City Hall lives in full in our journal, forty three photographs from the arches to the garden benches.