The Legion of Honor
 |
|
The Legion of Honor on a clear night. |
Since Chantal and I are such avid museum goers, we've decided to get married and hold our reception at one of the most beautiful museums in San Francisco, The Legion of Honor. After all, just looking at us anyone can see that we are very cultured and sophisticated urbanites. In all seriousness, this site has to be one of the top places for wedding pictures in San Francisco, if not the top one. We've been there half a dozen times now on Saturdays, and counting, and there are always 1-3 wedding parties taking photographs. It is very common for brides and grooms to make stops here in between their ceremonies and receptions because of the classic, elegant setting.
Skipping the easily resolved topic of coast, we did have a few criteria when selecting a location. Both of use liked the idea of having the reception in a place other than a hotel. There is obviously a trade-off with the convenience of a hotel where can take an elevator from your room to the reception, but we really embraced the idea of limiting our options during the selection process by totally eliminating hotels. Planning a wedding is so easy and straight-forward, that we liked adding a little complexity to the process, just to keep it interesting.
Anyway, we also really like the idea of having the ceremony at the same place as the reception (we're not totally insensitive to our guests and the concept of convenience). The Legion has this great grassy area out front called the balustrade where they hold wedding ceremonies with the Golden Gate Bridge as a backdrop. This lets us roll directly from the ceremony into cocktails, no transportation required! However, this also means an outdoor ceremony, something that we weren't initially looking to do. If the weather cooperates, the ceremony will be memorable for the breathtaking views. On the other hand, if it is freezing cold, it may be even more memorable because how often do you huddle under army surplus blankets and drink hot chocolate during wedding ceremonies? Just make sure you check the weather forecasts in advance and read our warning. We're sure it will be fine.
In terms of the actual space, we won't be able to use the actual exhibit rooms, for obvious reasons. Instead, the reception will be held in their cafe/restaurant and the cocktail hour will be held in the hallway space outside of the cafe. Don't worry, it's not really just a random hallway. It is a really quite nice marble-lined area that we're sure will look great.
One last thing. The museum closes at 5 PM, thus the 6 PM ceremony. However, they also close the front gates to the courtyard, seen below, at around 5:15. It was a significant fee to rent the courtyard, they hold weddings there too, so we decided against it. It means that after the ceremony we will enter the Legion through a set of doors on the right, if you are facing the Legion. It will be clear enough on the wedding day, unless the fog is too thick.
 |
|
The Legion's courtyard and The Thinker. | |
 |
|
Decorated for a wedding reception. | |
