Our San Francisco Wedding: The Story of Our Wedding Day

All images in this blog post were created by Daniel Kim Photography. He’s AMAZING and we could not be more grateful for his creative eye and support on our wedding day!

April 10, 2026, was one of the happiest days of our lives. We were surrounded by the most incredible family and friends, somehow escaped a rainy forecast, and celebrated in a way that felt completely us. Here’s the story of our wedding day…

(If you’re curious about the planning process, I’ve also written a separate post about everything I learned planning my own wedding as a wedding photographer.)

Our San Francisco Wedding | A Look Back at Our Wedding Day

The Vision

We wanted our wedding to feel less like a production day and more like a fun and relaxed celebration (ya know, how people typically want their weddings to feel, haha). I would have been happy eloping but my partner wanted a huge party with 150 people. So we did something sort of in between. We opted for an intimate ceremony surrounded by our closest family and a few friends followed by a huge party at a brewery with 100+ people. It was a great compromise and perfect for what we wanted on our big day.

Getting Ready

Our big day actually ended up looking just like I envisioned, or at least closer to it than I expected. I woke up blurry-eyed and tired. To be honest, I didn’t sleep very well the night before. (I mean, who does the night before their wedding?) I was buzzing with excitement (and nerves), but mostly excitement.

Our hotel was incredibly luxurious. We stayed at The Jay Autograph Hotel in the Financial District of San Francisco. We decided to stay at a hotel instead of getting ready at our apartment so we could each have our own space that morning. We also booked a second room for Rainbow’s brother and his wife, so the guys got ready there while the girls joined me in the suite. The hotel staff even upgraded us to a suite when they found out we were getting married that weekend – how kind! Our room overlooked the city and even had a small balcony space. I really could not recommend this hotel enough. The location, rooms, and staff were all fantastic.

The one minor stressful part of our morning was organizing the flower pickup. It wasn’t how we’d planned for the morning to begin, but my partner, Rainbow, was so sweet and told me, “don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it.” Seeing him immediately jump into problem-solving mode so I could relax and start my morning slow reminded me exactly why I was marrying him. 🥰 He sorted everything out, and I’m so thankful for his help.

It poured rain all morning. Was I stressed? A little, but mostly excited. We’d spent the week prior preparing for the possibility of rain, so by then all we had to do was decide whether we’d use Plan A or Plan B.

Once the flower fiasco was solved, the rest of the morning was super chill. We got ready in separate rooms, each sporting a robe that was gifted to us by my girlfriend, Sheila. ❤️ Rainbow got ready with the boys in his brother’s room, and the ladies all came to get ready with me in our fancy suite, hehe. Nothing felt rushed. In fact, my girlfriends showed up over an hour late, haha. Our photographer, Daniel, actually beat them there! (Daniel’s the best.)

Once everyone was there, my girlfriends helped steam my wedding dress while we all sipped mimosas and chowed down on fruit and homemade egg bakes. (Yes, I made egg bakes ahead of time! I also had NA mimosas for my new sister in law. 🙂) One of my girlfriends (the one who gifted us the robes) brought these silly temporary tattoos with a photo of me karate kicking the air while wearing a Canadian tuxedo. The tattoo said, “Bad Girls Club. This one’s taken.” 😂 We took turns giving each other tramp stamps of the tattoo in the bathroom. It was perfect.

Graisyn did my hair (I seriously cannot recommend her enough.) and I did my own makeup. I wanted it super light because I never really wear makeup to begin with. It was important to me that I still looked like myself on my wedding day. I had gotten a manicure the day before with another bestie, and asked them to simply do a clear coat on my nails because I didn’t want them looking too polished! That’s how “like myself” I wanted to look on my wedding day.

The only time we felt a tad rushed was when we were headed out the door to the ceremony. But I feel like that’s pretty typical on a wedding day. Your hands are always full and you’re not used to moving around a lot in your wedding attire. We were only a few minutes late for the ceremony, but that didn’t matter because we had added in so much buffer time in between events. (Something I highly recommend to anyone planning their wedding.)

The Ceremony

Believe it or not, the rain actually stopped before our ceremony time at 2pm! Our Plan B was to get married on the third floor of Fort Point where we would be covered from the rain. But thankfully we were able to stick with our initial plan of getting married on Crissy Field Beach! The sun came out during our ceremony and it wasn’t even cold! Weather-wise, it honestly couldn’t have turned out any better. We were so lucky and grateful that our original plan worked out. 🥰

My parents met us in the Sport’s Basement Parking lot across the field from where we were holding the ceremony on the beach. I remember getting out of the car in my wedding dress as my parents walked up to us – this was the first time they’d seen me in my full wedding day attire. I’ll never forget the moment my dad told me I looked beautiful in that parking lot.

Both of my parents walked me down “the aisle.” When we got there, Rainbow had lined everyone up on either side of the “aisle” and it totally reminded me of when I played basketball as a kid, so I decided to put my hands out and slap hands with loved ones as I walked in between them. It was so surreal seeing Rainbow all dressed up in his wedding day tux! I’ve never seen him so dressed up before. I’m so glad we decided to wait and have our first look at the ceremony. First looks are great and definitely helpful with wedding-day timelines, but I personally love it when the first look happens at “the altar.”

I walked down the aisle to Tyler Childers’ All Your’n, though I honestly didn’t even notice / couldn’t hear it. I think I was just so focused on getting to the end where Rainbow stood and then getting through our vows. (I was realllllyyyyy nervous.)

One of our dearest friends, LeAnne Devol, was our wedding officiant. It was so nice having a friend up there with us. She started by honoring the indigenous peoples whose land we were holding the ceremony on, as well as holding a quiet breathwork practice to ground ourselves. LeAnne did an amazing job at grounding everyone and making the space feel super loving and safe.

I was nervous for the vow part of the ceremony. I hate public speaking and I was also shy about my writing skills (Rainbow is a natural poet), but I pulled through with some shake-outs mid-vows, haha. We found out later that it was hard for some people in the back to hear our vow exchange, so we decided to bring the hard copies to our brunch the following day so people could read them there.

We had an unplugged ceremony. LeAnne offered a short time frame at the very start where people could take a quick photo, and then they were asked to put their phones away. We only allowed our niece to have a phone out because we asked her to record the ceremony for us. 🥰(Thanks Alice!) We are literally so happy we recorded the ceremony!

Immediately following our ceremony, I gifted Rainbow my wedding gift. He’s a huge denim fan (more on that later), so I bought denim jackets for each of us. We both decided to keep our own last names, so for fun, I embroidered each jacket with the other’s last name. His says “Mr. Kroschel” (Kroschel being my last name) and mine says “Mrs. Weeks” (Weeks being his last name). He then showed me the detailed embroidery on his tuxedo which read “Rain Sky 4.10.26.”

We took group photos on the beach before dismissing our guests to head to the reception and start decorating while Rainbow and I went on a little photo adventure with our hella amazing photographer, Daniel Kim! Daniel is so talented and easy to work with! He has great energy, gave effortless directions, and really made us feel comfortable in front of the camera. When we were taking couples portraits, he didn’t so much pose us as just gently led us in one direction or another. (Of course I was trying to take as many mental notes as possible as a photographer myself, but I was so engrossed in the moment, I wasn’t really focused on that.) He chauffeured us around parts of San Francisco for portraits before we headed to our reception at Standard Deviant Brewing Pier 70.

The Party

While we were off taking portraits, our family and friends headed to the brewery to decorate. Ironically, my parents, who were supposed to lead the setup, got stuck in traffic! Rainbow’s family arrived early, found our pile of decorations in the corner of the brewery as well as the setup instructions, and completely took over. It was one of those moments that reminded us how incredible our community is. All the work we’d put into organizing everything ahead of time paid off. If you’re interested, I wrote another blog post: What I learned throughout the process of planning my own wedding (as a wedding photographer).

We had Om Sabor cater our event and Chef Dhani freaking ROCKED IT! The hors d’oeuvres were being served to guests, there was a kids’ snack table set out, and everything looked perfect. I walked in and immediately was offered a ceviche tostada which I promptly shoved into my mouth. Mark and all the brewery staff at Standard Deviant went above and beyond as well, and were so gracious and helpful. Everyone was having an amazing time!

The weather was mostly clear and people were able to be inside and outside! At one point an actual rainbow appeared. It honestly felt like a sign from the universe. 🥰We covered the outdoor tables with white paper and left colored pencils everywhere so guests could doodle throughout the evening. The kids were outside playing cornhole and giant Jenga while everyone else drifted between conversations, games, and the dance floor. I kept looking around thinking, “This is actually happening. How the f*** did we pull this off?” 😂

Fun Fact: Our reception attire was listed as: Choose Your Own Adventure.

Option A: Canadian Tuxedo
Option B: Party Time!

Needless to say, a LOT of people showed up in Canadian tuxedos. 😁

The reception flowed by effortlessly, but not without the help of our friends and family. My friend, Kristi, graciously stepped in as a last-minute day-of wedding coordinator. She was helping our caterer and making sure the evening moved along in a timely fashion. Our friends helped release people for dinner which was served buffet style. Dinner consisted of tacos, mac n’ cheese, and salad, everything 100% vegan. It was SOOOOOO GOOD!

Everyone was blown away by the speeches. My brother had me crying when he read us a poem he’d written called “Crummy Skyler.” I won’t go into much detail but it was highly personal and emotional, very him. Then my sisters even sang for us impromptu the song Sisters from White Christmas. It was beyond wonderful and literally had me smiling ear to ear. After that, Rainbow and I danced to Railroad Earth’s If You Will Be My Lady and then we both danced with our parents to How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You by James Taylor.

The night ended with everyone dancing, chatting, and still playing games. Standard Deviant is such a cool event space in the evening. The way the indoor and outdoor spaces can blend with one another is a really cool aspect. They also allow pets which was perfect because my parents had their dog, Burris, with them the entire time. 🥰

We danced til midnight, left the brewery on foot with a handful of family and friends, and headed to The Dogpatch Saloon (the oldest bar in the Dogpatch – Rainbow wanted you to know that) for a nightcap. (Our families had graciously picked up all the decorations by that point.) I’ve always wanted to walk into a random bar in a wedding dress at the end of the night and I finally got to live out my dream!

When we made it back to the hotel, a couple of my girlfriends hung out with us for a bit before heading back to their hotel room. Rainbow passed out on the couch and I watched the ceremony video Alice had recorded for us. When I was finally ready for bed, I realized I had no one to help me unbutton my dress! So I took the elevator down to reception and asked the young gentleman at the concierge there to help me out. 😂It was the perfect end to the perfect day.

If I could go back and relive one day for the rest of my life, this might be it. Looking through our gallery afterward, I couldn’t believe how many moments our photographer, Daniel, had quietly documented that I hadn’t even realized were happening. Looking back now, I don’t remember the little things that went wrong nearly as much as I remember the people who showed up for us. We felt so incredibly loved that day, and I hope we never forget that feeling. It was seriously the most unforgettable day ever and we could not have done it without the love and support of our community. We could not have been any happier. ❤️

One final note: If you’re planning your own wedding, I also wrote another post about what I learned throughout the process of planning my own wedding (as a wedding photographer) that you might find helpful!

A few of my favorite memories from the day:

Giving each other temporary tattoo tramp stamps.
Watching the rain clear just in time for our ceremony.
Hearing Dad tell me I looked beautiful in the Sport’s Basement parking lot.
High-fiving everyone down the aisle.
Shaking out my nerves during our vows.
Spotting a rainbow over the reception.
Devouring my ceviche tostada after portraits.
Crying through Seth’s “Crummy Skyler” poem.
Listening to my sisters surprise us with Sisters.
Watching Burris happily wander around the brewery.

Our OUTSTANDING Vendors (could not recommend them more highly!)

Venue: Standard Deviant, Pier 70
Catering: Om Sabor
Officiant: Our BFF, LeAnne Devol 🙂
Photographer: Daniel Kim Photography
Hair: Glam by Graisyn
Coaster Design: Patrick DiLorenzo
Coaster Engraving: Third Eye Up
DJ: Guy Rilleau
Rentals (plates + forks): Your Party Rental Company
Dress: Lillian West with a topper from Brides For A Cause
Tailor: Jaime’s Alterations San Rafael
Tux: Suitsupply

Thank you to every single person who celebrated with us, helped us, hugged us, laughed with us, cried with us, and made this day what it was. We love you more than you’ll ever know.

Now, please enjoy looking through our beautiful memories captured by Daniel Kim Photo. Daniel, we seriously couldn’t be more grateful to have had you as our photographer. (I may have been low-key fan girling out the entire time. 😂 Sorry if you could tell.)