golden gate park garden ceremony and chinatown banquet, Stephanie & Dan at Gardens of Golden Gate Park

Real Weddings · San Francisco, CA

A Garden Ceremony in Golden Gate Park, Then a Park Chalet Reception

Stephanie & DanNovember 2024Gardens of Golden Gate Park · San Francisco

A Golden Gate Park garden ceremony and Chinatown banquet is how Stephanie and Dan married across one full-arc San Francisco day in November 2024. They said their vows among the plantings on the park's western side, gathered at the Park Chalet at the edge of Ocean Beach, and finished the night in Chinatown — street portraits at blue hour, then dinner in a grand tiled dining room.

Stephanie wore a red-and-gold cheongsam embroidered front to hem with a phoenix. Dan wore a grey checked suit and a bow tie. The day started in a garden and ended under red lanterns.

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After the ceremony

Portraits in Chinatown at Blue Hour

As the sky went deep blue, Stephanie and Dan headed into Chinatown, and the neighborhood carried the portraits. They stood together on Grant Avenue under a run of red lanterns, the lit Transamerica Pyramid rising at the end of the block and shop awnings and Chinese signage stacked on both sides. Under the neon of the old Li Po Cocktails sign, with a painted dragon on the wall beside them, they turned toward each other while the evening crowd moved past.

They caught mid-dip in a lantern-strung alley, her gold-heeled shoe pointed, the fan still in her hand. Then Stephanie leaned against a lamppost, the phoenix on her dress rendered in silver in black and white. Then they paused at a wall painted with an old film still and a door lettered "The Wedding Banquet" before they went in for dinner.