A Marin County Civic Center Wedding: Getting Married in a Frank Lloyd Wright Landmark

As a Marin County Civic Center wedding photographer, I don't think I'll ever stop feeling excited every time I walk into this building. The repeating circular motifs, the light pouring down through the long glass roof, the indoor gardens tucked between the arches… it's endlessly inspiring. As a documentary wedding photographer who shoots on film and digital, it's one of my very favorite places in the Bay Area for intimate weddings. This guide covers everything: how to book, what it costs, and whether it's right for your day.

Why Get Married at the Marin County Civic Center

It's an architectural landmark that's truly one of one. The Civic Center was Frank Lloyd Wright's final major public commission, completed after his death in 1959, and it's since been named a National Historic Landmark. Couples can book a civil ceremony right through the county clerk's office, choosing between the garden ceremony area and the designated indoor ceremony rooms. It might be the most accessible authentic mid-century modern wedding venue in the Bay Area due to its designation as a public building. It's also refreshingly affordable and far less crowded than San Francisco City Hall.

I have a special place in my heart for Frank Lloyd Wright buildings. I've photographed at the Buehler Estate, one of his Usonian homes in the Bay Area, and I've put together a list of my favorite Frank Lloyd Wright wedding venues which includes the Civic Center. When you are in one of his buildings, you can feel it. It's in a way that is hard to put into words.

The Frank Lloyd Wright Design

The Marin County Civic Center was Frank Lloyd Wright's largest and last public commission. He was selected for the project in 1957, at ninety years old, and died in April 1959, before ground was even broken. His associates Aaron Green and Wesley Peters, of the Taliesin Associated Architects, carried the vision through: the Administration Building opened in 1962 and the Hall of Justice in 1969. True to Wright's philosophy of organic architecture, he refused to flatten the land and instead designed the building to bridge the hills. The Hall of Justice stretches an astonishing 880 feet, arching over the valley (and right over an access road) as though it grew there. The 172-foot gold spire originally concealed a radio transmitter and the building's chimney. Inside, long skylit atriums that Wright called "malls" flood the corridors with soft, even light and shelter garden courtyards between the arches. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1991 and recognized as a National Historic Landmark, it's the rare place where a couple gets to marry inside a genuine masterwork.