Legion of Honor Museum 100 34th Avenue • San Francisco • CA 94121

Whether you're seeing the Legion of Honor for the first time or the tenth, you can't help but be a little awestruck. The majestic neoclassical building, standing on the highest point of Lincoln Park, represents San Francisco at its absolute best: great architecture, fine art, romance, and stunning coastal views.

Weddings often begin with a ceremony on the Balustrade Lawn, a promontory where couples exchange vows against a breathtaking panorama of the Golden Gate Bridge, the Marin Headlands, and the Pacific Ocean. Or, if palatial is your preference, get married in the regal Court of Honor. Sunrise to sunset, the light is forever changing in this expansive piazza with its soaring wraparound colonnade. August Rodin's famous sculpture, The Thinker, sits alone at the entrance, animating the space with its dynamic form.

The Legion of Honor is home to more than 70 Rodin sculptures, all recently refurbished to mark the sculptor's centenary. They reside in three adjacent galleries with vaulted ceilings—a series of event spaces of princely proportions. Host your cocktail hour in these chambers to give your celebration a luxurious start. Or, for something less traditional, consider a strolling food and drinks reception in the Rodin Galleries to allow your guests even more time to savor the fabulous art all around them.

You might opt to include a favorite musical selection played by the museum's designated organist on the Legion's very own walnut, ivory, and ebony Skinner pipe organ—one of the finest in the world and a working work of art. Its 4,500 pipes have been seamlessly integrated into the very structure of the museum.

Downstairs on the Terrace Level other interesting choices await. How about a cocktail reception amid the treasures in the dramatic Hall of Antiquities? Guests can meet and mingle surrounded by pottery, sculpture, glass vessels, and metalwork fashioned by early artists from Greece, Rome, Egypt, and the Ancient Near East. There's room for a large bar, and waiters can serve up champagne and passed hors d'oeuvres here before celebrants step into the adjoining Legion Café to dine.

The Legion Café, with its abundant windows and glass doors, and art-accented walls is an inviting environment for any affair. You can use the whole room or just a section of it for a more intimate atmosphere. Doors open onto the herb-scented Café Terrace. Attractive brickwork grounds the airy space, an elegant stone balustrade frames it, and silvery olive trees create a natural canopy. It feels so removed from the stresses and pressures of everyday life, you might well imagine that you've been spirited away to Paris' Luxembourg Gardens or some other leafy paradise.

The Legion of Honor houses some of the most beautiful art in the world, which elevates every event that's held here. No matter what your occasion—wedding, corporate gala, or private party—it will unfold brilliantly in this exquisite Beaux Arts setting.