Old Marylebone Town Hall wedding photography

The ultimate guide to getting married at Old Marylebone Town Hall

The iconic Old Marylebone Town Hall (I actually used to work almost next door, back in my buying days, in the now defunct Arcadia office and it was a place of great mystery, who knew, all these years later I’d be such a frequent visitor to their hallowed steps) is perhaps London’s most famous Town Hall wedding location. It’s seen the weddings of such luminaries as Paul McCartney and Liam Gallagher.

So this is the ultimate guide to getting married at Marylebone Town Hall, I’ll include lots of photos from every single season, give you my best hints and tips, talk about how best to achieve the iconic ‘confetti on the steps’ photos and share my favourite locations for photos of the two of you.

Let’s go…..

How to Book your wedding ceremony at Marylebone Town Hall

The Old Marylebone Town Hall website is designed to be as informative as possible and has almost everything you need to make a choice about which room is right for you based on the size of your wedding party. If you want to see the space beforehand, you can book onto one of their open days and visit, but many people book the space without seeing it. Once you’ve decided which room is right for you – they are all great but more on this later – you can head here and check availability for the room of your choice. This shows available dates and times and the prices. You’ll see that it’s often not any more expensive to hire the big Westminster Room for a larger ceremony than one of the smaller rooms, but at last checking there was still a handful of available slots for the Westminster room on key Summer 2024 dates, and plenty more available dates for the smaller rooms throughout.

Prices start from around £800 for an ‘off peak’ date but the calendar view gives you the best visibility of pricing. The price includes the room, two registrars and your first copy of your marriage certificate.

There is a non refundable booking fee of £100, though the full fee must be paid at the time of booking for any weddings taking place in less than four months.

If you are planning a civil marriage ceremony in the UK, you must give notice of intent to marry and this must be done at least 29 days before the ceremony – so in theory this is the shortest amount of time you can plan a ceremony here in, though they recommend giving notice 3-6 months before your day if you can. If you do not live in Westminster, you will book this in at your local registration service, wherever that may be, and they will pass those details onto the team at Marylebone.

What to expect from a Marylebone Ceremony

Whilst Marylebone Town Hall is lovely, and the staff (especially the registrars) are very sweet, it is also ruthlessly efficient – I guess they have to be given it’s popularity and the number of weddings they hold on each day. The staff are keen to make sure that everyone has their moment on the iconic outside stairs, but as you are leaving there may well be another wedding either arriving or waiting to leave their ceremony room behind you. As a photographer I’m regularly told to get the confetti shot, one big group shot and to move on – to illustrate the kind of speed that they like to employ. Generally though, if you’re getting married on a weekday, you’ll find it much quieter and a much more relaxed experience.

So whilst Marylebone is popular for a reason, it may not be the relaxed, unhurried experience you would get from an exclusive use wedding venue IF this is your only ceremony. Many couples chose to have their legal wedding ceremony at Marylebone – sometimes their ‘big’ wedding is a religious but not legally binding ceremony, or they might be having a big destination wedding, so the chance to wear a different outfit and lean into the chic city vibe is just the thing.

Marylebone is the Town Hall for you if….

Swerve Marylebone if….

The Ceremony Rooms

Marylebone has 8 different rooms/ceremony options. I’ve photographed in most of them at one time or another and they are all very nice. The rooms are well decorated, well maintained, they have Jo Malone room fragrance and seasonal displays of (faux) flowers and there isn’t too much to distinguish each one other than capacity. More detailed info can be found on Marylebone’s website.

My favourite couple photo locations

The great news is, that if you’re getting married at Marylebone, there are loads of great spots nearby to get some couple photos, and in some cases you really don’t need to go far at all. The Mews just behind the Town Hall makes a great location, and Marylebone’s steps are iconic too – the two little stone niches either side I think have become Instagram stars in their own right.

Going slightly further afield, here’s a couple of other spots that are beautiful and make great photo locations.

And after that, the whole of London is your oyster – you could head anywhere you like within reasonable striking distance of the route on ton your celebrations.

If you want to see more, you can see my ranking of London Town Halls

Wedding coverage for micro weddings and elopements

If you’ve read this far then. you’re a superstar and I guess you might be serious about booking a wedding ceremony at Marylebone Town Hall, and you might in the market for a photographer or a videographer. I offer coverage for short weddings starting at just 2 hours, full days and highlights films too. I’ve also done a substantial handful of video-only coverage for intimate small weddings at Marylebone, so just get in touch if you want to know more

SEE A WHOLE MARYLEBONE WEDDING…

Emily & Peter’s wedding at London’s most well-loved Town Hall

This was the epic, wonderful and touching wedding of Emily and Peter. Emily chose to keep her morning low key, and so I arrived at Marylebone Town Hall to start with Peter, and document that glorious bustle that proceeds any ceremony – the hugs between people who haven’t seen each other in what feels like a lifetime – the pinning on of buttonholes, the well wishes.

Wedding ceremony in The Westminster Room

They got married in Marylebone’s biggest room – The Westminster – an impressive wide wood panelled room in the centre of the building. I always love the way the light behaves in this space – it seems to illuminate the couple so well.

The out, onto the famous steps for confetti, and away into the back streets for some wedding photos of Emily and Peter. Just behind the Town Hall are beautiful, quiet mews that are the perfect location to stop for some photos. In just a pretty big fan of an Old Marylebone Town Hall wedding

A reception at Balfour St Barts

And then on to Balfour St Barts in Smithfield Market, a handsome high-ceiled market pub wedding venue. This is the perfect spot for a post Marylebone reception – not too far, loads of cool spots near the market for urban London wedding photos and it’s surprisingly spacious inside. With a large space downstairs, an upstairs snug bar, huge windows which let the light flow in during the day and are lit up with fairy lights at night; and a mezzanine balcony. It’s a great spot for eating, drinking and dancing. And that’s just what happened. Emily is from Texas, so of course there was a Father-Daughter dance. And then the dancefloor went wild – right at the centre of it were Peter’s two Bulgarian Grandmas. It’s always the ones you’re warned about for the group photos – ‘oh they might struggle to get in them’ – until it’s time to bust a move on the dancefloor!