11 best registry offices in London for a romantic and intimate wedding ceremony

We’re spoilt for choice with registry offices in London, with some of the city's most beautiful buildings, from historic town halls to a 19th-century library in Mayfair. Registry office weddings have a broad appeal; as well as being the choice for those who want a more straightforward, pared-back wedding, they’re also often used as a prelude to a destination wedding or larger wedding on home soil. 

‘In England and Wales, celebrant-led weddings are currently not acknowledged by law,’ celebrant Rosalie Kuyvenhoven tells us. ‘Should a couple wish to marry legally, they should register the wedding via a local registry office.’ However, registry office weddings have their own appeal, Tallulah Adams, creative director of luxury wedding venue Davenport House, tells us: ‘Aesthetically, registry office weddings have a vintage romance surrounding them; they are more affordable than a grand wedding venue and can enable a smaller, more intimate ceremony.’ For some, a registry office wedding offers the opportunity to share their vows with their close family and friends before a larger scale wedding, as wedding planner and creative director of Sauveur, Matthew Shaw, told us. He explains, ‘Registry office weddings are great if you are having a destination wedding so you get all the paperwork out the way but, closer to home, we’ve seen couples enjoy a simpler (and smaller) wedding ceremony before going on to a party with a larger guest list.’

97-113 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5PT

Old Marylebone Town Hall is perhaps the most iconic town hall in London for weddings, with its grand entrance with columns inspired by classic Roman and Greek architecture made for a confetti moment. The town hall was built on Marylebone Road from 1914 to 1920 and historically acted as a hub for the community. Since its refurb in 2018, the venue has welcomed thousands of couples, with an average of 2,500 ceremonies per year, making it one of the UK’s most popular registry offices. The venue delivers when it comes to options for your ceremony, with seven different rooms to choose from, the largest being The Westminster Room, with a capacity for 100 guests. You’d also be in good company getting married here, with Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, and Ronnie Wood all gracing the venue’s historic steps. 

Capacity: Up to 100

Prices: From £565

Wellington Street, London SE18 6HQ

Greenwich has a rich cultural history. Famous for landmarks such as the Cutty Sark and the Royal Observatory and its vast green spaces, the area is popular for weddings, with many options for a scenic backdrop and atmospheric maritime photographs. Greenwich Registry Office is housed in the historic Woolwich Town Hall in the historic Bathway Quarter. The interior of this Grade II listed building is a striking example of elaborate Edwardian Baroque architecture, designed by Alfred Brumwell Thomas in 1906.

The lavish Victoria Hall’s dramatic monochrome tiling, ornate balconies and stained glass windows look impressive if you’re a couple looking for grandeur, with enough space for up to 130 guests. The venue can also offer the area exclusively for two hours, meaning there’s no risk of the ceremony feeling rushed. The registry office accommodates the couple and two witnesses for a more intimate wedding, while the Edwardian Room can seat up 36 guests. Couples can complete the paperwork in the registry office and host a more elaborate ceremony in one of the biggest spaces. 

Capacity: Up to 130
Pricing: From £350

Upper St, London N1 2UD

Islington and London City Register Office is housed inside Islington Town Hall, with plenty of options for a post-ceremony reception on its doorstep. Islington’s bustling Upper Street has no shortage of restaurants and cosy pubs - with the more spacious galleries and warehouses of East London just a cab ride away if you’re looking for a bigger venue. The grand Town Hall has three reception rooms, with the Council Chamber the most ornate. Guests and the wedding party will walk up an impressive marble staircase (and pose for some scenic photographs) before entering the space, which has a maximum capacity of 100. 

Capacity: Up to 100 
Pricing: From £177

Judd Street London;  WC1H 9JE

Camden Registry Office is situated in the Grade II-listed Neoclassical Camden Town Hall, one of the area’s most celebrated historical buildings. The Town Hall is just across the road from Kings Cross and St Pancras stations, making it an extremely convenient location for anyone travelling from out of town. There are six different spaces, each with an individual character. Couples can opt for the Primrose Room, which seats a couple and just four guests for a private ceremony, or the Council Chamber, which boasts high ceilings and deep brown wood panelling with curved seating around a central space where the couple are wed. The team of registrars is very experienced, and the venue delivers much more than just the registry office experience, with packages including a drinks reception and canapés. This historic city centre registry office has welcomed some celebrity couples throughout the years, with Sting and Trudie Styler exchanging vows in 1992. 

Capacity: Up to 160
Pricing: From £285

King's Road, Kensington and Chelsea, London SW3 5EE

Chelsea Town Hall is an institution in the area, with a prime location on the iconic King’s Road. The Grade II listed building boasts four elegant spaces, including the grand Old Town Hall with its high vaulted ceilings and original oil paintings, which houses up to 180 guests. The Rosetti Room (seats 12) and the Harrington Room (seats eight) are perfect for more intimate weddings. The style of these rooms is classic, with light and airy spaces housing antique furniture and elaborate chandeliers. Such an esteemed venue has naturally seen some famous faces grace its doors, with legendary writer James Joyce marrying Nora Barnacle in 1933 and, more recently, Hugh Grant wedding Swedish television producer Anna Eberstein in 2018. 

Capacity: Up to 180  
Pricing: POA

Mayfair Library, 25 South Audley Street, Mayfair, London, W1K 2PB

For literary enthusiasts, Mayfair Library is a charming place to exchange vows. The building is still a public library with the upstairs rooms used for ceremonies, so guests can look through the shelves of antique books before the event begins.  This venue offers a serene atmosphere, with couples invited to the historic Elizabeth Barratt Browning Room for the pre-ceremony interview and two ceremony spaces to choose from. The Marleybone Room offers a quiet, intimate setting with space for 22 guests, while the slightly larger Mayfair Room seats 38, with a stunning original Victorian fireplace. The whole aesthetic here is elegant and understated, with silk flowers in the rooms and stained-glass windows overlooking Mount Street Gardens. 

Capacity: Up to 38
Price: From £871

Mare St, London E8 1EA

Hackney Town Hall is a prestigious Grade II Listed building that still plays an active role in the local community. Its spaces are large and filled with light, with Art Deco design flourishes that give the surroundings a vintage feel. The largest ceremony capacity is up to 140, but the venue will fit 300 for a bigger evening reception. The real showstopping spaces are the two glass-filled atriums, where banquet-style dining is available after the ceremony. It's easy to imagine these filled with long tables, flowers and fairy lights for a magical evening reception. East London has no shortage of incredible spaces - from art galleries and music halls to vibrant restaurants and industrial-style warehouses - so there are plenty of nearby options for an alternative reception. 

Capacity: Up to 300 
Pricing: POA 

1 Brixton Hill, London SW2 1RW

In the heart of Brixton, Lambeth Town Hall is another large-scale venue that can cater for larger weddings, with a capacity of up to 300 guests for a drinks reception and 250 for a banquet-style meal. A large outdoor terrace provides some respite from the busy south London neighbourhood - perfect for a summer registry office wedding. The Grade II-listed building has nine spaces, varying from the contemporary Ceremony Suite (seats up to 50) to the grand Assembly Hall (up to 300 for a standing reception).

Capacity: Up to 300 
Pricing: From £1,000 

Yes, couples can choose any registry office in the country to say their vows, but you must legally inform your own registry office at least 29 days before the event. To register the wedding, you’ll need documents to prove: 

• Your identity

• Address

• Any previous marriages

Couples can also get married at a local authority-approved venue, such as a hotel or stately home. 

The cost of weddings continues to rise due to inflation and ceremonies becoming more and more elaborate. According to Hitched’s National Wedding Survey, the average cost of a wedding in the UK in 2023 was £20,700, but registry office weddings can be considerably less if you opt for a small ceremony, with some of the prices on our list starting at  £177. Stripping it completely back to basics, hiring a room in a registry office starts at around £50. There’s also a fee of around £35 per person to give notice, and the certificate costs between £4 and £10, depending on when you collect it. 

There are plenty of reasons why people would choose a registry office wedding over a church wedding, the most obvious being that it doesn’t align with their beliefs. For religious people, a registry office ceremony might still be preferred to avoid taking part in a banns reading or opting for a Church of England wedding, which can be a lengthy process. ‘Couples who are travelling find it easier to get married in their local registry office than having the commute to commit to having the banns read at a church if they are getting married out of the area,’ director of Davenport House, Lizzie Adams, explains. ‘They have a small registry office ceremony, so they are legally married and have more flexibility with, for example, a celebrant ceremony at a venue.’

Reading banns is a centuries-old tradition in which the couple’s intention to marry is publicly announced in the church. Typically, the banns are read on three Sundays in the months prior to the wedding, both in the church where the couples live and the church where the wedding will take place. An application must be made to the ministers of both parishes at least a week before the first reading, so it’s a process that can take some time. 

Flexibility over the ceremony is another reason couples might want to steer away from a church wedding. ‘A registry office wedding  sometimes gives more flexibility in making the ceremony individual and their own,’ Adams explains, before adding, ‘And who doesn’t want to get married at Chelsea registry office and come out to busy London and have a meal at a fabulous restaurant with your witnesses?’