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The laws regarding civil marriage have been in place in England and Wales since 1837. From that time onwards, big green marriage registers have been used to record marriages, with long certificates handwritten on the day. Not much changed between then and now – the words Bachelor and Spinster were replaced with the word ‘single’, the way that previous marriages were recorded was amended, and the big one - changing the definition of marriage so that same sex couples could also marry.

We interviewed Emma Duggan, who regularly shoots couples and weddings at The Old Marylebone Town Hall, to get a photographer's point of view on how and to what degree things changed in the building since the restrictions came in but mostly how that affects capturing those special moments. Read below to hear Emma's experience.

Was there anything you were quite concerned about with the changing restrictions?

2020. The year that has changed and affected everything – including your wedding plans! Here at The Old Marylebone Town Hall we had big, exciting plans too. We were counting down to this our centenary year – 100 years of memories at the building and we had hoped to celebrate with you all in various ways but that was not to be. Fingers crossed for next year.

Some of you may be aware that The Old Marylebone Town Hall, first opened in 1920, underwent a major refurbishment between 2014 and 2018. The older version was well-loved and saw many happy memories and the new version has only added to that legacy. To celebrate this work and the 100th year anniversary of the Town Hall this year, we spoke to Associate Partner from Sheppard Robson, Gavin Robinson, who lead the design team on the refurbishment. He explains why this was such a special project to work on…