Long known as ‘the wedding cake’ hotel for its opulent and romantic spaces, London’s iconic St Ermin’s Hotel is a location as memorable as your special day…
We are celebrating our very first National Registrars Day on July 1st 2021 and the date has been specially chosen in honour of the first day of registration which was also July 1st back in 1837. On our Facebook and Instagram, we have been posting dedicated content leading up to the celebration with the hashtag #loveyourregistrar. The service has come a long way since registrars had to pay a £100 bond to the Registrar General to carry out their duties in the early days. That is equal to a whopping £11,000 today, for context.
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?
The lack of consistency from some venues has been occasionally a little frightening. At times, my safety has been compromised which can prove uncomfortable.
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.
The lockdown and pause on weddings disheartened us all but to be able to offer weddings again, since July 4th, and getting back to helping couples start a life together has been a joy. We have already conducted more than 200 since that date and we look forward to those still to come.
