Old Marylebone Town Hall wedding – Jaina & Chris

 

Old Marylebone Town Hall wedding photography

An autumn London wedding, with a ceremony at one of London’s most famous wedding venues, Old Marylebone Town Hall, on the busy London road, the A501.  A grand looking building just before the road morphs into the A40 and heads towards Oxford and the Midlands. A wedding ceremony in the large Westminster Room. Although years ago, the first time I shot a wedding here, I go to the room to find the curtains in front of the large windows, looking over the busy road, closed? I asked why and was told that ‘wedding photographers’ preferred that so that their flash worked better. My jaw scraped off the floor, I asked them to open them again…

20th Century Theatre wedding reception

20th Century theatre? The name of Jaina and Chris’s unique wedding reception venue in Notting Hill – the 20th Century theatre.  Only a few feet from the famous Portobello Road in West London, the theatre would be easy to walk past on Westbourne Grove – at first glance it looks like an empty shop front. But once past the threshold and up some stairs towards the back of the listed building, you find a piece of London’s theatre history. Built in 1860, it is one of the few remaining “ghost” theatres of London. A rectangular hall-type theatre which in the past hosted Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, Sir Henry Irving, Rex Harrison and where Sir Laurence Olivier made his acting debut. It’s a secret gem.

It is showing it’s age. It’s not polished and spruced up like a hotel, the paint is peeling, the carpet a bit grubby but that is it’s charm. It oozes character, not only from it’s history but it’s slightly “down-at-heels” appearance. This makes it a fantastic blank canvas for a wedding couple to create a backdrop to their reception. Note the vintage, tea party theme that Jaina & Chris created for their guests. It knocks many an expensive luxury hotel for six as a wedding reception venue in London. Plus it has friendly and efficient staff – one of the few wedding receptions I’ve seen go on time.

But back to the wedding last Friday. The day’s coverage began at the Zetter townhouse in Clerkenwell. Then it was across London to the famous Marylebone Town Hall for the ceremony (cheers to Mike at Galaxy Video for the lift). With the rain just holding off still, a few very quick portrait shots in Regent’s Park and onto the 20th century theatre in the Ambassador at a sedate pace.

And then there was the wedding crasher. He wandered in of the street, got a glass and bubbles and some canapes and mingled… Eventually, people started to question who he was, he wasn’t quite dressed for a wedding. It was then s case of him being politely told to leave…

Here are a few images from this October wedding at Old Marylebone Town Hall and the 20th Century theatre…