We began conducting ceremonies again on 29 March 2021, and we hope that all ceremonies from this date will be able to go ahead.

However, ceremonies are likely to be subject to guest number restrictions and other safety measures for some time, depending on government and public health advice at the time.

It is also possible some ceremonies may still need to be rescheduled to a different date, time or room in order to ensure safety and maintain low numbers of people within the building. The Coronavirus pandemic has not ended and the virus is still present in the population.

It may be necessary to cancel and/or reschedule ceremonies at short notice due to changes in government restriction, local lockdowns or the need for our staff to self-isolate.

We will contact you directly if your ceremony is affected.

In Step 2, couples and witnesses will be asked to:

• Hold the ceremony in Room 99 or the Council Chamber (if booked for the Town Hall)
• Limit your guest numbers to 4 guests in Room 99, or 13 guests in the Council Chamber only. We apologise, but there will be no exceptions to this rule for babies, children, translators, extra photographers or extra guests to enter the building under any circumstances:
• Postpone the ceremony if you or your guests have any of the symptoms of coronavirus (please visit the NHS website by clicking here to check)

You will be asked to reschedule your ceremony if you or your guests appear to be unwell.

• Postpone your civil partnership if you or your guests have recently returned from abroad and not quarantined in line with government guidance. Please see https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-quarantine-when-you-arrive-in-england#quarantine-for-10-days-after-you-arrive to check the current requirements
• Not bring large bags or suitcases to your ceremony
• Arrive 15 minutes before your ceremony start time. Consideration needs to be given to the cleaning of ceremony rooms between ceremonies. Should you arrive more than 10 minutes late, your ceremony will not take place and you will have to rebook and may incur rescheduling fees.
• Check into the venue on arrival with the NHS track and trace app
• Be interviewed together
• Face coverings are now required to be worn at ceremonies at all times by all guests. Please advise your guests of this, as they will not be able to enter the venue without a face covering unless they have a medical exemption, or are under 11 years old. Please see the government’s advice on face coverings and exemptions here.
•  The ceremony couple must wear face coverings whilst entering and leaving the venue, unless they have a medical exemption, but are not required to wear them during the ceremony
• Use the short, simple ceremony. This will mean no readings, extra vows, or personalisation available, apart from the option to exchange rings.  We are unable to confirm which registrar will be conducting your ceremony, as this is subject to change during this busy time. We are also unable to offer pre-ceremony co-ordinations by phone or email between registrars and couples
• If you wish to have music playing during the signing of the register, you will need to bring your own battery powered device and speaker, and the registrars will not be able to assist with your device. The playing of music cannot increase the length of the ceremony, which must be kept as short as possible as per government advice. Music must not be religious in nature, such as hymns
• Limit photography time inside the building to ten minutes after the ceremony. You must still comply with social distancing rules during this time. Registrars will not be able to take pictures using your phones or cameras to avoid virus transfer
• Not blow bubbles after the ceremony either within the venue or outside to avoid virus transfer. Biodegradable confetti can be used

This is very difficult to predict, as the recommendations are constantly changing.

Further information will be sent regarding your specific ceremony a few weeks before the date, when we have the latest safety recommendations.

Our ceremony times are staggered and the number of ceremonies held have been reduced.

Occupancy limits for staff and visitors have been implemented, including restricting access to only essential visitors, such as people attending ceremonies or registering births.

This will ensure less contact between parties and lower numbers of people within the Town Hall itself.

In addition to this:

• The ceremony rooms will be cleaned in between ceremonies
• There will be floor markers and guidance within the Town Hall to ensure social distancing
• The registrars will provide hand sanitiser to be used by you and your witnesses when signing the register/schedule
• Your handwritten certificate will be issued on the day, but if you prefer us to post it to you, please let your registrars know on the day

The government has said: ‘Face coverings will be required in places of worship. This applies to guests at weddings and civil partnership ceremonies including those taking place in register offices or other approved venues. Face coverings will not have to be worn by the bride, groom or civil partners.’

The ceremony couple must wear face coverings whilst entering and leaving the venue, unless they have a medical exemption, but are not required to wear them during the ceremony.

You can see the government’s advice on face coverings and exemptions here.

Please advise your guests of this, as they will not be able to enter the Town Hall or any other ceremony venue without a face covering unless they have a medical exemption, or are under 11 years old, effective from 8th August 2020 until further notice.

The Prime Minister has announced the Government’s roadmap to ease lockdown restrictions in England. The roadmap for weddings outlines four steps for easing restrictions, increasing numbers allowed for ceremonies at each step.

Before proceeding to the next step, the Government will monitor the data to assess the impact of the previous step. If any changes or delays are made to which alters the roadmap for wedding ceremonies, the Government will give one week’s notice and we will update ceremonies that will be affected. You can see the full government document by visiting: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-response-spring-2021/covid-19-response-spring-2021

See below for numbers allowed in each of our ceremony rooms for each step, based on public health guidance, risk assessments and government regulations.

Step One:

• The Council Chamber- 6 people*
• Room 99- 6 people*

Step Two:

• The Council Chamber- 15 people*
• Room 99- 6 people*

Step 3:

• The Council Chamber- 30 people*
• Room 99- 6 people*

Step 4:

• The Council Chamber- 50 people*
• Room 99- 12*

* This number includes the couple, witnesses/guests of any age, including children and babies. The registrars, and one professional photographer do not count toward this number.

There are no changes to the capacity of the Statutory Room, which can only hold the couple, two witnesses and two registrars at any time.

For any other venue – Please note that the venue must be able to open according to the Spring Road Map. The size of the ceremony room and the venue’s risk assessments will determine the possible guest numbers. Please contact your venue for confirmation of guest numbers.

The numbers laid out in the government’s roadmap for venues are:

Step 2:               15 people*

Step 3:                30 people*

Step 4:                No restrictions on guest numbers

No, you do not need to include the registrars in this total as the government have stated that people working at the ceremony should not be counted as part of the ‘ceremony party’

Yes, all babies and children should be counted as guests.

After careful measurement of Room 99 by our health and safety team, it can accommodate 9 people with 2 metre social distancing.

These numbers include the couple, the two registrars legally required, and 4 guests.  You are also able to invite one photographer. We apologise, but there will be no exceptions to this rule for babies, children, extra photographers, translators, or extra guests to enter the building under any circumstances.

As we enter Step 4, we will review the numbers that can safely use the room.

Unfortunately not.

The risk assessments have been completed based on a photographer standing at the front of the room with no chair provided. They will not be in the guest area of the room, so will be able to socially distance from everyone else present.

This is why you can have a photographer in addition to the maximum number of guests, but you are not able to have an extra guest if you choose not to hire a photographer.

Unfortunately, we are not able to conduct an individual risk assessment or seating plan for each ceremony party at the Town Hall, so all ceremonies are asked to keep their guest numbers to the limit for their specific date.

When we enter Step 4, we will increase our room capacities to:

• The Council Chamber- 50 people*
• Room 99- 12 people*

* This number includes the couple, witnesses/guests of any age, including children and babies. The registrars, and one professional photographer do not count toward this number.

Once we are in Step 4, we will complete a new risk assessment to see if more guests can be safely accommodated.

At this time we are unable to confirm if and when the guest numbers will be able to increase beyond these numbers again.

At this time, with social distancing measures in place, the Mayor’s Parlour cannot be used due to its size, and the Richmond Room cannot be used as it cannot be accessed in a socially distanced way.

Existing booked ceremonies have been asked to move into a different room.

At this time we do not know when these rooms will be able to be used again, so we are not making new bookings for these rooms.

Like the Richmond Room, the Council Chamber balcony cannot be used until further notice as it cannot be accessed in a socially distanced way.

We expect this to continue until all restrictions are dropped.

The government advice is that ‘the number of attendees should ideally be kept to a minimum as far as possible. The lower the number of attendees, the lower the risk of spreading the virus.’

Therefore, we cannot recommend that additional people meet you outside the building.

No, but you will be able to postpone the ceremony to a later date when more guests may be possible again, for the usual rescheduling fee.

Yes, if larger guest numbers are permitted in that room at the time of the ceremony, and we have a larger room available on the date you would like. The fee for the larger room and the usual rescheduling fee would need to be paid, but any payment you have already made for your date will be transferred to the new booking.

If you would like to enquire about moving to a larger room, please email registrars@islington.gov.uk.

Due to extra cleaning between ceremonies, guests, photographers will only be able to enter the room when the room is clean and the ceremony is ready to start.

A member of staff will show the ceremony party into the room at the right time.

The government has advised ‘the ceremonies and services should be concluded in the shortest reasonable time, and limited as far as reasonably possible to the parts of the marriage or civil partnership that are required in order to be legally binding under the law of England and Wales’.

We will ask you to use a short, simple ceremony to comply with this. Unfortunately, this will mean no readings, music, individual entrances, separate interviews or personalisation available, apart from the option to exchange rings.

You can see the simple ceremony script we will use by clicking on the links below:

Simple marriage script

Simple civil partnership script

We are unable to confirm which registrar will be conducting ceremonies, as this is subject to change during this busy time.

As our staff are working from home where possible, or conducting ceremonies or appointments, we are currently unable to offer calls to discuss the ceremony or meetings between registrars and couples.

Yes, we are now able to make new bookings.

Please click on the ‘Book now’ button at the top of the page.

Please be aware that we have rebooked around 2000 ceremonies in the last year so we may be more limited than usual in our availability. All available dates and times are online, and we aren’t able to make any more available.

You can find information on ceremonies at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-for-small-marriages-and-civil-partnerships/covid-19-guidance-for-small-marriages-and-civil-partnerships

You can find more information about the spring roadmap at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-response-spring-2021/covid-19-response-spring-2021 

After you have booked your ceremony, you are both legally required to give a Notice of Marriage or Civil Partnership, in person, at a Register Office.

This means making an appointment to see a registrar to show them proof of your identity, address and that you are free to marry/form a civil partnership, and fill out some paperwork. This can be done up to a year in advance, but must be done at least one month before the ceremony.

The information will be placed on a noticeboard at the Register Office for 28 clear days for anyone to make any legal objections. If there are none, the legal paperwork will be issued to the Register Office who will be conducting your ceremony.

It is very important that you give the correct notice for the type of ceremony you are planning, as legally this cannot be changed at a later date. For example; if a couple gives notice for a marriage but then decides they would prefer a civil partnership, they would need to pay to give a new notice; provide their documents again, and wait another month.

If you are both British or EU citizens, you will do this in the Register Office for the council area you live in, even if that is not the one you are having your ceremony in. Only residents of the London Borough of Islington or the City of London (the ‘square mile’) should come to Islington Register Office for their notice.

If either if you are foreign nationals, subject to immigration control, you must give your notices at a designated Register Office. This is a Register Office that is authorised to take the notices of foreign nationals. The Register Office for the council area you live in may be a designated Register Office, but if it isn’t, you will need to find a designated Register Office you can go to. Islington Register Office and most London Register Offices are designated.

Most people need to bring passports and recent proof of address like a bank statement or utility bill.

If you have been married or in a civil partnership before, you will need to show proof that that union has ended. This could be a death certificate, decree absolute or final dissolution of civil partnership document.

This is a brief outline, so please see our website for full details: https://www.islington.gov.uk/birth-death-marriage-and-citizenship/marriage-and-civil-partnerships/giving-notice

Marriage and civil partnership law requires an in-person, face-to-face interview with a registrar to give notice, and so notice cannot be given by proxy, in writing, by video call, online or by any other method.

Register Offices all over the country will be very busy taking notices this spring and summer for couples that were not able to give notice prior to lockdown.

Our advice is to email or call your local office and explain the situation and see if you can be prioritised.

If you live in Islington or City of London, please email registrars@islington.gov.uk, attaching a copy of the booking confirmation for your ceremony and your details and we do our best to arrange for you to give notice as soon as possible.

Sadly, no. The notice of marriage or civil partnership is a statutory legal requirement by the General Register Office, which is out of the local authorities’ control.

If your notice of marriage or civil partnership expires before your new date, a new notice will have to be given.

If you live in Islington or City of London (the ‘square mile’), and your original booking for a ceremony date was for a period of national or local lockdown, we will waive the fee if you have already given notice with us once for the same venue.

If you live in a different borough, you will need to check what their policy is on this.

No, unfortunately, the notice that you have given is for your original location and it cannot legally be moved to another location.

A new notice will have to be given.

No, we will only contact you if there is a legal objection or another problem with your notice.

The government are making legal changes to the way marriages are recorded, and from 4 May 2021, the Marriage Schedule System legislation will be brought in.

The way marriages are recorded has barely been updated since 1837, and the government have changed the legislation to make the recording of marriages a more modern system.

This means there will be some slight differences to the information you are asked for when you give notice, and slight differences to the process on the marriage date.

All marriage ceremonies on or after 4 May 2021 will be using the Marriage Schedule System.

Instead of signing a marriage register, you will be asked to sign a marriage schedule, which records the information about you in a slightly different layout.

The marriage schedule has space for up to four parents’ details, instead of just one space for the details of your father. You will be able to include biological, adoptive, or step-parents, and their names and occupations can be listed on the schedule in the order you choose. This information is not compulsory, and the details of your parents can be left blank if you prefer.

After the ceremony, the details from the schedule will be entered into our national computer system, which means marriage certificates can’t be produced on the day of the ceremony, but will be posted to you or collected at a later date.

When you give notice of marriage from March onwards, you will be asked to give the names and occupations of up to four parents’ details, instead of just one space for the details of your father.

You will be able to include biological, adoptive, or step-parents, and their names and occupations will be listed on the marriage schedule in the order you choose. Even if your parents have passed away or retired, their names and former occupations can be recorded.

This information is not compulsory, and the details of your parents can be left blank if you prefer.

Asking for this information at the point of giving notice will help the registrar on the ceremony day to quickly check your details are correct.

For couples that have already given notice, the information about your parents can be recorded on the date of the ceremony.

We will also ask you for your parents’ details on the pre-ceremony organiser we will ask you to complete a few weeks before the ceremony.

It is a good idea to think now about which parents you would like to record on your marriage schedule.

We will ask their full names, occupation and which order you would like them to appear on the schedule, so please have this information to hand when you give notice or complete your pre-ceremony organiser.

Even if your parents have passed away or retired, their names and former occupations can be recorded.

No, civil partnership was created as a schedule system when it was originally brought into law, so you should notice no differences with giving notice or registering your civil partnership.

At this time, the Town Hall has strict occupancy limits, and is only open for booked appointments to access essential services, like registering a birth, giving notice for a marriage or civil partnership, or for small ceremonies to take place.

This means we are unable to allow any additional people into the building at the moment to view the ceremony rooms. We apologise, but we expect this to be the case until all restrictions are lifted.

A marriage in England and Wales can be between same-sex or opposite-sex couples. Marriages can be civil or religious (although most religions don’t offer same-sex marriages). At the Town Hall and our licenced venues, we perform only civil marriages which means no religious content can be incorporated. As marriage is a verbal contract, therefore you must say prescribed words to be legally married. After a marriage ceremony you will be declared to be husband and wife, husband and husband, or wife and wife. Your legal status will be ‘married’.

A civil partnership in England and Wales can also be between same-sex or opposite-sex couples. Again, no religious content can be included. Civil partnership is a written contract, which means you do not have to make legal vows to each other, you can just sign the schedule with your witnesses if you prefer, although we always offer our couples the choice of a ceremony or a simple signing. After a civil partnership ceremony, you will be declared to be civil partners in law. Your legal status will be ‘civil partner’. A civil partnership can be converted into a marriage at a later date if the couple choose to do so.

The legal preliminaries to marriage and civil partnership (giving notice) are the same, as are the fees for each ceremony.

Couples are advised to complete further research before booking a ceremony, particularly if either party is a national of another country or you are planning to live abroad, as there may be differences in how a marriage and a civil partnership are recognised in other countries.

If you would like more information on the differences between a marriage and a civil partnership, please visit gov.uk for the government’s advice.

In 2020, the law was expected to change to allow opposite-sex couples to convert their marriage into a civil partnership should they choose to. When we have further information about the implementation of marriage conversions, we will update this page.

‘Civil ceremony’ is a term we use to make it clear that the ceremony has no religious content. The term covers both marriages and civil partnerships.

No! You can choose any licenced building in England or Wales. A licenced venue can be any non-religious building that has applied for and been granted a licence to hold civil ceremonies on its premises, such as a hotel or restaurant.

If you are having your ceremony at Islington Town Hall, the cost includes the use of the room, the registrars’ attendance and one marriage or civil partnership certificate.

If you are having your ceremony at a licenced ceremony venue, the cost includes the registrars’ attendance and one marriage or civil partnership certificate. You will need to book the ceremony venue directly with their staff.

At this time, we are not able to allow floral displays or any large items to be brought into the Town Hall. You can bring a bouquet of flowers.

However, we do provide fresh flowers in the Council Chamber and Room 99.

The Council Chamber and Room 99 have built in air conditioning.

There is a ramp to the Town Hall and lifts to all levels, as well as accessible bathrooms.

We have limited special access parking spaces available on the Town Hall forecourt, and these need to be booked well in advance by emailing securitytownhall@islington.gov.uk

If you or any of your guests have a disability, please visit https://sayidoislington.com/accessibility/ to complete a personal emergency evacuation plan form so we can ensure safety on your ceremony day.

A few weeks before the ceremony, we will email you with a link to a form we will ask you to complete.

This will give you all the up to date information about the safety restrictions that will apply to your ceremony, as well as asking for information we need for the ceremony, such as whether you are giving rings and your guests’ names.

It is very important that you complete this form by the deadline we give you (usually at least two weeks after sending) so that we know you are aware of the safety procedures in place and you don’t have to spend unnecessary time inside the venue. We are not able to send you the form any earlier than the month before because government advice may change before your ceremony date.

Please both arrive with your guests 15 minutes before the ceremony start time. It is extremely important that you are all on time, as priority must be given to cleaning the room between ceremonies.

We aim to arrive half an hour before the booked ceremony start time. We find that this is early enough to make sure that the ceremony can begin at the booked time.

You will be asked to check into the building using the NHS contact and trace app.

Our staff will show your guests to a waiting room, and show you and your partner to the ceremony room to check the details to go on the marriage or civil partnership certificate. You do not need to bring any identification to this interview, unless our staff have advised you to bring documents for a specific reason.

Your guests will then enter the ceremony room and the ceremony will begin. The simple ceremony takes around 10 minutes to complete, including the signing of the register/schedule.

It is important to note, until all restrictions are removed from ceremonies entirely (at the earliest 21 June 2021), social distancing and face coverings for guests will still be needed, and ceremonies will still need to be kept as short and simple as possible, meaning that music, readings, choice of ceremony, making an entrance into the room, other personalisation, or meeting with the registrar before the ceremony is not possible.

You will then be able to take some photographs inside the Town Hall building (although accessible areas have been limited to ensure ceremony parties do not meet) for a maximum of 10 minutes, and then you will be able to continue your celebrations elsewhere as planned.

We know this sounds a bit unromantic, and we are sorry, but we must comply with the government’s advice to keep you and our staff safe.

Our experienced and dedicated registrars will help to make sure your day is as much of a special occasion as possible despite the short and simple nature of the ceremony.

You do not need to bring any identification to this interview, unless our staff have advised you to bring documents for a specific reason.

There are some details that are expected to change such as age, address and occupation. If these details change before the day of your ceremony, there is nothing you need to do. You do not need to bring any documents to support those changes; you just need to confirm them with the registrar at the pre-ceremony interview.

If anything else changes, please email us at registrars@islington.gov.uk as soon as possible to discuss what is required.

A marriage certificate has spaces for the couple to record their natural, adoptive or stepfather if they would like to. It is not a legal requirement to include the father’s details but it may be useful for tracing family records by relatives in the future.

The current marriage law does not allow us to record the mother’s details in the register instead, and our registrars must work within the law. This will change on 4 May 2021, so please see the section of this page about the Marriage Schedule System. As soon as it is legal to do so, we will ask all couples if they want to include all parents’ details.

Civil partnership certificates can include details of all parents unless you request that these details are left blank.

The simple ceremony will take about 10 minutes.

You should always sign the register/schedule in the name you are using at the time. If you are planning to change your name after the ceremony, you could consider this to be the last time you sign in your old name.

Under current law, marriage certificates are hand-written at the time of the ceremony, and are presented to you at the end, unless you request that it is posted to you.

This will change on 4 May 2021, so please see the section of this page about the Marriage Schedule System.

Civil partnership law has already been modernised, meaning that ceremonies must be entered onto a computer system after the ceremony and so the certificate will not be available until the next working day, when it will be posted to you.

The fee you pay for the ceremony includes one certificate, but you are welcome to order as many as you need online on our website after the ceremony.

As civil partnership law is different from marriage law, there are no legal words you need to say, so if you would prefer to simply sign the paperwork with your witnesses you can.

Many couples like to have a ceremony and make promises to each other as a public pledge of their love and commitment, even though it is not a legal requirement. You will need to book a ceremony room and timeslot for the civil partnership paperwork to be done whether you are choosing to have a ceremony or not.

You can see the text of our simple marriage ceremony here and our simple civil partnership ceremony here.

It is important to note, until all restrictions are removed from ceremonies entirely (at the earliest 21 June 2021), social distancing and face coverings for guests will still be needed, and ceremonies will still need to be kept as short and simple as possible, meaning that music, readings, choice of ceremony, making an entrance into the room, other personalisation, or meeting with the registrar before the ceremony is not possible.

During the marriage ceremony you will make two legal declarations before your witnesses, guests and the registrars. You will declare your freedom to marry one another, and then accept one another as husband or wife.

For civil partnership couples the words themselves are not legally binding, but will be verbal promises made to each other.

These words do not need to be memorised as you will repeat them, a few at a time, after the registrar.

Not at all. The exchanging of rings is a traditional part of a ceremony rather than a legal requirement. Some couples choose to exchange only one ring, some choose a different token personal to themselves, and others choose not to include this part of the ceremony at all.

At the end of the ceremony you will be presented with your certificate.

Your guests will be invited to stand and congratulate you both as you walk out of the room together, and then they will follow you.

To reduce contact points, at this time it is only possible to include a maximum of two witnesses per ceremony.

Yes, they can be anyone you like, as long as they speak good English and are an adult.

If either you or your partner requires an interpreter, that person must also act as one of your witnesses.

You need to bring your own witnesses as we do not have the staff levels to supply them.

While this could be a fun thought, the only animals permitted in the Town Hall are guide dogs and other assistance animals. Your animal should wear their vest to show that they are a trained assistance animal and not just your pet. If your animal does not have a vest, please bring the paperwork to show that they are a trained assistance animal.

If you are having your ceremony in a licenced premise like a hotel or restaurant, you will need to check with the venue if they permit pets.

That is fine. Although we would encourage you to celebrate both ceremony days in these circumstances, the ceremonies are all, by necessity, very short and simple as per government advice.

Yes. You will need to bring your own laptop or camera and use your own internet supply, and our staff will show where the cameraperson can stand to film while remaining socially distant.

As we need to keep the amount of time you spend in the building very short to reduce risk, we will need to begin the ceremony on time, so please ask your guests to be ready and familiar with their equipment.

If you wish to have music playing, you will need to bring your own battery powered device and speaker, and the registrars will not be able to assist with your device.

The playing of music cannot increase the length of the ceremony, which must be kept as short as possible as per government advice.

Please make sure you have any music downloaded onto your device, rather than relying on streaming music online during the ceremony.

If you are having your ceremony in a licenced venue, please arrange the music management with the venue staff.

Unfortunately, we are unable to incorporate religious music (whether words or music) into a civil ceremony, which must be free of all religious connotations.

If you would like a song that mentions God or heaven or similar, but you don’t think it is a religious song, please email us and ask. For example, “Angels” by Robbie Williams and “I Say A Little Prayer” by Aretha Franklin are not considered religious songs although they mention angels and prayer.

There are also some popular pieces of music such as Wagner’s “The Wedding March” from Lohengrin (more popularly referred to as “Here Comes the Bride”) which was written for an opera and would be acceptable, as would be Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March”.

The music for Schubert’s “Ave Maria” (without the words) is acceptable as the music was not written for the Latin prayer.

We know it’s all a bit overwhelming by the time you come to actually sign the marriage register or civil partnership schedule, but it is extremely important that all the information recorded in the entry is correct. Your registrar will direct you to check everything before you put pen to paper, and please use those moments to double check your details.

It is your responsibility to make sure all is right before you sign. If you spot anything that is wrong tell the registrar straight away and they can amend it for you. It is very difficult to correct the registration after the event.

Please be aware that any errors in the information given will cost £90.00 to amend after you have signed to say the details are correct.

Yes, you will be able to take some photographs inside the Town Hall building after the ceremony (although accessible areas have been limited to ensure ceremony parties do not meet) for a maximum of 10 minutes. The ushers and registrars will advise you on the areas you can access during this time, depending on other ceremonies that are taking place.

You can also have some photographs on the steps outside.

Please note that social distancing must still be observed for photographs apart from between households/ support bubbles.

We do not permit anything messy, potentially damaging, or on fire! You are welcome to have these things outside of the building. If you have something in mind that is unusual but not messy/hazardous/on fire, please ask us beforehand if it will be possible.

Due to Covid-19, we ask you not to blow bubbles while in or around the Town Hall.

We also only permit the use of eco-friendly options like biodegradable confetti at the Town Hall. Rice is not permitted as it poses health and safety risks with the stairs in inclement weather and attracts pigeons.

If you are having your ceremony in a licenced venue, it will be up to the venue whether they permit any of these things.

While there is no parking on Upper Street outside the Town Hall, your booked transport will be allowed to stop there long enough for you and your guests to get on.

It is important to check the football fixtures for Arsenal (Emirates Stadium) as Upper Street can get very congested on match days.

Car parking at the Town Hall is not always available and by prior arrangement only. Please visit our website for information on where to park in Islington. However, chauffeured cars carrying the couple can collect and drop off outside the Town Hall.

At the moment, most ceremonies will take about 20 minutes from start to finish, including photographs.

Ideally your transport should be there waiting for you as you all emerge from the Town Hall ready to whisk you away to your reception.

There is no legal requirement in this country to change your name after your ceremony. This is a personal choice and not everyone wishes to do so.

If you do choose to change your name, your marriage or civil partnership certificate is evidence of the name change and no further legal processes need to be followed- just show your certificate to the bank etc. where you want to change your name.

If you are nationals of another country, then we suggest you contact your consulate or embassy to find out what the legal requirements are in your country.

If you would like to honeymoon in your new name, your passport can be changed up to three months before the ceremony, as long as you have given notice. Please visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/passports-for-newly-weds-and-civil-partners, complete the form on this page and post it to the Town Hall to be signed by the Superintendent Registrar, before submitting it to the Passport Office.

Please note that your new passport will only be valid from the date of the ceremony.

This website will be updated as things change, but you can find other information about our service provision by visiting:

https://www.islington.gov.uk/birth-death-marriage-and-citizenship/marriage-and-civil-partnerships – for information about notice appointments

www.instagram.com/sayidoislington/ – our ceremonies Instagram