Town Hall information

Yes, while no older building is perfect, we consider the Town Hall to be accessible to most people with disabilities.

There is step-free access via ramps and lifts to all levels, as well as accessible bathrooms. However, please consider bringing mobility aids for those who are unable to walk around our large building to the lifts and ceremony rooms.

All accessibility equipment needed must be brought with you, and physical assistance outside of an emergency evacuation (for example pushing a wheelchair) must be undertaken by a member of your ceremony party.

Guide dogs and other trained assistance animals are welcomed. 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.

We have limited special access parking spaces available for people with disabilities 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 click here to complete a personal emergency evacuation plan form so we can ensure safety on your ceremony day.

Yes! We hold monthly tours for couples to visit the building and chat to our registrars, as well as occasional seasonal events.

Please see this page for more information on our events.

We also have a virtual tour, which you can see by clicking here.

We don’t have general parking available at the Town Hall, so we advise your guests to arrive by public transport.

If you or your guests have a disability, 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

Chauffeured cars, taxis and buses are able to stop outside the building to drop off or collect couples or guests.

You can bring one pet to your ceremony in all our rooms, with the exception of the Mayor’s Parlour, if you choose. If you have chosen a Say I Do With Two ceremony and let us know you want to bring a pet, we will make sure your ceremony takes place in a pet-friendly room.

We will ask you to complete a form agreeing to our terms and conditions of bringing a pet at least a month before your ceremony.

Please note that this does not affect registered assistance animals attending ceremonies, which are welcomed in all rooms. 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.

We have seven unique ceremony rooms available within the Town Hall, with capacities between 2 and 85 guests.

Please click on the links below to find out more about each room:

• The Council Chamber – 50 to 85 guests
• The Richmond Suite – 60 guests
• Room 99 – 20 guests
• The Mayor’s Parlour – 4 guests
• The Angel Suite – 2 guests
• The Canonbury Suite – 2 guests
• Statutory Room – 2 guests

We also offer Say I Do With Two ceremonies, which are simple ceremonies that take place in one of our ceremony rooms, and you can find out more about these at this link:

• Say I Do With Two ceremonies – 2 guests

Our ceremony personalisation options vary between our rooms and on certain days of the week:

• Council Chamber, Mayor’s Parlour & Richmond Suite – fully personalisable
• Room 99 – fully personalisable (other than the opportunity to speak to your registrar beforehand, or have separate interviews before the ceremony Monday to Thursday)
• Angel and Canonbury Suite in 2025- weekdays are simple ceremonies as standard, Saturdays have limited personalisation as standard
• Angel and Canonbury Suite in 2026 – fully personalisable (other than the opportunity to speak to your registrar beforehand or have seperate interviews)
• Statutory Room and Say I Do With Two ceremonies – simple ceremonies only

Please see below what each of these ceremony types allow.

Fully personalisable ceremonies can include any of the following:

• A choice of ceremony scripts or the choice to write your own script (meeting legal criteria)
• Up to three readings
• Personal vows in addition to the legal vows
• Personal ring words
• Separate entrances to the ceremony room
• Separate interviews before the ceremony (so you don’t need to see your partner before the ceremony starts)
• Music at certain points of the ceremony
• The opportunity to speak to your own registrar by phone a month before the ceremony (for ceremonies taking place at weekends at licenced venues, or at the Town Hall in the Council Chamber, the Mayor’s Parlour or Richmond Suite)

Limited personalisation ceremonies can choose to add any of the following to a simple ceremony script:

• One reading or personal vows
• Separate entrances to the ceremony room
• Music at certain points of the ceremony

No other personalisation options are available in a limited personalisation ceremony.

Simple ceremonies do not include any personalisation options other than the option to excahnge rings.

A simple ceremony will last around 20 minutes, with limited personalisation ceremonies lasting around 30 minutes and a fully personalised ceremony may last 40 minutes.

It may be possible for you to pay an additional fee to enhance a simple or limited personalisation ceremony in Angel or Canonbury Suites in 2025 to include full personalisation, depending on the ceremonies booked after yours. Enhanced ceremonies can only be booked by email request, not online.

The specific personalisation choices for your ceremony room and date will be provided to you after booking.

A simple ceremony will last around 20 minutes, with limited personalisation ceremonies lasting around 30 minutes and a fully personalised enhanced ceremony may last 40 minutes.

We book our ceremonies with enough time before the next ceremony so that the couple can be interviewed, guests brought in, the ceremony conducted, the paperwork completed and some photographs to be taken, and the room cleaned and prepared for the next ceremony without couples feeling rushed.

Having said that, please note that while we may book ceremonies which start at, for example, 1pm, 2pm and 3pm, each couple should not expect sole use of the room for an hour until the next slot, due to the interviews, guest entrances and cleaning that needs to take place. All our booking costs include use of the room for the ceremony, the registrars’ attendance and one copy of the certificate, but we don’t book ceremonies for a particular period of time; we book for a ceremony start time.

All rooms have Bluetooth speakers, so if your ceremony type includes personalisation, our staff will help you connect to play some pre-recorded music from your device.

Musicians can perform at the majority of our larger ceremonies, but please have a look at the information below depending on the room you have chosen:

The Angel or Canonbury Suites: These rooms only hold the couple, two witnesses and the registrars, so musicians cannot be accommodated at any ceremony.

The Council Chamber: You are able to invite live musicians, which need to be included in your guest number.

The Mayor’s Parlour: You are not able to invite live musicians to perform at your ceremony in the Mayor’s Parlour, due to the size of the room and the proximity of our residential neighbours.

The Richmond Suite: You are able to invite live acoustic musicians, but you are not able to have amplified live music at your ceremony, due to the proximity of our residential neighbours. The musicians need to be included in your guest number.

Room 99: You are able to invite live musicians, which need to be included in your guest number.

The statutory room: this room only holds the couple, two witnesses and the registrars, so musicians cannot be accommodated at any ceremony.

Say I Do With Two ceremonies: musicians can not be accommodated at this ceremony type

Please note that drums and bagpipes cannot be played anywhere inside the building as they can be heard in other ceremony rooms.  We do not have any instruments, amplifiers, or music stands at the Town Hall, other than Bluetooth speakers. All equipment your musicians need must be brought with them and be taken into the room just before your ceremony and taken out of the room at the end of the ceremony.

Sadly no.

Our rooms are used for more than one ceremony a day, so we are unable to allow you to decorate or rearrange the room before your ceremony.

In addition to this, Islington Town Hall is a listed building so we can’t allow anything to be attached to the walls or chairs.

You are welcome to bring your own personal flowers with you, but you won’t be able to take them into the room beforehand. They will need to be taken into the room just before your ceremony and taken out of the room at the end of the ceremony.

The Council Chamber and Room 99 have built in air conditioning, and can remain cool in the summer months.

Our other rooms cannot be fitted with air conditioning while maintaining their listed status, so they may be quite warm in the summer months. We do our best to keep the rooms cool by ventilating as much as possible between ceremonies.

Yes! We have anterooms that are available to book by couples who want a space to arrive a little bit early and relax in 45 minutes before the ceremony, either together as a couple, or with your best people.

You can find out more by visiting the anterooms page.

Each room has a strict maximum number of people that can be safely accommodated, decided by fire regulations. If your guests exceed the number allowed in the room, then some of them will be asked to remain outside the building.

If you find out after you book a room that it will be too small for your expected guest numbers, and you wish to move the ceremony to a larger room, contact us and we will check the availability of other rooms on your chosen date. Extra costs will apply if there is a difference in fees between the rooms.

We aim to be able to give you access 15 minutes before your scheduled ceremony start time.

Our staff will show your guests into the ceremony room when it is ready.

The whole ceremony will need to be legally conducted by one of our registrars, though your friends and family can read poems etc. (subject to the room you have booked).

You can livestream your ceremony in Room 99 to your friends and family through our partners at E-There. If you would like to add streaming to your ceremony booking, or to find out more, please visit the E-There website.

At this time we are only offering streaming in Room 99, our most popular ceremony room, but we may add extra rooms in the future. In the meantime, you are welcome to use your own phones or devices to stream the ceremony in other rooms, but please be aware we don’t have reliable Wi-Fi in the Town Hall, so you will need to use your own data.

Yes, you will be able to take photographs during the ceremony, as well as inside the Town Hall building after the ceremony.

We don’t limit the amount of time you are able to have pictures, but we do ask that all couples are considerate of other couples who also want to take pictures.

You can also have some photographs on the steps outside.

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

We don’t allow helium balloons into the building as we have very high ceilings and they are difficult to get down.

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

There is no alcohol permitted at any time, in any of the rooms in the Town Hall, as we don’t have an alcohol licence. You are welcome to have that celebratory glass of champagne outside the building instead, just as long as you aren’t impeding the access of other ceremony parties.

Although there is no facility for holding any kind of reception within the Town Hall, the Islington Assembly Hall next door to the Town Hall can be hired for ceremonies and receptions. For availability and costs, please email contact them directly at assemblyhall@islington.gov.uk

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.