Old Marylebone Town Hall marks 100 years with 100 wedding ceremonies

The steps of Old Marylebone Town Hall were covered with confetti on Tuesday as 100 couples tied the knot in a mass celebration to mark 100 years of the iconic venue.

The town hall, which has been the site of scores of celebrity weddings including Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Ringo Starr, and Liam Gallagher, charged the couples just £100 for participating in the event.

From 8am until 10.30pm, couples will file up and down the steps of the Westminster building, throwing confetti, popping bottles of champagne, kissing, and cheering.

Rain poured down on proceedings on Tuesday morning, with the old saying that a wet wedding day was a sign of good luck oft repeated by attendees.

Among the 100 happy couples was one of the registrars involved in proceedings.

Westminster registrar Alison Cathcart took a short break from work to renew her vows with her husband, retired registrar Mark Rimmer.

The pair, who have been married for 31 years and live in Hertfordshire, decided to commit to the ceremony just three days ago.

“Obviously this day is incredible, as is the history of this venue,” Ms Cathcart said.

“An opportunity arose, the staff asked me why don’t you renew your vows, and I thought ‘well I’ll ask Mark and see what happens’, and was so surprised when he said yes,” she said.

“So here we are, three days later.”

The pair drank a glass of champagne as they stood on the steps of the town hall.

Ms Cathcart, who was the registrar for Sir Paul’s 2011 wedding to Nancy Shevell, said she was happy to go back to marrying couples after renewing her vows as she did not want to “miss out”.

“Well the whole day is amazing and I did not want to miss out on all of the excitement,” she said.

She said she “could not be happier” with the work that had gone into the celebration.

However, she said she would have to head back to work shortly, as she was on duty for the rest of the day.

Mr Rimmer said he would head to the pub with some friends, as it was too wet to play golf, and wait for his wife to finish work to celebrate properly.

Speaking outside the town hall after his own ceremony, Ian Elliott, 54, said he had been meaning to tie the knot with Paula Diaz, 50, in a civil partnership “for a long time”.

“I’ve been meaning to do this for a long time, it’s a great opportunity in a great place in an iconic venue,” he said.

“We have both got connections to Westminster and town halls.”

He said the pair had worked locally for “many years” and lived in London for 35 years.

“We met in university and we worked in Lord’s Cricket Ground,” he said.

He said the ceremony was “long overdue”.

“It was the perfect ceremony for us in the prefect place, an iconic venue,” he said.

“Let’s be honest, after 29 years I had run out of reasons not to.”

Brad and Priscilla Standfield, 31 and 32, from Melbourne, Australia, said they met seven years ago in work.

Ms Standfield said they “fell upon” the famous venue.

“We live in the area, we’ve been living in London for five years from Australia.

“It’s an amazing day.”

She said her favourite part of the day had been “getting married” and signing over half-ownership of her cat to her new husband.

She added that her and her husband had “done a lot” together, including travelling to more than 100 countries.

Christopher Hohls and Madeleine Crean, 33 and 32, from Notting Hill, west London, said it felt “surreal” to tie the knot alongside 99 other couples.

“It’s such a lovely venue, it’s really comfortable, it’s well put together,” Mr Hohls said.

Ms Crean said the pair “just needed to do it” and when they saw the opportunity they thought “why not”.

“We thought it would be fun to be part of something bigger,” she said.

“So we got it done.”

The pair met on a dating app seven years ago.

“Seven year itch we got hitched,” Ms Crean added.

Asked what attracted him to his new wife, Mr Hohls said she was “everything” he is not.

“That was always appealing and over the seven years we have grown together and been together, and grown stronger and stronger and stronger,” he said.

“She is my other half in the truest sense, and my better half.”

Published: 01/10/2024 by Radio NewsHub