Wedding bells ring as 100 couples tie the knot in central London today | UK News
The steps of Old Marylebone Town Hall were covered with confetti today as 100 couples tied the knot in a mass celebration to mark a century 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, Alison Cathcart, who 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.
She said: ‘Obviously this day is incredible, as is the history of this venue. 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. So here we are, three days later.’
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’.
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’.
He said: ‘It’s a great opportunity in a great place in an iconic venue. We have both got connections to Westminster and town halls.’
The pair met in university and worked at the Lord’s Cricket Ground. They’ve lived in London for 35 years.
Mr Elliott laughed: ‘It was the perfect ceremony for us in the perfect place, an iconic venue. 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.’
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.
Ms Crean said the pair ‘just needed to do it’ and when they saw the opportunity they thought, ‘why not?’.