Islington Town Hall
wedding photography
Arriving
I’ve photographed a lot of weddings at Islington Town Hall. Enough that it probably deserves its own page.
The ceremony is only part of it. There’s everyone arriving, waiting, looking for each other, trying to work out where they’re meant to be, then spilling back out onto Upper Street afterwards.
The Town Hall gives the ceremony its setting. London carries on outside. I’m interested in both.




The Council Chamber
Most of the weddings I’ve photographed here have been in the Council Chamber. It’s a grand circular room, with a high vaulted ceiling and horseshoe seating. It looks unmistakably like itself.
The seating also lets me move discreetly between different viewpoints. I can get in and out of the aisles without making a performance of it. And the carpet means I don’t have to try to levitate above old wooden floors.










The Richmond Suite
The Richmond Suite is a more intimate space. Long, wood-panelled, with good light coming in from the side windows.
The ceremonies I’ve photographed there have felt relaxed. In my experience the registrars have been easy-going, and I’ve still been able to change position when I need to. A little more discreetly. Also: carpet.








Outside on the steps
Both rooms lead back to those steps. Then there’s confetti, congratulations, everyone finding each other again. And Upper Street carrying on around them.




Highbury & Islington to Bobby Fitzpatrick
For Katie and Barney’s wedding, the whole wedding party walked to Highbury & Islington station and caught the Tube to Hampstead. The reception was at Bobby Fitzpatrick, a retro-styled bar. The journey was part of the wedding.





Khalela and Peter: The Myddleton Arms, then St John
Another wedding took us on foot to The Myddleton Arms, then by bus to St John in Clerkenwell. I photographed that day on both film and digital. The photographs here come from the same wedding, rather than two separate stories.





Ruby and Zee: a Routemaster to Pedro’s Wine Bar, Bermondsey
After the Richmond Suite ceremony, the wedding party took a Routemaster to Pedro’s Wine Bar beneath the arches in Bermondsey.
Three weddings at the same Town Hall. Three different ways of leaving it.





