Why plan an Islington Town Hall wedding ceremony?
My London wedding planning experience
If anyone is qualified to talk about planning a casual London registry office and restaurant wedding it’s me! Not only have I been a London wedding photographer for 13 years now, I also recently had my own wedding in Islington! Having seen all the weddings there are to see, I was very happy to plan a weekday registry office ceremony at Islington Town Hall followed by a Islington wedding reception restaurant meal for 35 friends and family. For us personally, we had some time constraints. I planned the whole event in 6 weeks! We chose Islington Town Hall for our ceremony because:
- The ceremony rooms are all very photogenic, even for a 2+2 ceremony. My local registry offices often looked like offices.
- I knew Upper street had plenty of venues within walking distance so the chances of availability at such short notice was very high.
- The central London location meant my friends could travel in easily. We had many come from out of London or directly from their office!
Planning a Islington wedding reception dinner
But you might have plenty of your own reasons for wanting an intimate registry office wedding and lunch or dinner for your family and friends. Either way, Islington Town Hall is the best wedding registry office in East London to cater for weddings both big and small. The main council chamber can hold up to 85 guests. There are several rooms that hold approximately 20 guests, and two “ante” rooms, the Canonbury and Angel Suite that are used for 2+2 witness ceremonies.
Islington wedding reception venues within walking distance of Islington Town Hall
After your Islington Town Hall wedding ceremony, the odds are, like us, you might want to carry on the celebrations with a spot of drink or food! Most of the time I’ve photographed weddings at Islington Town Hall, couples have taken a London bus to a variety of venues. These have led me to be a Coin Laundry wedding photographer, The Depot wedding photographer, and a Victorian Bath House wedding photographer. Another regular favourite reception venue of my Islington Town Hall wedding couples has been the Clapton Country Club wedding venue and the Singer Tavern wedding venue.
However, it might be that you want to not get your friends and family onto transport, and prefer to keep your wedding local to Islington. If that’s the case, here are my top picks for an Islington wedding reception venue within walking distance of Islington Town Hall.
Frederick’s wedding venue
Call me biased but Frederick’s is where I chose to have my own wedding reception lunch after our ceremony. I’ve photographed weddings at Frederick’s multiple times over the years, and I had already tasted the food. I knew the team were fantastically on the ball. I also knew the Club Room was suitable for guests with disabled access needs. It’s worth noting that the other private dining room and the main restaurant area are down a small set of steps. I liked the fact that the bar and the toilet were within the same private area of the Club Room. It suited me better that we had table service and close bar access for drinks.
Fredericks hire options and location
The main restaurant area is large light and airy. It has colourful art work on the walls and the ceiling is like a glasshouse. There is also an outdoor garden area which is super useful for giving children a space to run around. It also allows for a good flow of the day. You can have the drinks reception and speeches outdoors in the garden. This minimises disruption of a wedding day timeline if there’s room turnaround.
It is essentially in Camden Passage which allows for nice couple photos. The vintage restaurant sign at the front is also pretty photogenic. The bar that you see as you first enter the front door has good natural light and an elegant vibe for couple photos on a rainy day.
My own wedding guests had tons of compliments for the food! You can really book this wedding lunch venue with confidence! You preselect from a wider menu three options for each of the three courses. The team then help make it easy for you by creating the menu to send to guests for pre ordering. Instead of a set price for the three course meal, each dish is priced individually. I felt this was really useful as you could choose to up or down scale according to your budget. We have a lot of vegetarian friends so our average cost for the three course meal actually worked out surprisingly cheap. Our food bill came to around £60 a head, and we were able to offer scallops starters and a perfect lamb main.
Bellanger wedding reception venue
The Bellanger is a gorgeous restaurant close to Angel station. It has a refined style, with a private dining room that holds up to 50 people. The private dining room itself is very elegant, and the service and food is excellent. I considered this venue for my own Islington wedding reception. The only reason I didn’t was firstly due to the menu choice difference. Secondly because of the outdoor space at Frederick’s which was useful for my toddler to get some fresh air.
You also have to walk through a small bit of the main restaurant. The main restaurant is open to the public to get to the private dining space. The food is excellent fine dining style. It’s very close to the Screen on the Green which makes for a lovely couple shot location. There is also a small patch of grass directly opposite the Bellanger which could be used for group wedding photos.
Hoxley & Porter wedding party venue
Hoxley & Porter has more of an elegant East London bar vibe compared to the first two recommendations. Fredericks and The Bellanger are both light and airy restaurants. The walls of the Hoxley are darker, it has a more edgy evening aesthetic. I photographed a winter Islington Town Hall ceremony here. It is one long bar space, there’s tables towards the front of the venue and booths at the back. The middle section is more for standing. It’s very much a casual wedding reception with plated food being brought out. The whole venue is available for private hire for up to 130 guests. The outside of the venue is beautiful to photograph in front of. The food they serve is in the elevated gastro pub style. There are some classics like pie, but also some fancy bits like slow cooked octopus.
Laki Kane wedding party reception venue
Laki Kanę is a little bit different from the rest of this list. It has more of a tropical bar vibe, it’s a large space but lots of booths around a corridor structure. It’s more of a cocktail bar with cool decor so perfect for someone who doesn’t want to decorate the venue much. I loved photographing a wedding reception at Laki Kane as it allowed me to get creative with the photography in such a cool aesthetic venue.
Hemingford Arms wedding reception venue
The Hemingford Arms is a pub available for private hire in Islington. It’s a little more off set from the main Upper Street section. At 0.8 miles from Islington Town Hall it is about an 18 minute walk. It has a gorgeous Ivy coated exterior, and the private dining space is available for up to 50 standing guests. The upstairs private area has a dark wood feel, which is lovely and atmospheric for photos. It has a more relaxed vibe, similar to Hoxley & Porter. The wedding dinner I photographed here chose to have a relaxed buffet style catering brought in from a family caterer of Asian food, so unlike many of the other venues I believe you can bring in an external caterer if desired.
The Pig & Butcher intimate wedding dinner
I looked into going here for my own wedding lunch. I remembered the food being amazing and the private dining space was so stunningly quirky. The main reason I could not have a wedding meal at the Pig & Butcher was because their maximum capacity is 24 guests. We ended up being a party of 30+. However, if you are planning an intimate wedding meal after your Islington Town Hall ceremony, then this is a great spot. Although the room is small, it’s possible to take gorgeous couple photos in the private dining room. The private dining room is decorated like a vintage farmhouse kitchen. It is super cosy with a wood burning stove and Aga. The vibe is relaxed and the food comes out on sharer platters, similar to the Drapers Arms.
Canonbury tavern wedding venue
I have photographed a wedding in the Orwell Room of the Canonbury Tavern. This is a large wood panelled wall space that is semi private, cordoned off on the ground floor. They do also have more intimate spaces for private hire, such as the Spencer Room which holds 35 seated/50 standing. This is similar to the Hemingford Arms capacity. The Orwell Room is bright and spacious, and you have easy access to the outdoor pub garden. The food is classic gastro pub, you can anticipate about £50 for a 3 course meal.
Drapers Arms wedding hire venue
The Drapers Arms gets a special mention. Although I have not yet photographed a wedding there, I looked into it for my own plans. Also it is one of the closest options to Islington Town Hall, literally 0.3 miles away. So it deserves to be included in this list of the best wedding venues after an Islington Town Hall wedding. I learned they offer a sharer platter type dining experience, with vegetarians catered for separately. This did sway our decision a bit. A lot of our friends are vegetarians and we wanted to know beforehand exactly what they would be served.
The private dining space is truly beautiful and cosy. However the other issue we had is that it is up a flight of stairs. To get drinks from the bar you needed to go up and down. We have family with mobility issues so we knew this would be uncomfortable for them. Aside those personal reasons I did feel like it was a great option for a relaxed Islington Town Hall wedding reception. It’s very well reviewed.
Planning a Islington wedding reception after the Islington Town Hall wedding ceremony
I hope this article helps you plan your wedding day in Islington. London is your oyster if you want to get a bus to your wedding reception venue, but as you can see there are plenty of wedding reception venue options within walking distance of Islington Town Hall. This is ideal if you want to keep your costs and potential hassle on transport logistics down to a minimum! I have also previously written about the closest wedding reception options for Stoke Newington Town Hall weddings, which you can see here. If you are planning a London pub wedding and need a documentary wedding photographer in London, don’t hesitate to get in touch!
