We married for £100 with 99 other couples and wouldn’t change a thing
PHOTOGRAPHER LIAM GILLAN
Love was in the air this week as one of the UK’s most iconic wedding venues married 100 couples, for £100 each, to celebrate 100 years of hosting marriages.
Old Marylebone Town Hall has held marriages of musical legends, footballers and Hollywood stars and usually costs between £621 and £1,230 per ceremony.
I’m fortunate enough to have joined that glitzy list after I tied the knot at the event on Tuesday.
The superstition of not seeing the bride before walking down the aisle was literally blown out of my mind as my wife-to-be Paige blasted her hair dryer at 04:30 on Tuesday.
By 10:20 Paige and I were officially husband and wife – as quick as that.
We almost felt like celebrities – my BBC colleagues and newspaper reporters interviewed us while photographers asked us to pose alongside the 99 other couples here, tying the knot, renewing their vows or forming a civil partnership.
I caught up with some of the other couples I shared this surreal day with.
PA MEDIA
We had a little photoshoot on a London bus
When Chris Jamieson-Green was offered a midday spot to get married at Old Marylebone Town Hall, staff had to double check if he was sure. Only because he had not yet proposed to his then-girlfriend.
He popped the question during a trip to the Yorkshire Moors and after Sam Jamieson-Green said yes, Chris blurted out that he had already booked the venue – luckily Samantha, 35, was onboard with the idea.
Fast forward to midday on Tuesday and there they were, on the back of a London bus having a “a little photo shoot” and “bringing a bit of brightness to people’s day”, Sam, from Newport, says.
“We had brollies and I wore my dress under a coat,” she adds.
“Regardless of the weather we were going to enjoy ourselves – we had family from all over the world.”
Chris, 33, from Leicestershire, says one of the nicest things about the day was that “even during our ceremony we heard clapping next door”.
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Our dog went viral
Each couple was invited to have up eight human guests come inside the town hall and in to the room to see them get married.
Two pets were allowed – and one of those was Marvin, a local celebrity of his own having just won the recent Marylebone Village summer fayre dog competition.
“Marvin was a very good boy,” Dan McKinley, 27, says, recalling how his four-legged friend went viral on X when TV crews at the 100 weddings event caught him wagging his tail.
His wife Daisy McKinley, 27, says “it was class” – despite the rain. “We got soaked. Every time we walked out it chucked it down but it was still ten out of ten.”
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We were applauded by a pizza chef
Daniel and Danielle Mason, from Fareham in Hampshire, were one of the last couples to get married – when they got hitched at 21:30 at night.
“We were in the bar until the time to leave,” Danielle, 35, says. “We all traipsed round the corner and then traipsed back.
“Walking down the street people were giving compliments – even a Pizza Express chef started to clap us.”
“I loved every second of it” Daniel, 44, adds. “I liked the fact our wedding was different – it freed us up to do what we wanted, when we wanted.
“I was so impressed with the town hall. Part of the fun was the BBC coverage – because it really made it.
“We tried to explain back home what we were doing and as soon as we said it was being covered by the BBC all of our friends were really engaged, watching and texting one another in WhatsApp groups.
“It was a well-oiled machine. It was like they did that every single day.”
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We went from our ceremony straight to Brussels
Filippa Evans-Grindrod and Harry Grindrod took plenty of snaps with their photographer in the grand backstreets of Marylebone.
Not content with sitting still after their midday service, the pair – who had a wedding bouquet tucked into their weekend bag – dashed across the capital on the tube to St Pancras International station to kickstart their mini-honeymoon.
“I certainly had some looks while waiting for the platform at St Pancras to be announced,” Filippa says of their trip to Brussels.
To make things even better, the train manager upgraded them to first class.
“Despite having just eaten we were given another three-course meal and continuous champagne,” Harry says.
“We were a little worse for wear by the time we got to Belgium.”
100 Weddings in One Day
BBC News goes behind the scenes as the Old Marylebone Town Hall venue marks a century by holding 100 ceremonies in 14 hours.
If you’re in the UK, watch on BBC iPlayer
