Where to get married and celebrate your wedding in London’s exclusive W1 district
London is not so synonymous with falling in love as its Gallic cousin Paris, but it is still a great place to be in the throes of passion. You’re not likely to see winsome couples dreamily meeting like you might on the Pont Neuf, but the famous bells of London’s many churches (immortalized in the nursery rhyme ‘Oranges and Lemons’) always seem to be busy with nuptials.
With smart districts and places to stay, London is a spot for grown up love. Take a look at one of its most exclusive and popular central districts, W1, where the Mayfair hotels are full of affluent visitors and couples. From the winding River Thames to great panoramic vistas over the city at Primrose Hill and Hampstead Heath, it’s a city ideal for what comes after the butterflies.
That’s probably why London is an extremely popular city for weddings – and why, since the mid-1990s a loosening on the laws for civil ceremonies have seen venues from Chelsea Football Club to the London Eye gaining marriage licences. But sticking with Mayfair for a minute, let’s take a look at some less wacky but equally original and city-slick spots to tie the knot.
An ideal way to make a London wedding go smoothly, and save costs on separate hire for ceremony and reception, is to make use of one of the city’s many licensed hotels.
The Millennium Hotels London Mayfair venue is absolutely ideal in this respect. Fully licensed for weddings and civil ceremonies, with a large function room and overlooking Grosvenor Square Gardens, it is ideal for bringing families and friends together from far-flung places.
Indeed, one of the big battles with a London wedding can be transport, so keeping things in a small area can solve a lot of problems – especially when you have many guests traveling a long way to get there in the first place. By having the wedding at the hotel in which the guests are staying, you eliminate that issue – and you’re likely to take advantage of some of Millennium’s discounts for longer stays.
Another option is to have the wedding at the hotel and move to one of the areas luxurious restaurants for dinner and a reception. Corrigan’s is one such spot in Mayfair which is well known for catering for wedding parties of up to 80. You can find more details on weddingvenues.com.
