London, Kent and Surrey sit side by side, but each runs weddings its own way. Every London borough registers its own ceremonies, Kent County Council covers Kent and the London Borough of Bexley (Medway runs its own service), and Surrey County Council covers Surrey. Fees, outdoor ceremony rules and even whether your photographer can record the vows change as you cross those lines.
This guide compares the three, suggests which suits which kind of wedding, covers light and travel, and introduces our ten local guides. We wrote it from our studio in Beckenham, in the London Borough of Bromley, a few miles from the Kent border. If you are looking for a wedding photographer in London and Kent, or a filmmaker who also knows Surrey, start here. Every fee and rule was checked on official pages in October 2026.
The short answer: For a town hall wedding with the most choice of rooms, look at London. For castles, barns and big gardens, look at Kent. For country houses, estates and the Surrey Hills, look at Surrey, which also publishes the clearest rule allowing photographers and videographers to record the ceremony. Wherever you marry, you give notice where you live.
How do London, Kent and Surrey compare for a wedding?
| London | Kent (and Medway) | Surrey | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who registers you | Each London borough, through its own register office | Kent County Council, branded “A Kentish Ceremony”, which also covers the London Borough of Bexley. Medway Council runs its own service in Rochester | Surrey County Council |
| Register offices for ceremonies | A town hall or register office in each borough | Maidstone (Oakwood House), Canterbury, Dartford, Tunbridge Wells, Ramsgate, Danson House in Bexley, and Sittingbourne for basic ceremonies; Medway’s office in Rochester | Guildford, Leatherhead and Weybridge |
| Register office ceremony fees, 2026/27 | Statutory ceremonies £62 to £84.50; rooms with guests from £304 (Lewisham, weekdays) to £1,023 and more (Old Marylebone) | £330 to £790 on weekdays, £490 to £950 at weekends, plus an £85 booking fee | £365 to £890, each including a £100 admin fee |
| Registrars at a licensed venue | Set by each borough | Kent £640 weekdays, £840 weekends, plus £85. Medway £490 or £590, plus £60 (no year stated) | £720 Monday to Thursday, £950 Friday to Sunday and bank holidays |
| Licensed venues | Each borough keeps its own list (Bromley has 13) | “More than 200” across Kent and Bexley; 13 in Medway | Over 100 (104 on the council’s finder) |
| Outdoor ceremonies | Only in the grounds of a licensed venue: ask the borough | During British Summer Time; outside it only with the registration service’s consent | British Summer Time only, in outdoor areas named on the venue’s licence |
| Photography during the ceremony | Set borough by borough; some count the photographer as a guest | No published rule: ask your registrar | Published rule: photographers and videographers may photograph and record |
| Venue styles | Town halls, hotels, restaurants, banqueting halls, gurdwaras and mandirs | Castles, barns, country houses, gardens, a nature reserve | Country houses and estates, a castle, barns, a vineyard |
| Around how far from Beckenham | Greenwich around 20 minutes; central London around 35 (45 to 60 in traffic) | Sevenoaks around 35 minutes, Maidstone 45, Hever Castle 47, Tunbridge Wells 50, Canterbury 1 hour 15 | Box Hill around 46 minutes, Guildford around an hour |
| Photo permit hotspots | The Royal Parks, Hampstead Heath, City of London gardens, the Old Royal Naval College | National Trust places such as Sissinghurst and Knole | Box Hill and the National Trust’s Surrey Hills land; Richmond and Bushy Park (Royal Parks, in London) |
Drive times are traffic-free minimums from Beckenham High Street; Saturdays take longer. Fees change every April (Kent’s on 12 October 2026), so check the council’s page before you book.
Who registers your wedding, and where do you give notice?
Notice is given where you live. Under the rules on GOV.UK, you give notice at the register office for the district where you have lived for the past 7 days, at least 29 days before the ceremony, and you must marry within 12 months. In London each borough is its own registration district, and if you live in different districts you each give notice in your own. From April 2026 notice costs £46.50 per person, or £63 if it is referred to the Home Office, which can stretch the notice period to 70 days. Our guide to getting married legally in England and Wales explains the whole process.
The ceremony is booked with the council where you marry. A couple living in Lewisham who marry at a Kent castle give notice in Lewisham, then the venue books Kent’s registrars for the day. Book the venue first: your notice names it, and it covers only that venue.
Four boundaries catch people out:
- Bexley is in London, but Kent runs it. Danson House in Bexleyheath is one of Kent County Council’s register offices and uses Kent’s fee schedule.
- Medway is separate from Kent County Council. It has its own register office in Rochester and its own list of 13 venues, including Cooling Castle Barn and Rochester Corn Exchange.
- Beckenham Place Park is in Lewisham. It is a licensed venue with a Beckenham address, but Lewisham’s registrars attend, not Bromley’s.
- Some “Surrey” venues aren’t in Surrey. Pembroke Lodge and Hampton Court Palace are in the London Borough of Richmond, Nonsuch Mansion is in the London Borough of Sutton, and Northbrook Park near Farnham is in East Hampshire.
A religious wedding is legal only if the building is registered for marriages and an authorised person or registrar is present. Many gurdwaras, mandirs and mosques are not registered, so many couples add a civil ceremony at a register office.
How much is a register office wedding in London, Kent and Surrey?
All figures are 2026/27 fees from each council’s own pages, checked in October 2026.
London varies the most. A basic statutory ceremony, for the two of you and two witnesses, is £62 at Greenwich, Lewisham, Hackney and Tower Hamlets, £74.50 at Camden and £84.50 at Westminster (including a certificate). Rooms for guests include:
- Lewisham’s Evelyn Suite (40 in total): £304 Monday to Thursday, £440 on Saturdays.
- Bromley’s Ceremony Room (up to 50): £400 on weekdays, £525 at weekends.
- Old Marylebone Town Hall’s Westminster Room (100): £1,023 Monday to Thursday before 5pm, and up to £1,588 on a peak-season Saturday.
Kent charges by room size under its schedule from 12 October 2026: £330 on weekdays and £490 at weekends for a small room such as the Study at Oakwood House (15 guests), up to £790 and £950 for the Kentish Suite (80), plus an £85 booking fee. A basic registration with up to four guests is £62. In Medway, the statutory room (six people including you) is £62, and the Library Room for up to 50 guests is £200 on weekdays or £250 at weekends, plus £60; Medway’s page doesn’t say which year these cover.
Surrey runs from £365 for a ceremony with up to 18 guests on a Monday to Wednesday at Guildford or Leatherhead, to £890 at Weybridge. Every Surrey fee includes a non-refundable £100 admin fee. The Surrey guide has the full table.
The whole wedding costs more in London. The Bridebook UK Wedding Report 2026 puts the average London wedding at £26,986 against £20,604 across the UK, and the South East at £22,637, where supplier costs are only 1% above the national average: venues and catering drive the difference. Hitched’s January 2026 figures are £24,622 for London and £23,589 for the South East. See what wedding photography and film cost in the UK. Weekdays are cheaper almost everywhere, and our own Monday to Thursday and winter weddings cost less too: get a price for your date.
Can you get married outdoors in London, Kent or Surrey?
Yes, within limits. Since 6 April 2022, civil ceremonies can be held outdoors in England and Wales, but only within the grounds of approved premises, in a spot agreed with the registrar. Register office weddings, and most religious weddings other than Jewish and Quaker ones, still have to be indoors. A beach or a field outside a licensed venue’s grounds is not legal.
Each council adds its own conditions:
- Kent accepts gazebos, freestanding structures and outside areas during British Summer Time. Outside it, the Kent Registration Service must consent. The venue keeps a licensed back-up room, and registration staff make the final weather call.
- Surrey allows outdoor ceremonies only during British Summer Time, in areas named on the venue’s licence. The venue decides about the weather at least an hour before, and outdoor numbers are capped at the size of the indoor back-up room.
- London boroughs license their own venues, so ask your borough and your venue what is approved.
Outdoors, wind gets into microphones, so we put small ones on the officiant and one of you. And ask your venue which way the seating faces: midday sun in your eyes looks very different from open shade.
Can you take photos during the ceremony?
It depends on the council, and in a place of worship on the officiant.
- London: set borough by borough. At Islington, one professional photographer doesn’t count towards the room’s capacity, but videographers do. Hackney’s Lanchester Suite and Wandsworth count the photographer as a guest. In Greenwich’s small statutory room, a photographer can attend only as one of your two witnesses and photographs before and after the ceremony. Lewisham has a patio garden for photographs; Bromley’s ceremony room has no green space, though photos may be taken inside the room.
- Kent: no rule on photography during ceremonies appears in Kent County Council’s booking terms. Oakwood House promotes its grounds for photographs. Ask your registrar before the day.
- Surrey: the council publishes that a photographer or videographer may photograph or record the ceremony, at register offices and licensed venues.
Which area suits which wedding?
A town hall wedding in the city
London has the widest choice of ceremony rooms, from a register office for four to the 100-seat Westminster Room. A typical city day is a town hall ceremony, a twenty-minute portrait walk, then a restaurant or hotel. Start with getting married in London and London register offices compared; London city wedding photography plans the walk, and wedding venues for hire across London has reception ideas. See how we cover city weddings.
A castle or a barn
Kent’s castle venues include Hever, Leeds, Chiddingstone and Lympne; Leeds Castle hosts ceremonies for up to about 100. Barns are a growing choice: they hosted 21% of 2025 weddings and 28% of 2027 bookings so far, according to the Bridebook UK Wedding Report 2026. In Kent and Medway that includes Cooling Castle Barn (160 by day, 250 in the evening) and the Fairfax Barn at Leeds Castle. Our guide to Kent castle and barn venues explains how each style looks on camera, and wedding venues for hire across Kent has the wider list.
A multicultural wedding: gurdwaras, mandirs and halls
ONS 2022 figures, published by Bridebook, show Ealing (70% civil), Hounslow (74%) and Redbridge (79%) with London’s highest shares of religious weddings, against 87% civil across the capital. Sri Guru Singh Sabha in Southall and Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha in Hounslow host Anand Karaj, and in Kent, Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara in Gravesend sets out a booking process that includes a meeting with both families about six months before. Among mandirs, Shree Sanatan Hindu Mandir in Alperton holds weddings in its main temple (up to 150) and its Gokaldham Centre (300), and Shree Jalaram Mandir in Greenford publishes wedding packages. Read gurdwara weddings in London and Kent, our multi-day Asian wedding timeline and the Asian wedding venues post, and see how we cover Asian weddings.
A country house or estate
Surrey is strong here. Loseley Park near Guildford has a licensed Great Hall (102) and Tithe Barn (140); Farnham Castle has four licensed rooms and two chapels; Great Fosters in Egham is a Tudor estate for up to 160. Kent has its own: Penshurst Place (up to 136), Salomons Estate in Tunbridge Wells (up to 220) and Mount Ephraim Gardens near Faversham. Start with getting married in Surrey or planning a wedding in Kent.
A small wedding
All three areas have rooms for a handful of people: Lewisham’s register office for four, Medway’s statutory room for six, Kent’s basic registration with up to four guests. Beyond the register office, see small wedding venues in London and Kent.
When is the best time of year for a wedding in the South East?
August is the busiest month: the ONS counted 14.3% of 2023 marriages in England and Wales in August and only 2.6% in January. For a summer Saturday at a popular venue, start early. Our month-by-month wedding planning checklist sets out the order.
Light varies by only a few minutes across the region. These are London times (Beckenham and north-west Kent are within about a minute), rounded to the nearest five minutes, with Met Office rain days for London Heathrow (1991 to 2020 averages):
| Date | Sunset | Golden hour starts | Rain days in the month |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 January | around 16:20 | around 15:25 | 11.5 |
| 15 March | around 18:05 | around 17:20 | 8.5 |
| 15 May | around 20:45 | around 19:55 | 8.0 |
| 21 June | around 21:20 | around 20:25 | 8.3 |
| 15 August | around 20:25 | around 19:35 | 8.4 |
| 15 September | around 19:15 | around 18:30 | 7.9 |
| 15 October | around 18:10 | around 17:20 | 10.8 |
| 15 December | around 15:50 | around 14:50 | 10.8 |
In June, golden-hour portraits fall after dinner; in December, straight after a 13:00 ceremony. British Summer Time, which in 2027 runs from 28 March to 31 October, is also the outdoor ceremony season in Kent and Surrey. Even in summer, about one day in four is wet, so every venue needs a rain plan.
Getting around: drive times, ulez and the Congestion Charge
The drive times in the table above are traffic-free; allow more on a Saturday. Travel is included within 50 miles of our studio, which covers London and reaches Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells and Guildford.
For your own cars and guest coaches, three charges matter (all checked October 2026):
- ULEZ: covers every London borough up to the M25, 24 hours a day except Christmas Day: £12.50 a day for non-compliant cars and minibuses up to 5 tonnes. TfL lists no wedding-car exemption. Vehicles built before 1 January 1973 are exempt.
- Congestion Charge: £18 a day in central London, 07:00 to 18:00 on weekdays and 12:00 to 18:00 at weekends and on bank holidays. There is no exemption for wedding or historic cars.
- Dart Charge: £3.50 per crossing by car between 6am and 10pm, for guests coming from Essex.
Our guide to wedding day travel in London and the South East covers coaches, guest trains and how long to allow.
Where do you need a permit for wedding photos?
Many of the region’s best-known green spaces need a permit for a professional shoot, even a short one. The Royal Parks (including Greenwich, Richmond, Bushy and Hyde Park) charge £100 plus VAT per photographer for one hour with up to 10 people, with at least 10 days’ notice and no confetti. Hampstead Heath’s Hill Garden and Pergola licence is £234 for two hours on a weekday, and the City of London gardens charge £294 for up to two hours. National Trust places such as Box Hill and Sissinghurst are arranged with each property. Drones need written permission in the Royal Parks and aren’t allowed for personal flying on National Trust land. See drone wedding filming rules and our full guide to London wedding photo locations and permits.
Our local guides, one by one
- Getting married in London: notice, which kind of ceremony, venues and getting around.
- London register offices compared: rooms, capacities, fees and photography rules, borough by borough, including south east London.
- London wedding photo locations and permits: where to take portraits, and who issues the permit.
- Weddings in Bromley, Beckenham and south east London: our home turf, from Bromley’s register office to Danson House and the parks nearby.
- Planning a wedding in Kent: Kent County Council and Medway, Oakwood House, travel and seasons.
- Castle or barn? Kent wedding venues: what each style means for light, sound and the rain plan.
- Getting married in Surrey: three register offices, the Guildford change, venues by style and photo-permit traps.
- Gurdwara weddings in London and Kent: choosing and booking a gurdwara, and planning the day around it.
- Wedding day travel in London and the South East: ULEZ, the Congestion Charge and how long to allow.
- Small wedding venues in London and Kent: places for 10 to 50 guests, and how to cover a small day well.
From behind the camera
When a Kent or Surrey wedding starts in London, I plan it from the London side. I check the drive at the time of day we will travel, not the time on the map, and I build the portrait time around it, because twenty minutes lost on the road usually comes out of the golden hour.
The second thing I check is the paperwork that affects the camera. A Greenwich statutory ceremony means the photographer may be one of your witnesses; a Hackney room counts us in its 30; a Surrey ceremony lets the filmmaker record every word. When the register office has no garden, as in Bromley, we agree a second stop for portraits before the day. And when a park needs a permit, we apply for it, so nobody is asked to move on halfway through your portraits.
Frequently asked questions
How much is a registry office wedding in London?
It depends on the borough, the room and the day. A basic statutory ceremony for the two of you and two witnesses costs £62 to £84.50 at the London councils we checked. Ceremony rooms with guests run from £304 for Lewisham’s Evelyn Suite on a weekday to £1,023 for Old Marylebone’s Westminster Room, and Saturdays cost more. These are 2026/27 fees, checked in October 2026.
Is Medway part of Kent registration?
No. Medway Council runs its own register office in Rochester, with its own fees, notice appointments and a list of 13 licensed venues, including Cooling Castle Barn. Kent County Council covers the rest of Kent and also the London Borough of Bexley, where Danson House is its register office. If you live in Medway, you give notice at Medway Register Office.
Can you get married outdoors in London, Kent or Surrey?
Yes, but only in the grounds of a licensed venue, in an outdoor area approved for ceremonies. Register offices are indoors only, and a beach or a field outside licensed grounds is not legal for a civil ceremony. Kent and Surrey both allow outdoor ceremonies during British Summer Time, and the venue must have a licensed room ready indoors in case of rain.
How far in advance should I book a London wedding venue?
Tagvenue’s 2026 cost index found a median of 183 days from enquiry to event for London venue bookings, and it advises nine to twelve months, or up to 18 months for peak London dates. Book the venue before you give notice, because the venue is named on your notice and the notice covers only that venue.
Do you need a permit for wedding photos in London parks?
In the Royal Parks, yes. Greenwich, Richmond, Bushy, Hyde Park and the other Royal Parks require a wedding photography permit: £100 plus VAT per photographer, for one hour and up to 10 people, with at least 10 days’ notice and £5 million public liability insurance. Personal photos on a phone need no permit. Hampstead Heath and the City of London gardens run their own licences.
Keep reading
- Getting married in London: from notice to getting around.
- Planning a wedding in Kent: which register office, which council, and how far it really is.
- Getting married in Surrey: fees, the outdoor season and the photo spots that aren’t quite in Surrey.
Planning a wedding anywhere between central London, the Kent coast and the Surrey Hills? See our wedding photography and wedding films, then book a call and tell us about your day.
