Recommended registry offices in London?

My beau and I intend to have a low-key ceremony at a registry office in London and were wondering if there are any in particular that are recommended.  There will be a very small amount of friends and family there and we would like somewhere that is close to somewhere nice or fun to go out for a  meal and drinks afterwards.

Also, do registries usually take provisional bookings even though he is in London and I am not?  I read somewhere that they dont usually take bookings unless they are satisfied that both people are in the country and able to marry.  Is it difficult to make a booking on short notice once Im there?  We want to marry as soon as we are able to, considerig the required waiting times.

Thanks!

Chelsea is the one everyone goes for. But you have to be living here for .. I think it's a week (might be longer, am sure someone else will clarify) ... before you can give notice of intention to marry. You have to give notice at the registrar's office in your borough but you can get married at any registry office, they give you a marriage license thing to take with you. Once you give notice you have to wait 2 weeks before you can actually get married - this is because they post the notice of intention to marry in a public area at the registry office... in theory to give people time to raise any objections.  Get your fiance to ring his local registry office for the full rundown. You usually need an appointment to see the registrar in order to give notice and those tend to be booked up well in advance. We got lucky when we did ours because I phoned every day til they had a cancellation.

Getting a booking for the ceremony isn't too hard. They tend to be more booked up in summer but you should be ok if you don't mind getting married early in the day or on a weekday. You can provisionally book the ceremony date before you give notice so your fiance could book that now if you want.

Hope that helps

Liz

Bromley is very nice. There are grounds with a lake with fountains and swans! They have too rooms, a small one for up to 30 people, and a larger one for bigger parties (up to 80 I think).