More of our couples marry at Hackney Town Hall than anywhere else. It is a mile from our door, the Art Deco interiors photograph themselves, and the walk down the steps into confetti has started more Hackney Road afternoons than we can count.

This is what we have learned from hosting those receptions, including the one detail that catches couples out more than any other.

Start with the room, not the date

Hackney Town Hall is really several venues. Which room you book changes your guest list, your budget and your day, so decide this before you fall for a date.

The Lanchester Suite is the standard ceremony room and it holds 30 people. That number includes your two witnesses, any children, and your photographer. If you are planning a wedding of 50 or 60, most of your guests cannot be in the room.

This is the single most common surprise we see. Couples book the Lanchester Suite early, plan a bigger celebration afterwards, and only later work out that half their guest list will be waiting outside on Mare Street.

The Council Chamber seats 100 with a viewing balcony above, and the Committee Rooms take 100 as well. These are the rooms to look at if you want everyone present for the vows.

There is also a short statutory ceremony, the legal minimum with no music, no readings and no photography. It runs on Tuesday mornings only. It is much cheaper, and for couples who want the real ceremony to happen elsewhere it is a sensible, unsentimental choice.

What it actually costs

Here is the part the council’s own pages make harder than it needs to be: the grander rooms are priced in two parts.

The Lanchester Suite is a single fee, £325 on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, or £405 on Saturday, and that includes the room and two registrars.

The Council Chamber and Committee Rooms are not. You pay room hire to Hackney Venues, from around £525, and then a separate registrar attendance fee to the council, from £535. The council’s fees page says so plainly, but it is easy to read one number and budget for half the cost.

Fees change each April, so check the current year before you commit. We have linked the official pages from our ceremony venue finder, which also has the room capacities side by side.

Book earlier than feels reasonable

The ceremonies team takes bookings 15 months ahead, and popular Saturdays go quickly.

Giving notice is a separate job that couples routinely leave too late. You both sign a legal statement at your local register office, not at the venue and not necessarily in Hackney, and it has to happen at least 29 days before the ceremony. It has its own appointment and its own fee.

If your date matters more than your venue, book the reception first. We host one wedding a day. A town hall runs several ceremonies a day, most days of the week, so it is almost always the easier half to move.

The confetti rule nobody mentions

You cannot throw confetti on the Town Hall steps. You can throw biodegradable confetti at the bottom of them.

It sounds trivial. It is not, because the steps are the shot everyone plans for. Tell your photographer beforehand and tell whoever is handing out the confetti, and you get the picture you wanted without a member of staff walking over mid-throw.

The building is wheelchair friendly, and the ceremony rooms run to a tight schedule, so you will be asked to clear promptly for the next couple. Build that into your timings rather than discovering it on the day.

Then the ten minutes that shape the afternoon

From the Town Hall steps to our door is about a mile, seven minutes in a car off peak. It is one of the shortest journeys any of our couples make, and it changes the feel of the day: nobody is sitting in traffic in their wedding clothes, and guests arrive still talking about the ceremony.

Work backwards from when you want everyone here. A 1pm ceremony finishes around 1.30pm, photographs and goodbyes take longer than anyone expects, and you are with us comfortably before 2.30pm with the afternoon ahead of you. The planner on our ceremony venue finder will do that arithmetic for your exact time.

Whatever you choose, tell us the ceremony time. We will have drinks cold and canapes out when you walk in, and we will shape the afternoon around when you actually arrive.

See how it looks in practice

Seven of the couples in our real weddings gallery married at Hackney Town Hall before celebrating with us, across every season and every size of guest list. You can see the Routemasters, the confetti on Hackney Road, and how the two halves of the day fit together.

If you are still choosing your date, see which dates are free on our calendar.