My 3 Favourite London Wedding Venues of 2025

Happy New Year! I can't quite believe it's 2026 already and I'm so excited for this new year of ceremonies, including three gorgeous bilingual June weddings in Richmond, Beckenham and Bristol. For those of you who don't know me yet, I'm a humanist wedding, naming ceremony and celebration of life celebrant based in South London specialising in bilingual French and Welsh ceremonies.

This time of year always makes me reflective, and so I thought I'd share with you three of my favourite London wedding venues from my wonderful 2025 couples: The Nash Conservatory in Kew Gardens, Queen's House in Greenwich and The Mitre Hotel Hampton Court.

A view from the balcony at The Great Hall, Queen's House in Greenwich

1. Elle & Dev - The Nash Conservatory, Kew Gardens

Post-ceremony photo with Elle & Dev at The Nash Conservatory, Kew Gardens

This was definitely a bucket list wedding venue for me and I was so excited when Elle first reached out to me in my Insta DMs for her September wedding to Dev! Kew was the perfect venue for them, as most of their guests were travelling from abroad - offering both an easy-to-reach venue from Heathrow and an iconic London experience for first-time visitors.

They really embraced the venue's British charm, with whimsical Alice in Wonderland florals and offered favours including British biscuits and tea (what else!) The Nash Conservatory is truly breathtaking, with an excellent sound system and microphones built into the lectern - absolutely perfect for when Elle and Dev shared their personal vows.

Alice in Wonderland Florals by Flower & Press - and how cute are these teapot favour bags!

2. Enlli & Nat - Queen's House, Greenwich

With Enlli & Nat at their wonderful Welsh Wedding at Queen's House, Greenwich - such amazing views!

Whenever I've met up with local wedding supplier friends and someone asks where their favourite venue is to work, the answer very often is the historic and magnificent Queen's House in Greenwich. I can't tell you how excited I was when Enlli & Nat's lovely wedding planner Millie from Love Made Me Weddings got in touch asking if I was available to lead their bilingual Welsh and English wedding there. Stunning South-East London venue? Tick! Welsh wedding? Tick tick!

Queen's House is well-known for its striking midnight blue staircase (perfect for post-ceremony photos) and the Great Hall offers the perfect backdrop for a heartfelt wedding ceremony to create your own slice of history. As a central London venue, it's so easy for guests from the UK and beyond to reach, with lots of options to get there by public transport. The team here were an absolute dream to work with too.

The Famous Tulip Staircase at Queen's House

3. Caitlin & Hervé - The Mitre Hampton Court

   
   

The scene was set for Caitlin & Hervé's wedding at The Orangery, The Mitre Hampton Court - complete with unity candle ceremony! Photo by NK Photography.

Caitlin and Hervé chose The Mitre Hampton Court for their cosy London boutique hotel autumn wedding. Like Elle and Dev, most of their guests were travelling from abroad, and so they chose a venue where all their guests could stay for the weekend and hang out with them. It's literally across the road from Hampton Court Palace and a short taxi ride away from Heathrow, making it an easy and comfortable venue for guests to attend. As Hervé's family are French, I worked closely with the couple to create a beautifully bilingual ceremony to make sure everyone felt welcome and included.

The hotel's orangery provided the ideal setting for their intimate ceremony, framed by the most stunning autumnal two-part floral arch by My Table Floral Design. After the ceremony, guests were guided to the covered terrace for drinks and photos, with the most perfect view of the Thames.

Caitlin & Hervé's beautifully bilingual boutique hotel wedding at The Mitre Hampton Court. Photo by NK Photography.

So there you have it, if you're looking for the perfect London wedding venue with easy access for guests travelling from the UK and abroad, it's definitely worth taking a look at these three venues. This blog is solely my opinion and I wasn't approached by any of the venues to endorse them.

And of course, if you're looking for a London-based wedding celebrant to help create your unique and memorable story, I'd love to hear from you!

Mair Garland is a humanist wedding celebrant based in South London, specialising in bilingual ceremonies in French and Welsh.

Elle's bridesmaids outside the Nash Conservatory, Kew. Gardens

Beyond the Wedding Ceremony: the meaning of anniversaries

I recently celebrated my wedding anniversary with my husband. We exchanged cards and gifts (sugar for our 6th anniversary!), followed by a lovely lunch out.

I find anniversaries always make me feel so reflective, so here's a post below adapted from a previous Instagram post on the importance of celebrating anniversaries and how weddings aren't 'just a day' or 'one big party'. They mark a pivotal moment in our lives and are remembered long after the day itself - especially on anniversaries. I hope you enjoy my musings!

I'm reminded of our wedding day every single day. We have a photo gallery of our family wedding photos right by the front door, along with a vase containing my dried wedding bouquet and a Welsh love spoon engraved with our names hanging on the wall.

While these daily reminders never fail to make me smile, I become even more reflective on anniversaries. First and foremost, anniversaries remind us that weddings aren't just about the day itself; they're a meaningful snapshot in time that trigger beautiful memories and connections with family and friends for years after.

My dried bouquet, Welsh love spoon and anniversary cards from loved ones.

It's the poring over the wedding photo album, the re-reading of your vows and speeches and remembering the bits that made your friends cry, the cards from your family and the Whatsapp messages from your mates in the group chat. When someone shares a photo from the day you'd not seen before. It's remembering those who came who are sadly no longer with us and the new lives created since then. It's reminiscing about 'what were we doing this time that day?' , remembering what headlines had been in the news around that time, and wondering if you'd have chosen the same outfits, food, music and decor if you were doing it all over again today (I've since grown out the pixie haircut I had back then!)

And I hope for those I've had the privilege of marrying and those I'll marry in the future that they'll at the very least remember how they felt as they heard their unique story being relayed back to them, when they said their vows to each other and committed to a shared life together - where their love is celebrated day after day and year after year.

Our Wedding Day in 2019! At Oaks Farm, Surrey. Image by Emily & Steve Photography.

If you're looking for a wedding ceremony that will be remembered long into the future with every anniversary, I'd love to hear from you.

Mair Garland is a humanist wedding celebrant based in London and specialises in bilingual ceremonies in Welsh and French.

Follow Mair on Instagram @garlandceremonies.

What does a humanist celebrant do? My Speech at the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group

In November 2025, I was so pleased to be asked by Humanists UK to take part in a panel event at the UK Parliament to speak about my role as a humanist celebrant. It was such a privilege to speak on a panel of amazing humanist colleagues and to share my experience with MPs, Peers and Humanists UK members.

Below is a copy of my speech, which covers topics like:

• Why I chose to become a humanist celebrant

• What I love about leading each ceremony type (baby naming ceremonies, weddings and funerals)

• What I enjoy about working with families to create their bespoke ceremony

If you want to know more about what a humanist celebrant does...read on!

All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group Meeting Panel

My Speech for the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group Meeting 12/11/2025

I’m Mair Garland, and I’m a humanist celebrant based in South London. I lead humanist baby naming ceremonies, weddings and funerals, which I find to be an incredibly fulfilling role.

In the same way that no two families are the same, each one of the ceremonies I have the privilege of co-creating with my clients are bespoke, meaningful and completely unique to them.

While I knew for a long time I was an atheist because of my absence of any religious faith, it wasn’t until I started looking into training to become a celebrant that the things I do believe in - science, logic, reason and especially the power of people to do good in the world without religion - that I understood my beliefs aligned strongly with humanism, and I knew it was right for me to train as a humanist celebrant.

This is an experience that’s often shared by the families I work with. Humanist ceremonies are often one of the first ways that people learn about humanism and find that their non-religious beliefs have a label that applies to them. Since more than a million people attend humanist ceremonies each year, they’re a powerful way to demonstrate the value that humanism and humanists provide to our communities up and down the country.   

I started my training first in naming ceremonies online in the midst of the pandemic in 2020. The training provided me with such a positive, joyful and creative outlet during an a universally challenging time. The first ceremonies I led would be for families who showed extraordinary courage in giving birth and raising their babies under extreme restrictions – and these ceremonies would sometimes be the first that time that families would be coming back together after such a long time apart, which was a true privilege to witness.

I caught the celebrant bug, and I went on to train in funerals and weddings. I love leading every type of ceremony, and each for a variety of reasons:

First, naming ceremonies. They aren’t just a good excuse for a party or to wet the baby’s head, as fun as that is! Often, the families I work with have gone through so much already, or thought they’d never be able to build the family they’d dreamt of – be that because of fertility challenges, their sexuality or because they’re doing this alone. Or they’ve experienced birth trauma, premature birth, previous baby loss or neonatal illnesses. For these families, a humanist naming ceremony shows the world just what they’ve already achieved as a unit and how they want to create meaning and build their lives together. And of course, when my husband and I welcomed our son last year, we had a naming ceremony for him, led by one of my lovely humanist celebrant colleagues, Deborah.

Then, funerals. It is truly an honour, and often a challenge (and one that I enjoy!) to try and distil someone’s entire life into a 30-minute crematorium slot. Whoever it is, everyone has an extraordinary story to tell and a legacy that will long outlive them. And not only do I have the privilege of learning about that particular person’s life, but I’m growing to understand the history of the communities to which they’ve contributed so much.

Finally, weddings. One strong motivation for me to train as a humanist celebrant was the longstanding role of humanists in celebrating LGBTQ+ marriages, long before equal marriage became legal in this country. I love the fact that I’ll get to know my couples really well over a period of several months, if not longer – and by the time their big day arrives, I can greet them like old friends at the end of the aisle.

But one important obstacle remains – any couple who wants a humanist wedding ceremony still needs to have a second civil ceremony to make their marriage legal, which poses extra financial and administrative burdens on couples who want to celebrate their love in line with their humanist beliefs.

While it was wonderful to hear the government’s intention last month to legalise humanist marriages in the near future, we still can’t tell our couples exactly when and how this will happen. Government already has the power to lay the order for humanist marriages in parliament now – so why the delay? Let’s make this a reality as soon as possible for our couples.

In summary, being a humanist celebrant for me is a true vocation. I consider myself so lucky to play just a small role in supporting so many wonderful families on the most significant days of their lives.

My colleagues and I across the country show it’s absolutely possible for non-religious people to commemorate life’s big milestones without religion, but with plenty of meaning, love and joy that that will be remembered long after the day itself.

Here I am mid-speech, talking about my role as a humanist celebrant

I hope this gives a little more insight into my role as a humanist celebrant and why I love it so much! If you'd like more information about my services, including: naming ceremonies, weddings, funerals & celebrations of life and bilingual Welsh and French ceremonies, please get in touch - I'd love to hear all about your plans.

Mair Garland is a humanist celebrant based in South London.