Camberwell Town Hall

Southwark Register Office Wedding Car Hire – The Complete Chauffeur’s Guide to Camberwell House

Getting married at Southwark Register Office? Camberwell House is a lovely place for a London civil ceremony, and a surprisingly convenient one for a wedding car once you know how the entrance, parking and photographs work. Here is how we would plan the journey, from the bridal collection to the photographs and the trip to your reception.

There is something rather nice about arriving at Camberwell House. Peckham Road is busy, with all the ordinary movement of South London going on around it, but the register office sits a little back from the road. Once the Rolls-Royce turns into the forecourt, the pace changes. The chauffeur opens the door, a dress is straightened, somebody is ready with a camera, and the bride is only a short walk from the entrance.

It is not a grand country-house arrival, and it doesn't need to be. Camberwell House has its own charm: an attractive Georgian frontage, a fairly intimate feel and a garden behind the building where the wedding photographs can continue after the ceremony. The practical details are worth knowing, particularly if you are bringing more than one vehicle.

First, make sure everyone is going to the right Town Hall

Southwark Register Office is at Camberwell House, 34 Peckham Road, London SE5 8QA. You may also hear it called Southwark Town Hall, Camberwell Town Hall or Peckham Town Hall. Those names have a habit of sticking, but they can cause confusion.

The former Camberwell Town Hall is a different building and is now used for student accommodation. It is not where you want the wedding car to arrive. We use the full Camberwell House address on the booking details so the chauffeur, photographer and any family travelling separately are all heading for the same entrance.

Arriving at Camberwell House in a Rolls-Royce

A Rolls-Royce Phantom or Ghost looks right at home outside Camberwell House. There is a parking space available for the wedding car in the forecourt, close to the entrance, so the bride can step out without a long walk from the road. It is a small detail that makes a difference when there is a full wedding dress to arrange and family waiting to greet her.

The Georgian frontage also makes a lovely backdrop for the arrival photographs. We allow the bride to get out comfortably, straighten her dress and enjoy the moment before going inside. There is no need to make an entrance feel hurried.

What if the bridal party is arriving in a limousine?

The front forecourt is suitable for a Rolls-Royce, but not for a long stretched limousine. For the larger cars, including our Hummer and eight-seat Baby Bentley, we normally reverse into Vanguard Court. A side gate leads directly to the register office, which makes it a practical way to bring bridesmaids and family members to the ceremony.

It is worth deciding which passengers are travelling in which car before the day. The Rolls-Royce can bring the bride to the front while the limousine brings the rest of the party through the side entrance. Everyone arrives where they need to be, without trying to squeeze a stretched limousine into a space that was never designed for one.

The ceremony and the photographs afterwards

The Garden Room is one of the ceremony spaces at Camberwell House, with room for the couple and up to 35 guests. It suits the kind of wedding where the people closest to you are gathered together, and the ceremony is followed by congratulations and photographs rather than a long departure from the building.

Once the ceremony is over, the photographs begin in earnest. There will be the couple together, parents, grandparents, siblings, friends and inevitably somebody who has wandered off just as their group is called. It helps to agree the main family photographs with your photographer beforehand. The garden at the back gives everyone a pleasant setting, while the Georgian entrance provides a completely different backdrop at the front.

The photographs are part of the register-office visit, so we allow for them when arranging the wedding car. The chauffeur can be ready for the couple once the garden pictures, family groups and confetti are finished.

Confetti at the front, not in the garden

Confetti photographs are a lovely part of leaving the ceremony, with everyone gathered around the newlyweds. At Camberwell House, biodegradable confetti is allowed outside at the front of the building, not in the rear garden.

Tell the photographer and guests beforehand. It is much easier to gather everybody in the right place once than to discover that half the family has gone into the garden while the others are waiting at the front with confetti in their hands.

How long should we allow at Southwark Register Office?

The ceremony is only part of the time spent at Camberwell House. There is the arrival, the ceremony itself, congratulations, photographs in the garden, family groups at the front and the confetti pictures. Those moments deserve their own time, especially when several generations of the family are together.

For the wedding car, we work back from the ceremony time and the plan for the rest of the day. If the couple is travelling on to a reception, the photographer’s expected finish time is particularly useful. It means the car is ready when the couple is, rather than everyone feeling they need to finish the photographs to suit the transport.

Single drop-off or three-hour wedding package?

There are two straightforward ways to arrange the car. A single drop-off covers the bridal collection and arrival at Southwark Register Office. It suits couples who have arranged their own transport after the ceremony.

Our three-hour wedding package is for couples who want the Rolls-Royce to remain part of the day. We collect the bride, take her to Camberwell House, wait while the ceremony and photographs take place, and then take the newlyweds on to their reception, where the route and timings fit within the booking.

If you are including a longer photography visit to Dulwich Park or travelling some distance to the reception, we can work out the time around the itinerary. The important thing is to know the collection point, ceremony time and reception address so the day flows naturally.

Would you like more photographs at Lucas Gardens?

There will already be plenty of photographs at Camberwell House itself. For couples who would also like a different setting before the reception, Lucas Gardens is nearby and offers greenery away from the register-office entrance.

It is an additional stop rather than a replacement for the garden, family and confetti photographs at Camberwell House. If Lucas Gardens is on your list, tell the photographer and include it in the wedding-car itinerary so everyone knows where the couple will be going next.

Dulwich Park – beautiful, but allow proper time

Dulwich Park is a favourite for wedding photographs, and it is easy to understand why. The open grounds, trees and lake give a completely different feel from the streets around Peckham Road. It is a lovely place for a couple to spend some time with their photographer before heading to the reception.

You can drive into the park, but it is a big place and the lake is quite far inside. Choose the photography location with your photographer beforehand and allow time to reach it. Simply saying “we’ll go to Dulwich Park” is not quite enough when the park itself covers so much ground.

We also look at where the reception is. A visit to the park can fit beautifully into the afternoon, but it needs to be part of the plan rather than a last-minute detour. The couple should be enjoying their photographs, not worrying about the time.

Leaving Camberwell House for the reception

By the time the photographs and confetti are finished, the newly married couple is usually ready to leave, while family and friends are making their own way to the celebration. This is where a little organisation pays off. The chauffeur needs to know whether the couple is being collected from the front forecourt or another agreed point, and any second vehicle needs to know where its passengers will be waiting.

Peckham Road can be busy, so the onward journey is planned around the actual route rather than simply the mileage. Whether the reception is nearby in South London or across the city, we want the couple to be able to settle into the car and enjoy the drive without worrying about where everyone else has gone.

There is often a lovely contrast between the bustle outside the register office and the quiet of the back of a Rolls-Royce once the doors close. After the ceremony, the greetings and all those photographs, the journey to the reception can be the first few minutes the couple has had together.

Which wedding car suits Southwark Register Office?

Our Rolls-Royce Phantom Series 2 and Ghost Series 2 are particularly well suited to a Camberwell House arrival. They look beautiful against the building and can be brought into the front forecourt when space is available. The Cullinan, Dawn and classic Silver Cloud give couples other styles to consider.

For bridesmaids, family and larger groups, our eight-seat Baby Bentley limousine and sixteen-seat Hummer limousine are options, with the Vanguard Court access arrangement in mind. A Mercedes V-Class can also be useful for family transport, particularly where practicality matters as much as the photographs.

There is no need to make the decision from a generic catalogue photograph. We can show you the actual vehicles, talk through who is travelling and arrange a viewing by appointment. Dress size, passenger numbers, the collection address and whether the car is staying for the reception journey all matter.

A few details worth agreeing before the wedding

Put Camberwell House, 34 Peckham Road, SE5 8QA on the itinerary so that the chauffeur, photographer and guests all have the right address. If anyone needs step-free access, the register office has an alternative ramp to the stepped main entrance; it is worth arranging that in advance.

It also helps to have a simple order for the photographs: garden pictures and family groups, confetti at the front, photographs beside the Rolls-Royce, then Lucas Gardens or Dulwich Park if you are making another stop. Once the photographer and chauffeur know that order, there is very little for the couple to organise on the day.

Find Southwark Register Office

Camberwell House, 34 Peckham Road, London SE5 8QA. Use this address rather than relying on the older Town Hall names.

Southwark Register Office wedding car FAQs