VENUES: New for Weddings

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City staff already view weddings in Old City Hall (OCH) as a significant, future revenue generator for the building.

Marriage licences are currently obtained from the City Clerk's office in New City Hall. However, moving that registry office and a chapel area back to a redesigned "Weddings" office at OCH will certainly add historic atmosphere to the occasion!

Meanwhile, the City has already shown that civil ceremonies can take place in OCH without a nickel being spent on physical investments. In the summer of 2025, several weddings took place in the grandeur of the original City Council chamber. Other OCH advantages for weddings include:

• Its convenient location is on the subway and streetcar lines

• Parking under the Eaton Centre and New City Hall

• Accessability up to the third floor

• Spiral and angled staircases for excellent group photo opportunities regardless of the weather or season

• Rooms available for use now including the original mayor's handsome office with murals which served as the office of the Chief Regional Justice until 2023. Years ago, on a Saturday when the building was open for just two courts offering bail hearings, a wedding reception was held on the mezzanine overlooking the main hall. One weekend when only ground floor courts were in session to hear bails, long tables were set up along the mezzanine overlooking the entry hall (see above). Everything had to be trucked in.

One day, I hope that Old City Hall can become a one-stop wedding and/or reception location where a wedding planning service can take advantage of a growing range of carefully upgraded rooms of all sizes for rent (such as the smallest courtroom, pictured above, with an original fireplace) and in-building services provided by a restaurant/caterer(s), a florist shop(s) and a chocolatier(s) offering treats for wedding guests and/or honeymoon gifts.

Eventually, while wedding photos are taken on stairways, guests will be able to amuse themselves before receptions by: exploring the latest exhibitions of the City of Toronto Musuem, shopping in unique stores and galleries, viewing performances in the entry hall, taking books out from the library and/or chilling at a bar with a great view!