FOR generations it has been an Oxford building associated with anxiety, stress, regret, and sweaty palms.

But hopefully that won’t be the case for couple who could get married there in the future.

The university has applied to Oxfordshire County Council for a wedding licence for its huge Grade II listed Examination Schools, in High Street.

It would enable weddings and receptions to take place, allowing up to 350 guests to make use of the buildings three reception rooms – the North, South and East Writing Schools – the Great Hall and outside quad space, with an in- house catering team on hand.

It would be open to both university and non-university members to marry in the famous building which dates from the 1870s.

Oxford University events manager Kay Hogg said: “Weddings will not become our primary business.

“There would probably be between 10 and 15 a year.

“We have been hosting wedding receptions in the Examination Schools for about 18 months and there has been really good feedback from them. It is a really impressive building and makes an attractive backdrop for a wedding.”

For all its links with the pressures of sitting exams, Ms Kay believed the idea of getting married in the Examination Schools would appeal to former Oxford students.

She said: “I think they will be able to put memories of sitting exams to one side. It will make many of them feel nostalgic about their university days.”

She said the money raised from the weddings would be reinvested in the maintenance of the building.

If approval is given, weddings could start in April or May.

Wedding reception room hire prices start from £3,000, plus the cost of catering and drinks.

The university plans to charge from £1,000 for civil ceremonies.

The Examination Schools will be only one of the university’s famous buildings to become a wedding venue.

People can also get married in the Divinity School at the Bodleian Library and at the Ashmolean Museum, which has been featured as one of the UK’s top 50 wedding venues by The Independent.

Concerts and talks have been staged in the Examination Schools down the years, while during the two world wars the building was used as a military hospital.

Signs to the “resuscitation room” can still be seen in the basement stoday.