Venue Choice

Amoureux · 22-07-2014 1:23pm #1

So my OH and I just got engaged, we're so excited to start planning everything. There is a fabulous hotel only a couple of miles from us and when I started discussing venue choices with my OH he stated that the one thing he wants for the wedding is to have the Reception in this venue. I have no problems with this at all as the hotel has a great reputation, the food and service are top notch and best of all it'll be a 5 minute drive from the church. His reason for wanting it is that guests will also have the option of a few euro for a taxi home at the end of the night rather than paying for a hotel room. After this hotel the nearest hotels to us are 40 minutes away and he hates the thought of puuting people to the trouble or expense of one of these venues.
All great so far but when I mentioned it to a couple of close friends their response wasn't exactly positive, along the lines of "Oh another wedding in X hotel". I can see their point, as its a local hotel I suppose everyone has been at their fair share of weddings there.
I know we should just do what suits ourselves but the thoughts of some people going to our wedding with a preformed negative impression is niggling at me.

pwurple · 22-07-2014 1:35pm

It sounds perfect. Stick with it.

coats · 22-07-2014 1:38pm

No matter what you do, there will always be someone complaining about it. Just suit yourselves and don't let anyones moans put you off

Amoureux · 22-07-2014 1:45pm

You're both right, even as I was typing that post I knew what the answers would be but I think I needed the validation, these girls are my closest friends and I was just surprised by their response. We had a couple of close relatives questioning our suggested date as well. They have nothing planned for this date but think the "might" have plans for this date (in two years time😳) Think we need to thoughen up and just work with what suits us. How many venues do people usually look at? We're fairly set on this venue but would it be a good idea to look at other venues as well, just in case?

jonnyfingers · 22-07-2014 1:46pm

coats wrote: »

No matter what you do, there will always be someone complaining about it. Just suit yourselves and don't let anyones moans put you off

This. If you have the reception in another hotel they'll complain about having to travel there and pay for a room to stay overnight. If you have in this hotel they'll complain that they've already been to a few weddings there.

At the end of the day they'll enjoy the day either way so choose whatever suits you.

Also I've been to about 8 weddings in one hotel in Waterford and every one of them was pretty unique, different reception drinks, different menus, different bands and most of all different people, and I had a great time at all of them. The option of getting a taxi home is always great too.

Incidentally we're both from Waterford and most of our family are from Waterford and Galway and we're having our wedding in Cork so everyone will have to travel. The Galway crowd complained about the distance they'd need to drive to Cork and why didn't we have it in Waterford. I then pointed out that the distance to our venue is shorter than the distance to Waterford and that shut them up! Also the people who made the most niggling comments were also the first to book rooms in the hotel!

coats · 22-07-2014 1:49pm

I only went to look at one venue, but that was after weeks of research on the internet so I just wanted to see it before booking it

Dolbert · 22-07-2014 2:20pm

We chose our hotel for similar reasons to you and never regretted it, even though there were 'fancier' places further away. Don't let the wedding snobs put you off!

Faith · 22-07-2014 6:26pm

jonnyfingers wrote: »

This. If you have the reception in another hotel they'll complain about having to travel there and pay for a room to stay overnight. If you have in this hotel they'll complain that they've already been to a few weddings there.

At the end of the day they'll enjoy the day either way so choose whatever suits you.

Also I've been to about 8 weddings in one hotel in Waterford and every one of them was pretty unique, different reception drinks, different menus, different bands and most of all different people, and I had a great time at all of them. The option of getting a taxi home is always great too.

Incidentally we're both from Waterford and most of our family are from Waterford and Galway and we're having our wedding in Cork so everyone will have to travel. The Galway crowd complained about the distance they'd need to drive to Cork and why didn't we have it in Waterford. I then pointed out that the distance to our venue is shorter than the distance to Waterford and that shut them up! Also the people who made the most niggling comments were also the first to book rooms in the hotel!

I'm wondering if we're related! All my extended family have their weddings in the same hotel in Waterford. It's a running joke in my immediate family at this stage.

Op, have your reception wherever you both want it. It's your day, not your friends'!

Flippyfloppy · 22-07-2014 6:30pm

Amoureux wrote: »

You're both right, even as I was typing that post I knew what the answers would be but I think I needed the validation, these girls are my closest friends and I was just surprised by their response. We had a couple of close relatives questioning our suggested date as well. They have nothing planned for this date but think the "might" have plans for this date (in two years timeðŸ˜³) Think we need to thoughen up and just work with what suits us. How many venues do people usually look at? We're fairly set on this venue but would it be a good idea to look at other venues as well, just in case?

Tip: don't tell anyone what you're thinking (date/venue) until it's booked. Otherwise they'll think they have a say and try and sway you, hence the doubt creeps in!

Amoureux · 22-07-2014 11:45pm

Flippyfloppy wrote: »

Tip: don't tell anyone what you're thinking (date/venue) until it's booked. Otherwise they'll think they have a say and try and sway you, hence the doubt creeps in!

Good idea, will be keeping everything on the QT now until we have it booked.

Flippyfloppy · 23-07-2014 7:42am

Amoureux wrote: »

Good idea, will be keeping everything on the QT now until we have it booked.

Same goes for all future life events

Amoureux · 24-07-2014 3:37pm

So we're going to look at our venue for the first time this evening, have an appointment with the coordinator, any questions we should definitely ask?

Toots · 24-07-2014 4:23pm

Here's what we asked:

How much is corkage?
What is the wedding rate for hotel rooms and how many rooms can we get at that rate?
Is there any requirement that we have to have a minimum of 'x' rooms booked?
Does the package include complimentary rooms for the parents or any of the wedding party?
How late is the bar open and does the hotel cover the cost of a bar extension?
How late is the residents' bar open?
Exactly what is included in packages (evening food, room decorations etc)
If your package has a set menu, can you substitute stuff from the a la carte menu?
Will yours be the only wedding in the venue that day?
Is it possible to come and view the room on a morning that it is set up for a wedding (that way you can see how it really looks for weddings as opposed to the professional shots they have on their website)

That's all the questions I can remember, I'm sure I had more but it was 2009 when I booked mine

Best of luck with it all, let us know how you get on.

Amoureux · 25-07-2014 4:00pm

Visit to the venue went really well, they let us sample some appetizers while the coordinator went through everything, we are more convinced than ever that this is the venue for us. We were a bit surprised at the price, it worked out at 12000 for 170 people, though to be fair to them they did tell us at the start that they were a bit more expensive then most other places. So myquestion now is are we supposed to haggle or would this be a set price with no room to manouevre?

jonnyfingers · 25-07-2014 4:15pm

Amoureux wrote: »

Visit to the venue went really well, they let us sample some appetizers while the coordinator went through everything, we are more convinced than ever that this is the venue for us. We were a bit surprised at the price, it worked out at 12000 for 170 people, though to be fair to them they did tell us at the start that they were a bit more expensive then most other places. So myquestion now is are we supposed to haggle or would this be a set price with no room to manouevre?

Is it a package deal or did they go through a detailed estimation of the costs? Ours was the latter and we were able to negotiate some discounts on different costs, e.g. a few euro per person off the meal, something off the wine etc. We then pushed to get some things thrown in for free, so some food and non-alcoholic drinks for the drinks reception, free room for the bride the night before the wedding etc.

Haggling can be quite difficult, especially if it's a popular venue and a popular wedding date e.g. Saturday in the summer, but you should try it at least, you have very little to lose and you should know pretty quickly if the venue are willing to deal or not.

Amoureux · 25-07-2014 4:49pm

They went through a detailed estimate of costs so I suppose what we could do is focus on some particular elements and try to get them reduced, or at the very least see if we can get extras thrown in. What could we ask for? Bar extension, PA system, centre pieces, chair sashes etc are already included.

Amoureux · 28-07-2014 2:27pm

Just wondering, if our total is coming to just €170 over a level thousand number is it reasonable to ask the venue to just call it an even thousand?

CorkClaire82 · 29-07-2014 3:53pm

Amoureux wrote: »

Just wondering, if our total is coming to just €170 over a level thousand number is it reasonable to ask the venue to just call it an even thousand?

Well when we were talking to our venue I didn't look at the total for the numbers as I was aware it could go up and down. We got no money off our per person package but I got more into it plus more off the rooms. If loads is already included try and get more like more bubbly or more wine etc. It always pays to ask.

Venue Choice

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