Party at home ideas for wedding abroad

mrsberries

Hi guys

As the title suggests Im getting married abroad in Italy. Just a small affair with family and close friends. We are going to have a party when we get back for friends/relations/ colleagues... just looking for ideas for this? We are based in Dublin and considering anywhere between city centre and Naas Road. WE dont want to spend a lot of money on it but guess we should put on a proper party - finger food and band.

Can anyone suggest good location or advise what they did in this situation?

All advise hugely appreciated

seamus

You should be able to rent a function room in a good city centre hotel and get finger food for 100 guests for €1k or less.

A free bar/bar tab is definitely not necessary or expected unless you want to provide it.

Your budget and how many guests you expect, really is key here. Pubs will often allow you to take their function rooms for free, but You'd have difficulty getting a band and more than 50 or 60 people into even the biggest pub function room. A hotel on the other hand will have larger function rooms, but you'll probably pay the guts of €500 to rent it for the night.

I would recommend going in and around the city centre, purely to facilitate people travelling or needing accomodation.

How Strange

We're doing something similar and are renting out a function room in a club house. However, it adds money on because for catering you have to hire all delph, cutlery, glasses etc. To cut on cost, I'd look at a hotel function room. There are so many hotels now between the city centre and Naas Rd and you should be able to negotiate a good rate. The hotel could do a very good buffet for around €15-20 per person. If you can't stretch to a band then opt for a dj.

If you're clever and tough on negotiation you should be able to hold the party for €3-4k max.

sweetie

Some nice venues I have djed at weddings in the city centre are the
Harbourmaster and Fallon & Byrnes. Plenty of hotels will have smaller
function rooms and they should be willing to negotiate. Perhaps you
could organise cold buffet/finger food yourself. Pm me for a good dj
price

mrsberries

Thanks guys for the advice!! I think a hotel is the best option as we are prob looking at 60 - 100 guests.... my dad hasnt been too happy with the small wedding abroad so am really doing this for him. Want it to have a proper wedding reception feel about it. Kinda hoping to do room hire/food/ music for 2k or under. Is this feasible you think?

smelltheglove

I covered one of these recently for a couple, they had the party in a gaa club, with a dj and food. The couple were distant relatives, my dad sits as chairman there and said there had been a fair few weddings there inthe last 2 years. There were about 100 people there and it was a good knees up, we did photos in the local park beforehand, pics of the night and a trash the dress shoot a couple of days later, it was great fun, the area that the dj was in was the same area my husbands band played in, I'm sure there would be plenty of GAA clubs that could supply this to you.

How Strange

smelltheglove wrote: »

I covered one of these recently for a couple, they had the party in a gaa club, with a dj and food. The couple were distant relatives, my dad sits as chairman there and said there had been a fair few weddings there inthe last 2 years.

One thing to bear in mind if having it in a club house; you will have to hire all the plates, cups, glasses, cutlery, tablecloths even tables yourself.

We're doing this and it adds about €1k onto the cost.

Yes, OP it is doable for €2k in a hotel function room as they supply all the above. You should be able to negotiate a decent cold meat/salad buffet for €15 per person max. Get your own cake from Superquinn or M&S, haggle on the wine if you're providing any or just negotiate a corkage fee for sparkling wine and only have a toast provided.

For music you should be able to get a good dj for €500.

Keeping it under €2k means you will have to negotiate hard with all your suppliers.

smelltheglove

How Strange wrote: »

One thing to bear in mind if having it in a club house; you will have to hire all the plates, cups, glasses, cutlery, tablecloths even tables yourself.

Doesnt apply to everywhere, particularily this club anyway. If you go for a clubhouse and finger food for an evening party you generally get paper plates etc. I suppose it depends on how fancy you want to go.

mrsberries

How Strange wrote: »

One thing to bear in mind if having it in a club house; you will have to hire all the plates, cups, glasses, cutlery, tablecloths even tables yourself.

We're doing this and it adds about €1k onto the cost.

Yes, OP it is doable for €2k in a hotel function room as they supply all the above. You should be able to negotiate a decent cold meat/salad buffet for €15 per person max. Get your own cake from Superquinn or M&S, haggle on the wine if you're providing any or just negotiate a corkage fee for sparkling wine and only have a toast provided.

For music you should be able to get a good dj for €500.

Keeping it under €2k means you will have to negotiate hard with all your suppliers.

Sorry when I said reception I meant afters. Im thinking cocktail sausages and sandwiches and no drinks or toast! Cant afford to do the wedding twice over :eek: So it is possible under 2k then....?