Small wedding

Sunflow

Hi

Really need help, planning a small family wedding less that 25 guests for this year.
Anyone know venues in Dublin, Wicklow ,Wexford that cater for small weddings and hold civil ceremonies on the premises?
Do not want to spend loads on one day but want somewhere nice.
Anyone have or been to a wedding in Liffey Valley House??

smelltheglove

I shots a wedding at lifeey Valley house a long time ago, first of my civil ceremonies and it was lovely, grounds are nice too.

I've also covered some weddings where couples just had their reception in a restaurant function room too which is another idea for you.

Another wedding I did was in a pub, it was actually lovely, it was in the function room and had a carvery laid on, the bridesmaids decorated the room the evening before and it looked really well.

Blogger50

Hi There,

I dont know if Kildare suits you but I know that Fallons restaurant in Kilcullen have a licence to hold civil ceremonys. I am having a civil cermony and then a meal there for around 20 people this year and they have a gorgeous private room and also a piano room for pre lunch/dinner drinks.

Not that expensive either and what i liked was they didnt try to force us to pick the most expensive menu, more the opposite in fact!

bnev

Hi Sunflow,

It looks like we are both in the same position with trying to find a venue for a small wedding.

We are still looking at some options but recently wento view the Shoolhouse Hotel in Ballsbridge as recommended on this site. This was a perfect spot for a small wedding. Altough its in the city it is very secluded and the perfect size. We are currently discussing prices and they are very reasonable, especially compared to other venues for small weddings.

I do not think that they cater for civil ceremonies on this premises. However, we are also doing a civil ceremony and searched online for suitable sites. We settled on Dublin City Hall, who were extremely helpful. Although this is a little more expensive than other places at 700 euro, the location and history should create a great atmosphere. The ceremonies are held in the main hall which is spectacular.

I hope this is of some help and let me know if you come across anything else which might help us in our search too.

Bnev

smelltheglove

I was going to mention gallons but was unsure re civils on site. I have one booked for there but with registry office, the bride can't speak highly enough of the place!

LashingLady

As far as I know you can have a civil ceremony at the Unitarian Church on Stephen's Green, see http://www.unitarianchurchdublin.org/weddings.htm

Then there's lots of restaurant options around Dublin 2 and 4 if you liked the idea of a city wedding.

spade

how about Rosedale House - totally gorgeous with courtyard and private accomodation

or Ballybeg House
or Beaufield Mews


If you only want to have 25 and you want to have the ceremony on the premises I think you might fall a little between two stools - places that have the licence for civil ceremonies tend to cater for a minimum of 40, while smaller venues for say 25 (restaurants etc) - tend not to do the ceremony bit

Two other venues in the city that would be worth checking out:
No. 10 Ormond Quay and Royal College of Physicians on Kildare St. Both have smaller rooms and licences as far as i know.

Bit further out is Lisnavagh in Carlow

RentDayBlues

Rosedale house is approx €5K to hire, that's just to use the house do depending on your budget.

Most restaurants cater for both civil ceremonies and receptions, L'Ecrivian have started and it looks so pretty http://www.lecrivain.com/#WEDDINGS

spade

how about Airfield - http://www.airfield.ie/index.html website isnt great but place is gorgeous

mambo

Sunflow wrote: »

Hi

Really need help, planning a small family wedding less that 25 guests for this year.
Anyone know venues in Dublin, Wicklow ,Wexford that cater for small weddings and hold civil ceremonies on the premises?
Do not want to spend loads on one day but want somewhere nice.
Anyone have or been to a wedding in Liffey Valley House??

We're in a similar boat. Looking hard for a hotel (or restaurant with a good hotel in the vicinity) within say an hour of Dublin (Dublin, Wicklow, Wexford, Meath, Kildare, Louth, etc.) for a ceremony & meal for 30-40 guests (good quality food, with a choice for the guests), and an "afters" party for the 30-40 plus maybe another 30 guests.

We prefer modern, chic, slightly "minimalist" hotels/restaurants to the more old-fashioned ornate kind, so any pointers in that direction would be appreciated.

DM addict

Same boat too

We're looking at 20 guests for ceremony, maybe 30 for reception. Have considered City Hall for the ceremony - Unitarian church looks nice from the inside but does anyone know what it's like inside?

Whispered

Delighted to see Fallons mentioned here. It's a bit of a local for us.

A year ago I'd have said you were mad, the staff were terribly rude and slow but over the last few months I've started to go back and the improvement is amazing. Happy, smiling compentant staff (who don't tut when you ask for a drink!) and really lovely food. I think it won best restaurant in kildare 2010. The building itself has a sort of french feel and the function room is fab with an amazing huge open fire.

The town of Kilcullen is one of the prettiest towns I've been in with some lovely photo areas (of course I'm biased, we bought our house down here).

We're having our wedding in the Ardenode house Hotel on Oct 8th, we're having larger numbers but originally went to look for a meal for 25. They can host civil ceremonies. I think the building is just gorgeous, the food lovely and the staff are so great. Although I'm not sure the style is what you would be looking for. you might want to check it out though. http://www.ardenodehotel.com/ the website could do with an update and does not do the place justice. I could go on all day about it so if you want more info on it let me know.

If you're getting married in Dublin, I've heard good things about guinesses as a venue for smaller functions - I think there is a thread around here somewhere.

Eliza Dolittle

^^^looking for similar. Boyfriend is widower and we don't want a big fuss; and I'm not into the whole big white wedding craic anyway. Can anybody recommend somewhere like this in the midlands/Galway area??

TonyM.

http://www.westgrovehotel.com/


Hi. we settled on the Westgrove Hotel in Clane lovely modern building and the food is first class.

mambo

DM addict wrote: »

Same boat too

We're looking at 20 guests for ceremony, maybe 30 for reception. Have considered City Hall for the ceremony - Unitarian church looks nice from the inside but does anyone know what it's like inside?

By the way, prices for a room for a civil ceremony vary from 300-750 for a Dublin city centre 5-star hotel, to around 200 for a 4-star hotel in the suburbs, to free at some country hotels.

ConnectDJs

LashingLady wrote: »

As far as I know you can have a civil ceremony at the Unitarian Church on Stephen's Green, see http://www.unitarianchurchdublin.org/weddings.htm

Then there's lots of restaurant options around Dublin 2 and 4 if you liked the idea of a city wedding.

I thought so too. I also think they come to venues to carry out the ceremony. Not sure if they are limited to certain ones. I didn't think they were.

kandr10

As another poster mentioned, Beaufield Mews is gorgeous. They do the ceremony and they've two rooms for meal, depending on size of group so they cater for smaller groups too.
Wineport Lodge in Athlone looks gorgeous. Not sure about prices though.

As regards holding ceremony in same place, could you not just send an
application to HSE for a particular place to see if it meets their criteria? Maybe other posters could offer some insight on this.
Best of luck anyway!

How Strange

We had our ceremony and meal in Tinakilly House in Rathnew just outside Wicklow. They can hold up to 90 but were incredibly accomodating for us. We had 20 for a late lunch. Fantastic venue, great food (set lunch menu with 2 choices), cosy bar for drinks after. I'm so glad we had our wedding there. It really was the perfect day.

mambo

The Court Yard hotel in Leixlip has a good sized room for a small receiption (c. 30-50 people). Food is good too.

wicklowgal

How Strange wrote: »

We had our ceremony and meal in Tinakilly House in Rathnew just outside Wicklow. They can hold up to 90 but were incredibly accomodating for us. We had 20 for a late lunch. Fantastic venue, great food (set lunch menu with 2 choices), cosy bar for drinks after. I'm so glad we had our wedding there. It really was the perfect day.

You beat me to it! Was at my best friend's wedding there 2 weeks ago, they only had 30 and it was fantastic. Thoroughly enjoyed the day and apparently very reasonable too. They had their civil ceremony there, a meal, and a small party with 60-70 guests after. Fabulous day. Highly recommend it.

delsalmon

Blogger50 wrote: »

Hi There,

I dont know if Kildare suits you but I know that Fallons restaurant in Kilcullen have a licence to hold civil ceremonys. I am having a civil cermony and then a meal there for around 20 people this year and they have a gorgeous private room and also a piano room for pre lunch/dinner drinks.

Not that expensive either and what i liked was they didnt try to force us to pick the most expensive menu, more the opposite in fact!

hi blogger hope all went well, lookin at fallons myself as an option, what is the max they cater for a wedding, comfortably, without being too packed in? do they provide a bar extension? did you have the civil there too, or the local town hall? any tips or extra advice on the venue much appreciated. lookin at 50people with dj rather than band, ive emailed mary for info

mambo

delsalmon wrote: »

hi blogger hope all went well, lookin at fallons myself as an option, what is the max they cater for a wedding, comfortably, without being too packed in? do they provide a bar extension? did you have the civil there too, or the local town hall? any tips or extra advice on the venue much appreciated. lookin at 50people with dj rather than band, ive emailed mary for info

50 or so people in Fallons should be fine, much more than that you might find it a bit cramped? There's a nice room for a drinks reception for that size (with a piano that plays itself!), beside the room for the meal & dancing. You can have a civil ceremony there, or elsewhere (e.g. registry office in Naas, 15mins drive away).

Blogger50

delsalmon wrote: »

hi blogger hope all went well, lookin at fallons myself as an option, what is the max they cater for a wedding, comfortably, without being too packed in? do they provide a bar extension? did you have the civil there too, or the local town hall? any tips or extra advice on the venue much appreciated. lookin at 50people with dj rather than band, ive emailed mary for info

Hi Delsalmon,

Not sure what the max is but 50 in that room would be fine. We had our meal in the restaurant, it doesnt open until the evening so we had it to ourselves from 2pm until 6pm.

We had a champagne reception in the room with the piano when we arrived and they we took photos there and also in the large back room which is fabulous.

I couldnt recommend them highly enough but if you can you should pay them a visit and meet Mary in person. She is lovely and you will get a lovely vibe off the place which you wont get over the phone.

We just called in one day, had a drink and a chat with mary, no appointment or anything. Within a few minutes we decided it was the venue for us!

We were married in Naas so I can say what the ceremony would be like there. All our guests loved it. Best of luck

delsalmon

thanks blogger, will definately check them out