The Schoolhouse, Ballsbridge

jethrothe2nd

We went to look at The Schoolhouse in Ballsbridge last night as a possible place for our wedding reception. We were pretty excited about it, as we really liked the building itself, the way it was set out, and the atmosphere. It really suited what we were looking for.

However, we were totally and utterly put off by the events co-ordinator (I use that title in the loosest possible way). She made no effort to build up any kind of rapport, we were whisked around and out within 25 minutes, she did not sell the place in any way, nor did she make us feel like the most important day of our lives would be given any priority in their book. She also was not willing to make any concessions in the price. I was pretty disgusted.

The only things I can say in her defence are that the hotel has been taken over by new management, and there are changes going on. The new chef is, apparently, saying that the minimum spend for taking over for the restaurant for a wedding reception is 4000e, and she herself had only been working there for 2 months. (Whoever hired her should probably examine their interview techniques in my opinion).

The end result is that it was crossed off the list pretty swiftly.

Rant over.

xalot

wow that's a great idea for somewhere a little different for a wedding reception.
have to say anytime I've been there the staff have been appalling...to such a degree that I dont go there anymore

jethrothe2nd

Yeah - we thought it was a lovely place for our reception. We didn't expect to be treated like royalty, but a bit of enthusiasm would have been nice!

Shivvv

Hi Jethrothe2nd

We were considering The Schoolhouse too but yours is the second bad report I've heard so think I'll strike it off. We were going to go for Fallon & Byrne but nervous about that now too as they have been in the papers twice this week, once for unpaid tax and they had to pay the revenue more than 700,000euro and they apparently have an examiner in now too.... Running out of ideas for a central casual city wedding.

Have you had any luck finding a replacement for The Schoolhouse?

jethrothe2nd

Hi Shivvv,

We went to have a look at Fallon and Byrne the other week. The room itself was lovely and the menu was excellent. The girl who went through everything with us was spot on - we really walked away with the feeling that the would she and the team would put a lot of focus into getting it right for us. Price-wise, they seemed very open to a bit of haggling - without much effort, we had a couple of concessions.

The downsides for us where:
1)Access to the function room is through the shop. Not really ideal
2)Anyone who smokes has a lengthy trip downstairs and has to stand outside the front of the shop (as an ex-smoker, I kind of sympathise!)
3)You are tied to the function room for the whole evening/night. Nowhere for the bride and groom (or anyone else, for that matter!) to have a quiet few minutes to themselves.
4)Nowhere for kids to let off a bit of steam
5)No option to supply your own wine

These may not be issues for you, but for us, although overall we liked it, it didn't suit our purposes. I wasn't aware that the examiner was now in, but that would definitely give me cause for concern!

Happily, we have found the perfect place for us in Beaufield Mews in Stillorgan. I don't know if you would consider going that far out, but I would highly highly recommend going out for a look. They have an open day next Sunday I think. We decided within 20 minutes of being there it was the place for us. The gardens are lovely, the menu (which for us is the most important thing) is astounding. You can make up your own menu from the realms of ideas they give you. The price is very reasonable, and the events organiser is great. She came up with all kinds of added touches personal to us, and that was only in the 30 minute meeting we had.

RentDayBlues

+1 for Beaufield Mews

Shivvv

Hi - thanks for the response. Much appreciated - gave us something to think about when we went in to see them and the room. We've decided to go for Fallon & Byrne in the end. We're doing something really quite small with no kids so it suits us. And I had been worrying about the smoking thing but have decided to let the smokers worry about that - I gave up 6 months ago :-)

I had my heart set on a city centre wedding and didn't want to be in a hotel so I think this'll suit us perfectly.

All the best for your wedding in Beaufield Mews - have heard great things about it.

S

Selfheal

Hi there,

Had wedding reception in the Schoolhouse in 2009 and it was ideal. Meal was lovely and a really nice venue for the kind of cosy, quiet wedding we wanted. Only (minor) complaint was that the service for the meal was a bit slow - but I didn't mind as I wanted to spin out the day for as long as possible:P

oceanclub

That's a pity to hear the OP's opinion; we had our civil wedding in 2006 around the corner and then the reception (100ish people) in the Schoolhouse. Had a great time, the food was superb and some people though it was the best wedding they'd been to!

P.

Downtime

Shivvv wrote: »

Hi Jethrothe2nd

We were considering The Schoolhouse too but yours is the second bad report I've heard so think I'll strike it off. We were going to go for Fallon & Byrne but nervous about that now too as they have been in the papers twice this week, once for unpaid tax and they had to pay the revenue more than 700,000euro and they apparently have an examiner in now too.... Running out of ideas for a central casual city wedding.

Have you had any luck finding a replacement for The Schoolhouse?

I am sure if you ask F&B openly about their situation and chances of them going bust before your wedding they will be honest with you. They had similar problems last year when we were getting married and there was no issue in the end. We had an excellent day and the staff were superb and bent over backwards for us.

Zulu

I vowed never to go back to the schoolhouse because the service & staff were so crap. That was 3/4 years ago, so it could have changed significantly - sounds like it hasn't though.