Ardenode Country House Hotel

maheraine

Considering the Ardenode as a wedding venue for Dec 2011. Could anybody give their experience of the Ardenode as a wedding venue? A little concerned as they seem to have a lot of availabilities!

smelltheglove

I thought it was a lovely venue, I was there as a guest of friends but I also photographed the wedding. Any dealings I had with the staff were just perfect, as photographer I would need to speak to the staff a bit more and they were always helpful. The food was lovely, service all round was great and I have to say, the beds were the comfiest ever! We stayed in the older part of the hotel, above reception and it was lovely.

Grounds wise it is lovely to photograph in but you have the added benefit of the Blessington lakes close by for a photo stop off.

32finn

+1 for the Ardenode. As above i was a guest at a wedding there and also photographed a wedding there.
As a guest i have to say that the food was very very nice and the rooms are comfortable. Also, the hole place is yours for the day, nobody that's not a guest at your wedding hanging around.
As a photographer, well STG said it all. The grounds of the hotel are very nice for pics and there is plenty of choice around that area if you wanted something different

sweetie

I djed a wedding there and it was fine except they had a 21st in the bar and there was fighting outside afterwards! I would make sure to specify no other functions. Its also had a nice stage which is a bonus for band or dj

smelltheglove

As sweetie said, nice stage. The groom at the wedding I was at was a musician so the stage had been set up early for a night of rock. It was beautiful for the speech photos as they have a stunning lit backdrop on the stage which really made the photos, usually the top table has pulled curtains behond it so the speech shots arent overly fantastic but these lights just made them stunning. If you do decide to go for it it would be an idea to ask that the backdrop is in place and lit for the meal.

Whispered

Getting married there in 17 days :eek: so far I've found everyone lovely. I've been dealing with Una and she is the most helpful person you can meet.

EDIT: sweeite, when was the 21st?

maheraine

Thanks for all the comments really appreciate it. Please keep them coming would love to here from both past and future brides.

Whispered

Hey I had my wedding there 12 days ago and it was absolutely perfect. Every single aspect was just perfect. Not a single thing with the hotel went wrong and the food was out of this world. The staff were attentive and very very friendly. Even the brekkie the next morning was great.

If you think you like it but are having second thoughts please fell free to ask me any questions.

I couldn't recommend the place enough.

kennyb3

Rather than start a new thread i figured i'd post here so.

As a bit of back ground myself and the fiancee went to see this Saturday, and as you said found Una absolutely unbelievable. We loved the grounds and the reception area etc. Love the fact it will be ours exclusively for the day etc.

However we had concerns over the rooms and where other guests would stay over the accodmation on site.

@ whispered or anyone else who got married here could i ask you the following

1. Did any of the guests complain about the room size? Even the bridal suite is only a very regular sized room

2. Did the remaining guests stay in naas or punchestown or where? Did you but a bus on?

Finally just wondering how many was at your wedding? We ll have approx 90 with possibly 30 more in the evening - just concerned teh room may be slightly big.

Conversely we are looking at leixlip manor and wondering if that room will be too small.

Anyway got a really good vibe off the Ardenode and Una, id imagine they d be awesome to deal with and super accomodating.

Thanks in advance

fuddy1

OOOh would love to read some more replies about Ardenode. Planning to go see it soon. Bit worried too about lots of available dates and the fact that the website hasn't been updated with deals/packages for this year and next. Does anyone know if the Fitzer Group are in trouble/recievership?? The brochure looks really nice and am quite excited about going to see it.
As another poster mentioned am also looking at Leixlip Manor but just a bit worried that the room will be too small when evening guests are included.

kennyb3

fuddy1 wrote: »

Does anyone know if the Fitzer Group are in trouble/recievership??

Seems Fine. Once status is normal and accounts up to date are a good sign. Havent purchased last set of accounts myself yet but may do if i get further down the line with it.

modmuffin

We viewed Ardenode a while back, really lovely venue with nice grounds. We gave it some serious consideration but ended up going elsewhere for various reasons.

I wouldnt see having lots of availability as a bad thing .... might leave some room to negotiate on the price!

kennyb3

modmuffin wrote: »

We viewed Ardenode a while back, really lovely venue with nice grounds. We gave it some serious consideration but ended up going elsewhere for various reasons.

I wouldnt see having lots of availability as a bad thing .... might leave some room to negotiate on the price!

Care to share where you chose out of interest?

Whispered

kennyb3 wrote: »

As a bit of back ground myself and the fiancee went to see this Saturday, and as you said found Una absolutely unbelievable. We loved the grounds and the reception area etc. Love the fact it will be ours exclusively for the day etc.

Make sure you specify that you will expect it to be yours exclusvely. They say another wedding will not be held, but they do host other events, so you will have to be very specific about that.

kennyb3 wrote: »

However we had concerns over the rooms and where other guests would stay over the accodmation on site.

@ whispered or anyone else who got married here could i ask you the following

1. Did any of the guests complain about the room size? Even the bridal suite is only a very regular sized room

The guests were told in advance that it is a "boutique hotel" and an old building so the rooms are a bit higgedly. We had no complaints at all. The beds were comfy, the rooms clean, quiet and airy. I thought they had a certain charm in the way they were all slightly different and a bit strangely laid out. The kids loved the room with the bed in the wall.:)

kennyb3 wrote: »

2. Did the remaining guests stay in naas or punchestown or where? Did you but a bus on?

We put on buses for some guests back to Kilkenny (my family is from there) - some guests stayed in Naas,which is not a long drive at all. Taxis know the hotel too so if guests want to stay in Naas it shouldn't be an issue. I'd highly recommend the Osprey.

kennyb3 wrote: »

Finally just wondering how many was at your wedding? We ll have approx 90 with possibly 30 more in the evening - just concerned teh room may be slightly big.

We had 100 at the meal and another 50 at the afters. It seemed fine to me, although I was slightly dazed I must admit!

kennyb3 wrote: »

Anyway got a really good vibe off the Ardenode and Una, id imagine they d be awesome to deal with and super accomodating.

They can't do enough for you. Really really can't. They are fantastic. Even down to the people serving the food.

fuddy1 wrote: »

OOOh would love to read some more replies about Ardenode. Planning to go see it soon. Bit worried too about lots of available dates and the fact that the website hasn't been updated with deals/packages for this year and next.

The brochure doesn't do it justice at all. It's the one thing that annoyed me was the fact I told people the hotel, they looked it up online and were not as impressed as they should have been Please let me know what you think when you visit.
The deals, TBH I wouldn't worry too much, as it's likely you'll tailor it to suit yourself anyway. If you budget about 65-70 per head for champagne, tea, coffee, bikkies on arrival, 5 course meal with wine & choice on menu, evening food, rooms for B&G and their parents. And of course everything else youd expect like fresh flowers, sound system, bar extension, table dressings. You'll be within that ball park I'm guessing. And for everything you remove you'll save a bit too. They also have fantastic deals on simpler menus and off peak days. IIRC they had one menu for €35 a head. This didn't include evening food or anything, but it was a great place to start from. Don't hold me to that, I'm going by prices I got a year ago, so it could have changed a bit by now.

Honestly, I was so happy with the hotel. It was without a doubt the best wedding decision I made.

fuddy1

Thanx for all the info Whispered. Glad to hear u had such a great wedding day!! Yr post makes me wanna see Ardenode even more now!!. Hope to go see it this weekend or next, just have to drag the OH along! Will let you know what i think when i do eventually get to visit.

modmuffin

kennyb3 wrote: »

Care to share where you chose out of interest?

Chose Finnstown House in Lucan in the end. We actually ended up bringing our wedding forward from the planned Sept 2011 to July as they had a cancellation that we took at short notice (just over 4 months in advance)

Also liked Cabra Castle up in Cavan but they didnt have dates available that suited.

THe 2 reasons Ardenode didnt get the nod was it is a little far from our church (approx 50min drive) and the bar is not in the room. THey have a lovely residents bar just off the function room in Ardenode but we both wanted to keep everyone in the same room so people would dance / create a good atmosphere.