Galway wedding - I need a relaxed affair but beautiful - help!

Lousqueeza

Hi there,

We moved here in the Summer and recently got engaged I now need to find a venue for a civil service and reception for 80-100 guests.
As with everyone, money is tight and we'd also like a relatively relaxed affair.
I have loads of family and friends flying over for this next November, some of which won't have visited Ireland before so the location is really important to me. I'd love to give them a great day/evening in a pretty cool location (Connemara maybe?)!
I've found some hotels on the internet but I'm sure there are a few gems out there that may not appear too far up in internet searches or the venue could be a pub/restaurant with great service/experience of weddings.
If anyone out there has experience of something like this and can give me ANY advice it would be hugely appreciated!!!
Lou

Sponge Bob

Park Lodge Hotel/Ostan na Páirce in Spiddal is well worth a look, they specialise in that scale of wedding. Make sure you go out when there is a wedding on to see what you think. There are relatively few hotels in Connemara to be honest, their quality is highly variable to be kind.

a) Lots are closed in november, if they open you freeze.
b) Some are right up their own asses , personnel and pricing wise
c) They can only sleep 30-50 and the other 50 guests are scattered up to 20 miles away in an area with basically no taxi service.

The only two I would seriously recommend a look at, are the Abbey Glen in Clifden and Sweeneys in Oughterard, again make sure you check out a real reception there for yourself before you book. Peacocks are big enough but were closed for years in receivership, I dunno what the story is now but they were open in the summer.

dec25532

Menlo Park Hotel in Galway city doing great deals for weddings and might be worth checking out. Abbeyglen and Station House in Clifden would be wild dear. You could try Renvyle House Hotel but I suspect that they would be expensive as well. The couple could always go to Knock!!!

bobbytables

http://www.cloghancastle.com sounds ideal for what you're looking for.

Attended a wedding here not that long ago. It was the most memorable wedding I have ever been to in terms of venue and still cost less than most overall.

mikeanywhere

Why not try Ballynahinch Castle for your wedding as they are approved for civils on site with a church nearby if you want to do the church blessing afterwards.

Its an amazing location, great scenery, fantastic food and the staff are just so friendly.

If you want to see any weddings from there then let PM me and I can send you some links

I thought all civil weddings happened in Clarinbridge?

I'm not sure if you are able to have the actual ceremony anywhere.

cats.life

we had a civial cermony in ORANMORE LODGE HOTEL, they cater for all . it was a cosey do , we done a buffet,.if you want more info op pm me, or call them ask for shirley ,

tootired

I thought all civil weddings happened in Clarinbridge?

I'm not sure if you are able to have the actual ceremony anywhere.

You can get married in any venue as long as the venue has gotten approval from the HSE and HSA - the law was changed about 3 years ago to allow for couples who wanted to get married in the venue where the reception would take place. The only thing is that the registrar only work mon - fri office hours.

mikeanywhere

tootired wrote: »

You can get married in any venue as long as the venue has gotten approval from the HSE and HSA - the law was changed about 3 years ago to allow for couples who wanted to get married in the venue where the reception would take place. The only thing is that the registrar only work mon - fri office hours.

Hit it on the head. The registrars will only perform the service based on approved venues only.

cowlove

http://www.clooncastle.com/?page_id=16

InTheTrees

This place is brilliant. Its small enough that you can book the whole hotel for your guests.

http://www.rosleague.com/

trixie11

mikeanywhere wrote: »

Hit it on the head. The registrars will only perform the service based on approved venues only.

i think most venues are approved these days but once it has 4 walls and a roof! you cant get married outside

InTheTrees

I was at a Civil ceremony a few months back. It was in a hotel conference room in a hotel in Oranmore.

It was odd. There were the trappings of ceremony added to a purely bureaucratic process.

Cant you just sign the book and get on with the real Wedding instead of jumping through hoops for the benefit of the bureaucrat who officiates the state "ceremony"? Why does the state require a separate ceremony anyway?

greengreen

Was at one in Rossleague==miles out but a really cool place

gerryk

Rosleague is lovely... I don't know if they do civil ceremonies though.

I got married this year at the Zetland Country House Hotel, also in Connemara. The price was right and the food excellent. I would recommend them highly. Also, staff are excellent attentive but not crowding. (Colm is a little highly strung, but a nice bloke)
We also booked the whole place for our party (~65 guests + a few kids)

http://www.zetland.com/

mikeanywhere

trixie11 wrote: »

i think most venues are approved these days but once it has 4 walls and a roof! you cant get married outside

Yeah there are quite a few that are but still quite a lot that aren't

Remezz0

Hi,

I'm getting married in Connemara. My fiancee is French so we will have a lot of people coming from abroad.
The best hotels with a great reputation for food in this area are definitely
(1) Ballynahinch ( don't know numbers but may be expensive)
(2) Rossleague Manor (95 - 100)
(3) Renvyle House Hotel (up to 180/190 but can cater for smaller groups in a smaller room too)

Renvyle will have amazing food and do great prices. It has an old world charm of it's own.

If you're looking at smaller numbers other picturesque spots to check out are:
(1) Gregan's Castle in Co. Clare - has won awards for it's food but only caters for up 75 people, (2) Carrig Country House in Kerry which caters for 60 or so people and (3) The Rectory in Glandore in Co Cork (120 people) but music has to stop at 1:30am.

There are other spots like Parknasilla in Co. Kerry that has a stunning setting and while before it would have been out of many people's reach are doing great deals because of the economy.

Hope that keeps you going and congratulations.