Wedding Venues

helimachoptor

Folks the OH is from Ballycastle and i popped the question a couple of weeks ago.
We're in Mayo this weekend and heading to look at the Pontoon Hotel and Park Hotel, Kiltimagh.

Can anyone recommend some good hotels within say 90 mins of Ballycastle.

Have already been to Ocean Sands & Diamond Coast for weddings but not interested in either. Breaffy house was nice about 4 years ago but i think its in receivership now??

anyone got experiences of Mount Falcon?

happyoutscan

Have been at 2 weddings recently in the Mulranney Park Hotel and was very very impressed with it. Great food, service, scenery and a number of different accommodations at the hotel. I've checked AA Routeplanner and it gives a distance of 85km (1:44 minutes) from Ballycastle to Mulranney so it might just be a bit too far for your group. Best of luck!

littleredspot

Hi, we got married in Belleek castle in Ballina

http://www.belleekcastle.com/

Most Mayo people have never been in it strangely enough.
Spectacular entrance through a forest. Very friendly helpful staff. Totally genuine relaxed castle atmosphere. (you can have exclusive use of the castle) Amazing feeling going down into the wedding venue room. I notice they've even got a shiny new website:)

finisklin

Downhill Hotel is worth a look, I'm sure the pricing of all the hotels you are viewing is competitive and for me the DH's grub is suberb. Easily the most under rated hotel in Ballina, have never been to a bad wedding there - great staff, big function room (perfect for dancing/disco) and Frogs bar is always a great way to round off the night....usually in the early hours 4-5am:p.

Your starting point is probably your budget and don't forget to play some of the hotels off each other...healthy competition always helps! Haven't been to a wedding in Mount Falcon so can't comment.

Exciting time for you and yours.....best of luck with the big day.

woody1

got married in castle dargan just outside sligo and it was fantastic... function room is glazed floor to ceiling on both sides ..not one of the dark windowless affairs, staff and food were great and the hotel is still fairly new.. 5 years built or thereabouts at this stage
the other one slightly closer to hand would be the broadhaven in belmullet ..went to a wedding there about a year ago and it was great as well

helimachoptor

Thanks guys, the OH had heard bad things about Beleek and the Downhill but from the website it looks pretty nice (Beleek) not overly impressed by the downhill site.


Castledargan looks very nice so will need to get to that over the next few weeks!

Broadhaven bay looks nice aswell

Will be spending a lot of weekends in Mayo over the next month or two i think!

detoxkid

Mount Falcon is totally fab for a wedding, would highly recommend it. I'd say it is very pricey though. I've heard horror stories about Breaffy, though have never been to a wedding there.

yurmothrintites

Belleek Castle is amazing and the food is excellent. I've been to a few weddings in Pontoon and really enjoyed them. Both stunning locations.

littleredspot

Broadhaven Bay has a lovely view, is quite modern but is a more "normal" type hotel.

Stayed in a holiday home attached to Mullraney Park just last week, fabulous funky houses. The view from the function room and the smoking balcony would be hard to beat anywhere. The couple that were getting married there on Paddy's Day, got married in the local church and had their own Paddy's Day parade down to the hotel

Don't be too quick to judge a hotel on it's website, the Belleek one was rubbish up until this year. Belleek is very quirky which some people would hate, they don't do all the trimmings that you might expect from a 4 or 5 star hotel, in fact I don't think it has any stars! But what they lack in trouser presses they make up for in care and attention to detail. You'll really be made to feel that the castle is yours and that nothing you want is a problem. If you are going to view it, try to get them to let you sneak in on a wedding in progress, you'll be instantly hooked.

helimachoptor

thanks for the advice folks!

toadfly

Hi OP, my sister is having her reception in Breaffy this August, they are in receivership but hopefully it wont affect the day.

Broadhaven is lovely, was at two weddings there last year and have another one next month. 1 wedding last year the only problem was they didnt start serving the starter until 7 and didnt get the main for an hour after that was taken away. Second one there was perfect, no complaints at all.

Mount Falcon is very expensive and you have to book out all the rooms for the night of the wedding which wasnt possible for my family are we all live 5 minutes from there. They have a max of (I think 150 guests). Dining room is very small with a tiny bar. Way overpriced IMHO.

Wouldn't be a fan of the Downhill at all for a wedding.

Pontoon Bridge is gorgeous, havent been at a wedding there for years but the grounds are fantastic, the private beach helps too!

Knockranny House in Westport is nice, wouldnt be my taste but my sister was impressed. Quiet expensive too.

The Icehouse in Ballina might be nice?

helimachoptor

The ice house is nice... [snip]

ep71

ive been to a good few weddings in the last year or two, most recently in the pontoon bridge last summer. first time there and i was very much impressed, food was fantastic and they insisted on coming around with seconds and even third portions if my memory serves me correctly, great grounds and good bar service all night. was two weddings in the ballina area the previous year, first was in mountfalcon, really nice place, very impressive grounds etc but wasnt really blown away by the food or serice personally, drinks were a bit on the dear side also. second wedding was in bellek which i thought was grand but i didnt make the meal so cant really comment on that, grounds were lovely and the function room was fairly epic, down a winding stairs inside a castle! might i just recommend that you try the welcome inn in castlebar, its a small family run hotel right in the middle of the town, they dont really do too many weddings anymore as most of the local weddings go to the castlecourt or the plaza in westport but the food is always great and the service is fairly good. would be a grand spin up through the windy gap and stop at the top for a few pictures before making your way to the hotel. my two cents anyway!

YouTookMyName

Hotel Ballina have a nice function room, was at a dinner dance and the food was top notch.

nuac

Have been at weddings at Mulranny Park, and in Westport at Knockrannyu, Castlecourt, and Hotel Westport.

All went well.

dozydelilah

if ya want somewhere a little different, i think westport house is doing marque weddings, oh and Paddies thatch pub in tourmakeady, does brilliant marque events, it s on the lake and so fab!

The Nutty M

The sister had her wedding in the Knockranny last November and it was very very good,food was lovely,did the full 7 courses.The drink was good and the service was brilliant.My cousin had his reception in The Helm as well and it wasn't too bad at all.Been to 2 weddings in the Downhill and each time it went further down the hill,brutal altogether.

Enjoy the big day anyways.:)

witnessrenegade

Don't go near the Welcome Inn or Breaffy House in Castlebar, Ive heard too many horror stories about both, the hotel in Mulranney is lovely, congrats!

finisklin

It's great to see Mayo's hotels and banqueting facilities get a thumbs up on this thread - certainly reassuring for visitors.

It's made me think though....what makes a good wedding venue? The question is directly related to what makes a good wedding and the venue has a key part in this.

For me the guests play a big part - to have family, friends and people who have made an effort to travel long distances adds to the occasion. The venue that get's the most out of the guests enjoyment on the day has to get a thumbs up, which means problems are sorted quickly.

Though to organise a wedding these days I'm sure a project management course would come in handy to have the church, music, flowers, readings, band, food, speeches, time keeping flow in harmony......:D

Value for money has to be important in these recessionary times - not just low prices.

YouTookMyName

finisklin wrote: »

It's made me think though....what makes a good wedding venue?

Big bar and plenty of staff, plenty waiting staff to throw out good food.

helimachoptor

Stopped by The Park Hotel in Kiltimagh, not impressed, downstairs was ok but upstairs was pretty manky to be honest.

Pontoon, even though it looks a bit old the lake and the food are pretty good.

Hotel Ballina, stopped in due to the M-I-L saying to but for me it was already a no for the same reason as the Diamond Coast, just looks like an industrial building.

Will look at a few more in a few weeks but so far Pontoon is in the lead, all the jackeens will love the lake

Kristopherus

Breaffy House are holding a Wedding Fayre on next Sunday 17th April. Must be putting in a big effort, if the ads in the weekly local papers are anything to go by.

mayotom

have been to two at Mullrany Park and one in Kiltimagh over the past year, both were excellent, but Mullranny wins due to the stunning location

Liberty__Belle

Hi there, I am seriously considering Breaffy House for my wedding. It is currently owned by Bank of Scotland and new management were appointed recently. I have heard excellent recent reports but old reports of 2-3 years ago still seem to haunt this place. I would appreciate a good honest review.

toadfly

Liberty__Belle wrote: »

Hi there, I am seriously considering Breaffy House for my wedding. It is currently owned by Bank of Scotland and new management were appointed recently. I have heard excellent recent reports but old reports of 2-3 years ago still seem to haunt this place. I would appreciate a good honest review.

Hi sorry about the late reply, you have probably decided by now!

My sister had her reception there in August, it was fab. Such a gorgeous hotel. Staff all lovely and dinner was amazing. I know there has been bad reports on the food but couldnt fault it at all. The soup is really lovely

OP we are going to view Pontoon, Mulranny & Westport Woods tomorrow for our wedding. Did you decide to stick with Pontoon?

Liberty__Belle

TillyGirl wrote: »

Hi sorry about the late reply, you have probably decided by now!

My sister had her reception there in August, it was fab. Such a gorgeous hotel. Staff all lovely and dinner was amazing. I know there has been bad reports on the food but couldnt fault it at all. The soup is really lovely

OP we are going to view Pontoon, Mulranny & Westport Woods tomorrow for our wedding. Did you decide to stick with Pontoon?

Thanks Tilly Girl - we decided to go with McWilliam Park Hotel in the end. I loved Breaffy House and found it hard to say no but McWilliam met our needs better. Thanks for the response,

My_left_leg

Belleck is an excellent spot, as is Breaffy house.

don't go to Kiltimagh as a friend attended a wedding there and she said it was dreadful.