Slane Castle and other Meath venues

Penny Dreadful

Morning All

I'm off to look at places to hold my wedding reception this weekend. One of the places we're going to look at is the Station House. My mum has also suggested Knightsbrook in Trim. I've been in touch with Slane Castle and am working on getting an appointment there too to view. Do any of you have a) any comments, advice or suggestions on Slane and b) any other suggestions in the general area.

deskgirl

We viewed Station House - it's lovely but we felt it was too small for our numbers. The food is meant to be amazing, I definitely want to go back for dinner sometime. Really liked the staff there.
I loved Knightsbrook (apart from the driveway). Room is fab and wedding organiser seemed really efficient. We went with the Ballymascanlon in the end as it was the best overall for us.
Enjoy

Borderfox

Trim Castle Hotel - http://www.trimcastlehotel.com/
Mill House Slane - http://www.themillhouse.ie/
Bellinteer House - http://www.bellinterhouse.com/
Ballymagarvey - http://www.ballymagarvey.ie/home/


I didnt think much of Knightsbrook, there is something that doesnt fit together for me.

Penny Dreadful

Borderfox wrote: »

Trim Castle Hotel - http://www.trimcastlehotel.com/
Mill House Slane - http://www.themillhouse.ie/
Bellinteer House - http://www.bellinterhouse.com/
Ballymagarvey - http://www.ballymagarvey.ie/home/


I didnt think much of Knightsbrook, there is something that doesnt fit together for me.

Ballymagarvey is to be looked at this weekend too but I think its very expensive. From what I saw on their website they were looking for €150 per head!
I saw Bellinteer a while back (just having a nosey around with my mum) and didn't like it. Also think it is likely to close soon enough and don't want to have the stress of finding a second venue.
Will check out the Mill House in Slane.

Thanks for the suggestions:)

Penny Dreadful

deskgirl wrote: »

We viewed Station House - it's lovely but we felt it was too small for our numbers. The food is meant to be amazing, I definitely want to go back for dinner sometime. Really liked the staff there.
I loved Knightsbrook (apart from the driveway). Room is fab and wedding organiser seemed really efficient. We went with the Ballymascanlon in the end as it was the best overall for us.
Enjoy

What were your numbers? I've put together a provisional list and it comes to 160 people. There are at least 10/12 I know won't come straight away and then there are the others that can't come so I'm guessing that there may be 130 in all.

deskgirl

approx 140/150. Not having traditional top table though so means that we loose more space in the room with a round or oval one. You'll see what I mean when you see the room, quite narrow.

John Mason

i have been to weddings in Slane Castle and The Station House

Slane Castle -

We arrived at 2pm - dinner wasnt until 6.30pm. we are in the hall where there was approx. 12 seats, so had to stand for 4 hours, in heels on cold stone flooring.

Gale force freezing cold wind blowing to the doors.

The food hall was up two slights of stairs.

food was horrible - everything was covered in Corridinar

the ladies toilets were in a bedroom !! and the door handle came off in my hand.

The food hall was in two rooms, we could see the top table for the speechs as we were in the second room.

about 40 chairs were available for the afternoons (wedding was for 100+ people)

I was so happy i had brought flat shoes with me.

John Mason

The Station House

In the arse end of nowhere - had to drive, as no transport was laid on at that particular wedding.

Food was horrendous.

Really bad sound system for the band.

We are all asked to move from the hall food into the main building when they set up for the evening - 100+ squeezed in to a tiny house wasnt fun.

the only good thing about that wedding was the fact the bar didnt charge for Blackcurrent and Water.

Have a wedding in Knightsbrook in October.

Penny Dreadful

irishbird wrote: »

i have been to weddings in Slane Castle and The Station House

Slane Castle -

We arrived at 2pm - dinner wasnt until 6.30pm. we are in the hall where there was approx. 12 seats, so had to stand for 4 hours, in heels on cold stone flooring.

Gale force freezing cold wind blowing to the doors.

The food hall was up two slights of stairs.

food was horrible - everything was covered in Corridinar

the ladies toilets were in a bedroom !! and the door handle came off in my hand.

The food hall was in two rooms, we could see the top table for the speechs as we were in the second room.

about 40 chairs were available for the afternoons (wedding was for 100+ people)

I was so happy i had brought flat shoes with me.

Yikes! Safe to say you weren't happy with it then. Good to know.

irishbird wrote: »

The Station House

In the arse end of nowhere - had to drive, as no transport was laid on at that particular wedding.

Food was horrendous.

Really bad sound system for the band.

We are all asked to move from the hall food into the main building when they set up for the evening - 100+ squeezed in to a tiny house wasnt fun.

the only good thing about that wedding was the fact the bar didnt charge for Blackcurrent and Water.

Have a wedding in Knightsbrook in October.

I'm kinda from the arse end of no where and the Station House isn't too far from where the ceremony will be taking place. So on that front its ok.
Am very surprised that you found the food to be bad. I've only heard good things about it. To be fair, I have also heard that you will have to insist that the head chef is there on the day rather than a stand in, maybe it was the stand in chef's food you had?
The other points are good to know and I'll keep them in mind when I go to look on Sunday.

John Mason

i am a vegetarian i always get the same horrible food at weddings

Penny Dreadful

irishbird wrote: »

i am a vegetarian i always get the same horrible food at weddings

People can be rather unimaginative when it comes to vegetarians all right.
Actually I'm in somewhat of a quandry with my brother. He is a vegan and is embracing the raw food movement right now. I haven't a clue how that will be catered for.
He will either have to bend a little with his requirements or bring a packed lunch I think.

Borderfox

I was at a wedding in the Newgrange Hotel in Navan and the Vegetarian option was stuffed mushrooms, tasted fab also the Old Darley in Athboy's veg option was superb.

Penny Dreadful

Borderfox wrote: »

I was at a wedding in the Newgrange Hotel in Navan and the Vegetarian option was stuffed mushrooms, tasted fab also the Old Darley in Athboy's veg option was superb.

Actually my older sister's wedding was in the Old Darnley in Athboy in 2000! It was one of the best wedding's I've ever been to.
Maybe I should consider that too.
I was at a wedding in the Newgrange in Navan a while back and didn't like it.

sweetie

Two other options close by are Glebe house and Tankardstown, quite different but both lovely imo.
Darver castle isn't a hell of a distance from there either.
@ Irishbird - how can you blame the station house for the bands pa?
My own criticism of the station house is the reception venue decor is very drab for such a lovely building

Penny Dreadful

Went to see Tankardstown House yesterday. It is fabulous but it would cost too much for people to stay over unfortunately. For anyone else considering it though I have to say the staff that showed us around were so lovely and the grounds and cottages etc are amazing.

The Station House looked really good and it ticked a lot of boxes but like others I'm not sure about the numbers. The room was set out for 100 people and we'd probably have 130/140 and I don't see how they would fit them in.

Knightsbrook has been given some very bad reviews from people I know. I went there to have lunch on Sunday and it certainly looks very nice but if the food (on the day of your wedding) and service is as bad as has been reported then the nicest venue in the world isn't going to make up for that.

Has anyone got any experiences of Trim Castle Hotel?

Molly1983

Have you considered the castle arch hotel in Trim? I know it's an old hotel but the food is lovely there. I know someone who was married there in August and she can't praise it enough
She had the fairy tale package and found the staff very helpful to deal with.

Penny Dreadful

Molly1983 wrote: »

Have you considered the castle arch hotel in Trim? I know it's an old hotel but the food is lovely there. I know someone who was married there in August and she can't praise it enough
She had the fairy tale package and found the staff very helpful to deal with.

Will add it to the (ever growing:eek:) list. Thank you:)

Rew

We were very disappointed with Slane Castle when we viewed it. Boyne Hill House is not far from Bellinter, you could have a look there.

Penny Dreadful

Rew wrote: »

We were very disappointed with Slane Castle when we viewed it. Boyne Hill House is not far from Bellinter, you could have a look there.

Boyne Valley seems really nice. Just called them and certainly first impressions over the phone are great. Going to see it on Thursday evening for a first look!.

clint_silver

penny, sent you a pm replying to other question. Ive been in knightsbrook and trim at least 20 times each over the last 2 years with work at weddings. Would not have a bad word to say about either place and if I was getting married again would not have a problem with either of them. staff, food, service all great every time.

station house is great to play in as well, Ive eaten there as well, I dont live too far and food is always good. If the head chef isnt there on a particular day why should that interfere with your food, do they have someone on who doesn't know what they're doing?

As sweetie said, dont blame the venue for a bad sound system review, thats up to the entertainment to bring (although Ie heard some horrendous systems over the years and the relevant band/dj should be named as giving the rest of us a bad name). Station house do move people out while band/dj gets set up , usually 30 minutes or so, and they put down the dancefloor but most people go for a stroll after meal and speeches anyway so i wouldnt count that against it. A lot of venues do this anyway.

slane/ballymagarvey and bellinter I would group together. Really good, but very expensive for what they are for me. You can nitpick about anything in them if you want but nothing really bad.

EveT

Station house - wedding coordinator is a dote, so friendly and bubbly, food meant to be v good, my other half is veggie and the chef said hed design the dishes with him. Didnt go with it but impressions of it were v good.

Bellinter - nearly booked here but had a total nightmare. Wedding coordinator is not what youd expect from a wedding coordinator. They are being run by bank of scotland, jay bourkes property, was dirty, stayed a night, loved it like, food was nice, but then we had a total disaster with half written contracts, but havent seen anyway I loved as much as the place.

Trim castle - big big room, wedding I was at had about 180. Food ok. nice room for big group.

Rew

Penny Dreadful wrote: »

Boyne Valley seems really nice. Just called them and certainly first impressions over the phone are great. Going to see it on Thursday evening for a first look!.

Def worth a look they hadn't had any weddings when we looked last year which was a big reason we didnt go with them.

We also looked at Slane Castle, Bellinter, Darver Castle, Ballymcgarvey (and loads others).

Bigest problem with Slane is that 90% of you wedding head off to tother hotels and B&B's as there is only about 10 bedrooms. Grounds arnt very nice either. Its an empty building thats ocupied just for events, not sure you can even get breakfast there the morning after unless the carteres come back

Bellinter was a massive disappointment, stayed the night there and service was poor, food was only OK, attention to detail was terrible, breakfast next morning was shocking. Really hope they have improved since then. Also there is only one toilet on the main floor so your guests will be going down to the basement to other toilets all night. We heard from a guest at a weddign there this wasn't ideal.

Didn't like Daver start to finish.

Ballymcgarvey is stunning but very pricy. You can negotiate though and I know people who have gotten amazing deals.

meganj

I was at two weddings about six months apart from each other the first was the Station House.

I have to say I thought the station house was beautiful for the wedding, the couple had their ceremony in the forresty area outside the hotel and they had it lit up with fairy lights and decorated and it was beautiful. It was either summer or it was a nice day as we had the drinks, snacks on the patio outside the hotels main doors and then the dinner/dancing/reception was in the stand alone house. It was a very small wedding but I must say I thought the food was gorgeous, the staff were very nice and the entire outside ceremony/hotel reception was lovely, we weren't at all affected by the location as it was all on the one site.

I was also at a wedding at Trim Castle Hotel, another Civil Ceremony, have to say I didn't like the room they had it in (don't know why just was very conferencey), then we had drinks on the roof garden. This I have to say was the highlight. You are slap bang right in front of the castle and it is perfect for group photos and a few drinks/snacks. The reception was in the same room as the ceremony but have to say with the lights and tables and coverings etc it looked much nicer. The wedding in Trim castle was a VERY big wedding i'd say easily twice the size of the one at the Station House, but because there was so many people there the hotel was great because it was huge but cozy if that makes sense?

For me it's be the Station House hands down, but that's just because it's my type of wedding. The Trim Castle Hotel was really nice, but I suppose for me it was in the middle of the town (handy for B&B) and had that kind of air (people in their finery standing on the street smoking etc) where as the seclusion of the station house I thought was much more beautiful, but once again this seclusion only works if you are staying all day.

ElectraX

Penny Dreadful wrote: »

Boyne Valley seems really nice. Just called them and certainly first impressions over the phone are great. Going to see it on Thursday evening for a first look!.

Will be interested to hear what you think of Boyne Hill House- we are going to view it this weekend. Really want to stay away from the whole big hotel set up and this place sounds ideal. Have heard only one negative about it-dance floor really small!
We are planning a wedding of 160 so that could be a problem:rolleyes:
They let you bring in up to 100 bottles of wine with no corkage which is an excellent perk:D

Penny Dreadful

ElectraX wrote: »

Will be interested to hear what you think of Boyne Hill House- we are going to view it this weekend. Really want to stay away from the whole big hotel set up and this place sounds ideal. Have heard only one negative about it-dance floor really small!
We are planning a wedding of 160 so that could be a problem:rolleyes:
They let you bring in up to 100 bottles of wine with no corkage which is an excellent perk:D

Another place I'm considering which may also suit you is The Mill House in Slane. www.millhouse.ie

ElectraX

Penny Dreadful wrote: »

What were your numbers? I've put together a provisional list and it comes to 160 people. There are at least 10/12 I know won't come straight away and then there are the others that can't come so I'm guessing that there may be 130 in all.

If your numbers are 130, you can rule out the MillHouse in Village at Lyons. We viewed it this weekend, and for any wedding over 100+, you would have a split level set up, with some dinner tables being at a level above the main room...weird! Or maybe a benefit if you have loads of messers coming:D
Having said that, the venue itself is beautiful, really well maintained, just more suited to the smaller weddings.

macinalli

Hi, we're getting married in Feb '12 and are having the reception in Clonabreany House (just outside Kells). So far all has been good: the venue looks great, management are good to deal with and the food we had for a tasting menu was superb. I think that their limit is 210. Didn't manage to get free corkage on the wine though:cool:

XmasProposal

Any chance you could PM me with the details of the deal you did with Clonabreany macinalli?

Just looked at their website and the pictures look stunning!

orlaithd

HI
I'm local to Meath so been to a fair few spots.
Trim Castle= two weddings- one had the service and everything there- everything amazing- room layout is excellent too.
Newgrange- really good- didn't think I would like it as its attached to Solar but it was really good.
Moyvalley- my sister had her wedding here- was good but under pressure and has since gone into receivership- I wouldnt feel comfortable recommending it as a result.
Knightsbrook- excellent! esp for larger weddings (wedding of 150 would look v.small in the room)
Dunboyne Castle- have my wedding booked for here as it was hands down my fave when I was looking and a very good value package- haven't been to a wedding here but know loads who have and havent heard a bad word (yet!)
For me any are really good- but availability is tight in them all. I booked in April and got the last weekend Summer date 2012 for Dunboyne as someone cancelled the day before- Trim Castle was already booked and Knightsbrook was very limited.

John Mason

Penny Dreadful wrote: »

Boyne Valley seems really nice. Just called them and certainly first impressions over the phone are great. Going to see it on Thursday evening for a first look!.

it has got terrible reviews here

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=20563826252

i was at a wedding there about 5 years ago, i thought it was fine.

Rew

5 years ago? As far as I know its only open as a wedding venue for about 12 months