Darver Castle or Castle Leslie????

donzy

Hi all,

We are planning our wedding for next year and have viewed castle leslie and have fallen in love. However, it is SO expensive. Daver castle has been recommended by friends instead, but we are currently not living in ireland at the moment and have not viewed it. I have read some of the reviews on the net and some negatives are that the bar is not in the recetion room. We plan to have a small sit down meal (60 people) and a large evening meal (130 people).

Can anyone give me their experiences in this case.

Thanking you in advance x

As a photographer who is somewhat semi-floating around the wedding business at the moment (still breaking in), I don't think I've ever even heard of Castle Leslie in my life. Make of that what you will.

Darver Castle, on the other hand, are trying to push themselves as a wedding hot spot i think. Every time i turn on the radio they're on it advertising, and I'm fairly sure I've seen them mentioned in local media/papers more than once.

I've never actually been there though.

My point is this; I would assume that, as Darver are obviously spending heavily to get themselves booked more, I reckon you'd be fine with them and wouldn't run into m/any problems (no one wants a bad review when they're trying so hard).

That said, on this page of their website,

http://www.darvercastle.ie/Weddings.aspx

you can view images of the "Banquet Hall" and there doesn't seem to be a bar (or any staff/counter area) in there. So if that's a deal breaker then i'd not bother with them.

They get a nice review here;

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056193540


But it's quickly followed by problem posts (saying it was too squashy for 200 people, air conditioning didn't work for one wedding, etc.) so like every other aspect of your wedding, approach with caution and do your homework.


Best of luck

event

was at a wedding in darver there a few weeks ago. its a lovely spot, very nice.

you into the castle at the start, you can wander around the old kitchen and living areas downstairs. they have a lovely wee bar put in as well, its very nice.

meal was great, very nice. the bar outside the ball room may be an issue for some, but personally made no difference

petes

I was at a wedding in both. Castle Leslie is very nice but as far as I can remember they had to have a makeshift marquee for the reception. Still the grounds are very nice.

Have to say I preferred the wedding in Darver Castle, again lovely grounds.

And also I was quite drunk at both

Atomic Pineapple

Just so happens I was very recently at a wedding in Darver castle and the best way to describe it would be adequate.

The grounds are nice and the castle looks OK, but not spectacular if your after a real wow factor in your photographs. I have just looked up the Castle Leslie website and it looks stunning, you definitely wouldn't be getting the same panoramic setting or stunning architecture with Darver.

I'm not sure how Darver would accommodate the small sit down meal, the reception room, kitchen and pirates bar that you attend when you first enter the castle would have a hard time seating 60 people and the banquet hall would be too large. It also felt very strange entering the castle like that, it feels like your in someone's home rather than attending a wedding, but again that might be just me.

The banquet hall itself in Darver is probably the nicest part, its stunning and a great place to be seated while eating, as people have said though the bar is located through a door in another room, this meant that after the meal many people congregated in the bar and stayed away from the main celebrations in the banquet hall.

The food itself was nice, no choice was presented which I thought was strange as any wedding I've been to lately offered a 4 course meal, soup, choice of starter, choice of mains, medley of deserts. But no choice was presented in Darver and there was only 3 courses, however this could have been the package that was selected. The food was also very very nice apart from the desert which was a let down but then again a medley of deserts at a wedding usually is.

Overall its a good spot and the day was enjoyable, if you want a castle wedding on a budget it's probably a good place to check out. I enjoyed my day there

louis346789

have being to a good few weddings in darver. its quite good. went to a wedding few years ago in Cabra Castle. near Kingscourt. It was very nice and probably cheaper and better than castle leslie.

http://www.cabracastle.com/index.php?gclid=CIr9rb39na8CFVJc4QoduXE8uw

donzy

Dear all,

thank you so much for the info. Still so confused at the moment and I really am finding it hard to find a venue that will accomodate 60 and then 120!! Any other ideas are much appreciated!!!

Darver is great price wise, but realistically, the two families are big drinkers so I thinl there is the risk that there will be noone in the room and everyone at the bar.

I asked about the sit down meal and they said they can close the curtains in the banqueting hall, again unless I see it, it is very hard to imagine.

I'm at the stage now where I might just have the big wedding and go to a cheap and cheerful hotel package (although it is really not what I want)!!

Again any ideas???

locum-motion

I've been to dinner once in Castle Leslie, which was nice but it wouldn't have struck me as a wedding venue.

I've been to one wedding in Darver Castle, and it was grand, but not the best.

Another poster mentioned Cabra Castle; I've been to many weddings there, my sister, a cousin, several friends. My brother would have got married there but the dates he wanted weren't available. If & when it happens for me, I'd love to get married there. Most of the best weddings I've been at have been there. I can't recommend it highly enough.*



*: Declaration of interest. I suppose I should for the sake of open-ness mention that my sister is the chef there, so maybe you'll think I'm biased. However, what I have written above is the truth, not a shill.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

I have been to both in the past 18 month. Castle Leslie was nice but over-rated. Darver was brilliant. Great venue, lovely staff and great food. I thought it the best wedding venue I was ever in. Have been back for meals several times since - great place. And they only do 1 wedding a day and the entire castle is at the disposal of the wedding party that night.