Lough Rynn vs. Kilronan Castle

BizzyC

Hi All,

Fiance and I are currently looking at venues for a wedding next year and are looking very closely at Lough Rynn and Kilronan.

We've booked viewings with both venues, but since they're sister hotels I'd expect similar packages from both.

Has anyone here been to weddings at these locations that could provide a comparison?

dazed+confused

Lough Rynn is more stone castle while Kilronan is bigger and feels more new extension than old castle, it has a thermal spa and leisure centre. I think I would prefer Lough Rynn with less guests although the courtyard in Kilronan is beautiful.

clint_silver

dazed+confused wrote: »

Lough Rynn is more stone castle while Kilronan is bigger and feels more new extension than old castle, it has a thermal spa and leisure centre. I think I would prefer Lough Rynn with less guests although the courtyard in Kilronan is beautiful.

agreed with this, food and service should be the same, after that its whatever you think yourself about the way the 2 look as they're both very nice.

As above, kilronan for a bigger wedding with the bigger room.

Ronan|Raven

I'm getting married in Kilronan so will be able to give a better opinion in a few weeks.

We viewed Lough Rynn as well but felt with large numbers it would be too cramped. I didn't like the main function room in Lough Rynn, I felt with the partition (albeit moveable) between the room and bar people would congregate more out at the bar and end up with a split in the groups.

The gardens in Lough Rynn looked fantastic though.

A friend was married in Kilronan and the service was amazing.

Sligo1

I am getting married in Kilronan in 1 month. Will be about 140-150 guests which isnt a huge number by any means. We viewed Lough Rynn and were not gone on the layout of the castle at all. But that is just personal preference of course. We have been so happy with the service Kilronan have provided us and our wedding planner is amazing! If you are viewing Kilronan ask for Olivia. She is great! But im sure they are all good.

IMO the whole entrance to Kilronan is a lot nicer than Lough Rynn. Lough Rynn just seemed to be a maze of corridors as we entered. Kilronan has a beautiful entrance with a lovely lounge that you have the option of having your drinks reception in. Initially I was slightly put off the ballroom in Kilronan due to the long walk down the corridor and it seems very separate from the rooms and the rest of the hotel. However... hopefully we can use this to our advantage... i.e. Hopefully people will chose to stay together in the ballroom rather than segregate off to different bars and parts of the hotel.

The ballroom itself is gorgeous. Yes it is quite big... However you can always spread tables out... have 8 at a table instead of 10 etc.

But yea... when you see the 2 you will be able to make your own decision as im sure one will appeal to you more than the other.

But I will say each and every staff member who we have interacted with in Kilronan have been extremely professional and so willing to make our day just as we want it. They are extremely flexible. I probably would have been very stressed otherwise :-). Have fun at the viewings and congrats!

BizzyC

Hi Guys,

thanks for the feedback, do let me know how your days went.
We're heading down on Friday to view both, but at the moment I'm probably leaning towards Kilronan.

There just seems to be better facilities there and the early communication from their staff has been a lot more attentive.

Lovbnmoma

Hi how did your viewing go? We are thinking of booking lough rynn but might look into kilronan too!

BizzyC

We've decided to go with Lough Rynn.

Kilronan is a nice hotel, but we felt that it was a little less tailored towards weddings.

Lough Rynn has a much nicer area for drinks reception and we preferred the views and banquet hall to Kilronan.
Also the lack of residents bar access in Kilronan was a bit disappointing, they try keep the wedding down in the hall all night to keep the other bars for non-wedding guests.

I can see how Lough Rynn would be a bit small for a larger wedding though, while the hall itself can hold 300, the other rooms in the castle would be cramped with those numbers.
For 150 people though it looks ideal.

Lovbnmoma

Thanks for your reply, we just took a spin down to Lough Rynn and Kilronan on Saturday, didnt go inside though but my first impression was Lough Rynn seems nicer and more personal than kilronan, I think we are going to book Lough Rynn but we will go have a chat with them both. Any budging on their price? We are looking at Oct 2015.

BizzyC

Still have to work out price, but they've indicated a willingness to negotiate.

Lovbnmoma

Thats good thanks, looking forward to meeting with them and having a look around there now! When are you planning to have your wedding?

BizzyC

We're looking at Sept 2014

nailer99

Hi myself and partner are looking at either kilronan or lough rynn castle to get married in 2014/2015. We have been to view both places and it comes down to best package they offer. Whats people experience of the packages they offer? Which venue offers the best package? Are they reasonable to negotiate price?

mrs2be?

hi all,

Can I ask do you guys live near lough rynn or are you using it as a destination type wedding, having church etc all down there with everyone going night before etc.

OH and I went to Lough Rynn on spec about 3.5years ago and fell in love with it, and said immediately if we were to get married we would do it there.
But now that's we are trying to pick a venue we feel it may put a lot of financial pressure on guests to have to stay in hotel etc etc.

Any thought / opinions?? This trying to get married craic is much harder than I anticipated.... we just want to get bloody married, there is so much politics!!!

BizzyC

Nailer99, we were able to get a good deal from Lough Rynn in the end. We didn't try with Kilronan as we had chosen LR already, but I'd be confident we could've negotiated with them as well.
Both hotels are owned by the same parent company, so the packages are somewhat similar.

Mrs2be?, we're from Dublin & Wicklow, so we're doing everything down there (actually doing a ceremony in Lough Rynn as well).
With the new road it's actually only 1.5 hours from Dublin, so no need for guests to come down the night before if you have the wedding in the afternoon.
With Lough Rynn there's options outside of the main hotel for rooms, they have self catering houses for a group looking to stay a few nights and there's also a few B&B's on the grounds that aren't part of the main hotel.

mrs2be?

BizzyC wrote: »

Nailer99, we were able to get a good deal from Lough Rynn in the end. We didn't try with Kilronan as we had chosen LR already, but I'd be confident we could've negotiated with them as well.
Both hotels are owned by the same parent company, so the packages are somewhat similar.

Mrs2be?, we're from Dublin & Wicklow, so we're doing everything down there (actually doing a ceremony in Lough Rynn as well).
With the new road it's actually only 1.5 hours from Dublin, so no need for guests to come down the night before if you have the wedding in the afternoon.
With Lough Rynn there's options outside of the main hotel for rooms, they have self catering houses for a group looking to stay a few nights and there's also a few B&B's on the grounds that aren't part of the main hotel.

Thanks BizzyC. That is a very valid point. OH keeps giving out that I am thinking more about everyone else and there financial pressure more than our own enjoyment and what we really want!!
We are going to see LR next week haven't been there for a few years so really looking forward to it. And I completely forgot they has the houses on site which are a great option also.
and sounds like ye are all negotiating good deals so I will def be onto that!

Thanks again

Leona_85

BizzyC wrote: »

We've decided to go with Lough Rynn.

Kilronan is a nice hotel, but we felt that it was a little less tailored towards weddings.

Lough Rynn has a much nicer area for drinks reception and we preferred the views and banquet hall to Kilronan.
Also the lack of residents bar access in Kilronan was a bit disappointing, they try keep the wedding down in the hall all night to keep the other bars for non-wedding guests.

I can see how Lough Rynn would be a bit small for a larger wedding though, while the hall itself can hold 300, the other rooms in the castle would be cramped with those numbers.
For 150 people though it looks ideal.

Hi! We are looking at Lough Rynn to book for wedding in Spring 2015 - I am really happy so far with the comms with the coordinator and the look of it from website - we are going down to view it this weekend but I had a look on OneFabDay 2013 best venues and LR doesnt appear to be on it.

Was just wondering if you happened to know why this is, i really love the place so far and the cost is exactly in line with our budget - but afraid its a venue that was great in 2010/11 but not so much anymore.

I could be over thinking it but its a big expensive decision!! Can i ask what made you go for it in the end?

Thanks so much

clint_silver

You may be overthinking it.

onefabday is a commerical website the same as weddingsonline. You dont get into their "best of list" if you dont advertise with them.

Lots of great venues and vendors dont advertise with them OR weddingsonline as they dont need to, as the onefabday site is quite big Id take it as a good sign if someone doesnt advertise with them as they obviously dont need to as theyre so busy without it.

Leona_85

That's good to know, very new to all of this so trying to get my head around it!

It is a really good point and actually makes me respect them more if that is the case! Funny enough the more research I am doing - i see those blogs are really commercially driven!

The web can be great but also throw some unnecessary spanners into the works too! I guess my gut feeling and what we like about the place should be the decision we make.

Thanks for putting into perspective!

clint_silver

Leona_85 wrote: »

That's good to know, very new to all of this so trying to get my head around it!

It is a really good point and actually makes me respect them more if that is the case! Funny enough the more research I am doing - i see those blogs are really commercially driven!

The web can be great but also throw some unnecessary spanners into the works too! I guess my gut feeling and what we like about the place should be the decision we make.

Thanks for putting into perspective!

dont beat yourself up over it, there was even a site at one stage who called themselves something like "Irelandsofficialweddingwebsite" and tried to only include great vendors only as a sign of "gold standard" providors. But wait, whats this, to get on to their "gold standard" as a vendor you have to pay a subscription fee. have to laugh.

weddingsonline, mrs2be and onefabday and 2-3 others are popular resources for vendors to advertise and I wouldnt be against recommending them to get a list of vendors, but not recommendations as theyre self serving (ever seen a bad recommendation on any of those sites for an advertising vendor?).

come back to boards for the recommendations as theres at least some chance of impartiality as shilling is banned.

BizzyC

Leona_85, go and view it.

It's hard to point out all of the things we loved about it, when we were walking around and looking at the options we knew it was the place for our wedding.

Leona_85

HI BizzyC, we went to see if and thought it was brilliant and exactly what we were looking for. We have two dates now so choosing between one and will book it before xmas! My fiance asked me on drive back, what were your 5 favorite things about it and he had to stop me at number 14!!!! So we definitely liked it