Honan Chapel, UCC

Faith

Does anyone know anything about weddings at the Honan Chapel? Who do I get in touch with to enquire about availability, etc? And I read in an old thread here that they're asking for both bride and groom to be UCC graduates now - that can't be right, can it?

AoifeCork

Faith wrote: »

Does anyone know anything about weddings at the Honan Chapel? Who do I get in touch with to enquire about availability, etc? And I read in an old thread here that they're asking for both bride and groom to be UCC graduates now - that can't be right, can it?

Hi Faith!

I believe that during peak times-Summer and December- they give priority to couples who have both graduated from UCC but do ring and ask. They are absolutely jam packed during wedding season. They hold ceremonies at 12pm, 2pm and 4pm and are (and have to be) pretty strict with times.
Beautiful chapel though, stunning acoustics and lovely photos afterwards in the Aula Maxima/Presidents Gardens if you want.
Look into it if you are interested and give me a shout if you need any more info

eyescreamcone

Roman Catholics only need apply 

As a UCC graduate I was a disappointed to hear I was not allowed have my wedding there!!!

pwurple

It's such a beautiful chapel. That Oppenheimer floor mosaic is breathtaking.

If you go with it I have a photographer recomendation for you too... I've seen some honan wedding photos by him that really made the best of what the building has to offer. You barely need to decorate it at all either.

When I was looking into it, it was just one of the people needed to be a graduate... But it's very popular and UCC is much bigger now too, so it might depend on the season.

Couple of restrictions to note.
Weddings there are on a tight schedule, last one I was at was the middle day slot. Bride was bang on time, you have to be. If you're a Late To Everything kind of person, that might be annoying.

Also, you need to provide your own priest who will travel to there. just something to bear in mind.

AoifeCork

eyescreamcone wrote: »

Roman Catholics only need apply 

As a UCC graduate I was a disappointed to hear I was not allowed have my wedding there!!!

What?! Since when?! :O That's crazy-they do Church of Ireland services there all the time for Students and staff.

eyescreamcone

AoifeCork wrote: »

What?! Since when?! :O That's crazy-they do Church of Ireland services there all the time for Students and staff.

Of course it should be for all faiths and none!

Dolbert

eyescreamcone wrote: »

Of course it should be for all faiths and none!

Fairly standard for Catholic-only ceremonies in a Catholic church I would've thought?

eyescreamcone

Dolbert wrote: »

Fairly standard for Catholic-only ceremonies in a Catholic church I would've thought?

Unless it's in a university which is supposed to be secular.

Toto Wolfcastle

What happens if one of the brides is late and it eats into the next wedding? We looked at it for our wedding a couple of years ago but we were put off by the fact that they have 3 weddings in one day. I can understand why they do it, but I wouldn't trust every bride to be on time so we decided against it. I didn't ask what happens when a bride is late though.

Milly33

Heard this also about late brides, then the ceremony is longer and the next bride is left waiting outside to go in. Would not fancy that myself now perhaps if you made sure there was nobody booked in close to your time..

I heard somewhere that it was a non denominational church.

Faith

Bobblehead Panda wrote: »

What happens if one of the brides is late and it eats into the next wedding? We looked at it for our wedding a couple of years ago but we were put off by the fact that they have 3 weddings in one day. I can understand why they do it, but I wouldn't trust every bride to be on time so we decided against it. I didn't ask what happens when a bride is late though.

That's exactly my issue too. I'd be on time, but if the wedding before was delayed, it would be a terrible situation to have all the guests milling around uselessly outside - especially if the weather was bad!

I also wouldn't like to be under huge pressure to leave, like a restaurant that wants the table back. I think it would add stress on the day.

Does anyone know who you contact about using the chapel?

Toto Wolfcastle

Faith wrote: »

That's exactly my issue too. I'd be on time, but if the wedding before was delayed, it would be a terrible situation to have all the guests milling around uselessly outside - especially if the weather was bad!

I also wouldn't like to be under huge pressure to leave, like a restaurant that wants the table back. I think it would add stress on the day.

Does anyone know who you contact about using the chapel?

Info here about how to contact them.

Faith

Bobblehead Panda wrote: »

Info here about how to contact them.

You're brilliant! When I googled it, I found the most outdated website in the world, from about 1995!

AoifeCork

The sacristan (and the lady that runs the office) are usually present on wedding days. They are very good time keepers... From my own experience, if the 12pm bride arrives at 12.30... TOUGH! You still have to be gone by 1.15/1.20, it just puts more pressure on you, your celebrant, musicians, etc so it really isn't nice.

Honan weddings are a well oiled machine so fear not... The only issue is parking

Faith if this is the only thing putting you off then maybe opt for the 12pm slot? At least then you KNOW you will be early and your day won't be affected. Similarly for the 4pm slot even if you do run over time, you will have extra time at the end to relax with.

Couples also share wedding decor which is nice...Obviously flowers will be taken for centre pieces, but pew ends, lanterns, etc is something you could arrange with 2 other brides saving cost but also resulting in having nice decor!

dudara

If you're booking well in advance, then only one person needs to be a graduate. If it's close or at a peak time, then priority is given to dual graduate couples.

It is a lovely space for a wedding - I've been to two weddings there and I have a close family wedding coming up there soon.

Faith

12 is too early and 4 is too late .

We'd be looking at an August wedding on a Saturday, so I'm guessing that will count as peak times.

It seems like a really gorgeous chapel and a perfect place to get married, but I'm not sure it would work well for us having looked into it more .

YossiA

Attended a wedding there recently, beautiful service.

quote="Faith;89411275"]Does anyone know anything about weddings at the Honan Chapel? Who do I get in touch with to enquire about availability, etc? And I read in an old thread here that they're asking for both bride and groom to be UCC graduates now - that can't be right, can it?[/quote]

darkdubh

Faith wrote: »

You're brilliant! When I googled it, I found the most outdated website in the world, from about 1995!

You know your getting old when websites like that inspire nostalgia.

Mrs OBumble

eyescreamcone wrote: »

Unless it's in a university which is supposed to be secular.

It may be located at/near a university, but from the history page on their website it looks like it doesn't actually belong to the university, and was most certainly not provided by the university.

the chapel is popularly named after the Cork merchant family who gave the money for both the chapel and a hostel to be built to offer Catholic students a place of worship and a place of residence in UCC. This need grew from a background in which UCC was founded as a Queens College in 1845 and the Act of parliament under which it was founded decreed that no government money should be used for the provision of any church, chapel or place of worship.

If the fuzzy green martians want offer a service to university students, and the university is prepared to take them up on it, then it's absolutely the right of the FGM's to declare that only martians can do certain things on their premises.

eyescreamcone

So if the Chinese or Arabs want to fund a course in our public universities can they decide who is entitled to a place on this course?
Can they exclude people for whatever reason they like?

Universities and religion should not mix.
If any religion is allowed on campus it should be in a multiple-faith format only.

Mrs OBumble

eyescreamcone wrote: »

So if the Chinese or Arabs want to fund a course in our public universities can they decide who is entitled to a place on this course?
Can they exclude people for whatever reason they like?

Universities and religion should not mix.
If any religion is allowed on campus it should be in a multiple-faith format only.

If they're funding it, then yes, they can.

I believe it happens quite regularly. Foreign governments want to train a certain number of people in English, or whatever, so they fund places for them. Guess who chooses the students.


Ditto if a church wants to provide pastoral services for its members in a university (or hospital or jail for that matter), I don't see why they should have to provide for non-members too. Let the church that the non-members belong to provide serivces for them.

eyescreamcone

Would you be happy for a plethora of churches to be established at our universities?

Scientology ?
Muslim?
Westboro Baptist?
Various other cults?

Mrs OBumble

eyescreamcone wrote: »

Would you be happy for a plethora of churches to be established at our universities?

Scientology ?
Muslim?
Westboro Baptist?
Various other cults?

Yes. Let them stand or fall according to their merits.

Muslim, certainly, would have enough people in 3rd level to justify a level a service to their adherents among the tertiary population.

eyescreamcone

I'd be for separating religion and state. I certainly wouldn't allow religions buy access. If anything we should be reducing the present links rather than creating more trouble.

pwurple

eyescreamcone wrote: »

I'd be for separating religion and state. I certainly wouldn't allow religions buy access. If anything we should be reducing the present links rather than creating more trouble.

Oh for goodness sake. The honan is a stunning building, houses some amazingly unique art, is a cornerstone of the arts and crafts movement in ireland, and was patron to many local craftspeople. That it was funded at all, and to that level is something to be thankful for!

But it should never have been allowed because it was funded by catholics? Come off it. We have little enough left in this country after centuries of plundering hourds took their spoils.

I can appreciate the artistic value in any religious iconography without being a member of the religion. I wouldn't ever want it obliterated or prevent it from coming into existance.

eyescreamcone

I certainly wouldn't want the chapel demolished (crazy talk), but as long as it's associated with UCC I would like to see it opened up to all other faiths and none.

Otherwise it should become just another church with no affiliation with the university.

pwurple

eyescreamcone wrote: »

I certainly wouldn't want the chapel demolished (crazy talk), but as long as it's associated with UCC I would like to see it opened up to all other faiths and none.

Otherwise it should become just another church with no affiliation with the university.

No-one is prevented from entering the building, but it is a catholic church rather than unitarian for services. Everything inside it is very strong catholic symbolism. The veneration of saints, the baptismal font. Why would someone of another faith wish to be married in SUCH a heavily catholic space. Saint Gobnait, Saint Finbarr etc... None of these have any relevance even to other christians.

eyescreamcone

pwurple wrote: »

No-one is prevented from entering the building, but it is a catholic church rather than unitarian for services. Everything inside it is very strong catholic symbolism. The veneration of saints, the baptismal font. Why would someone of another faith wish to be married in SUCH a heavily catholic space. Saint Gobnait, Saint Finbarr etc... None of these have any relevance even to other christians.

I am a UCC graduate and proud of my academic and sporting links with the university. I would have liked to have the opportunity to have had my wedding in UCC like many of my friends and peers. This was unfortunately not available to me when I asked. The presence of nice statues didn't scare me away from asking.

pwurple

eyescreamcone wrote: »

I am a UCC graduate and proud of my academic and sporting links with the university. I would have liked to have the opportunity to have had my wedding in UCC like many of my friends and peers. This was unfortunately not available to me when I asked. The presence of nice statues didn't scare me away from asking.

Why the honan chapel specifically though? There have been weddings held in the aula maxima too I think. This photographer website has photos of one at least.. http://www.ronanpalliser.ie/blog/2011/05/02/lynda-and-michael-john-part-1/

eyescreamcone

A few years ago when I was getting married this wasn't an option.
Good to see it is available now.
Thanks for the link