Alternative Wedding Venue - 50 Guests

Mimojo

Hi there

We are really struggling to find a suitable wedding venue! We have been engaged for a while, and are not finally getting around to planning! We are look at 2015, prob September but really we are open to an alternative date, and open to mid week or weekend date, not fussy.

The main thing is that we want something a bit different, we are both agreed that we really dont want the typical hotel style wedding, we just want something small for 50 of our closest friend and family in a relaxed setting. We want to have a civil ceremony in the same venue, and want something that offers high quality food, dont mind if its buffet style, pig on a spit etc, just dont want want the traditional carvery style turkey and ham etc. I am originally from Clare so really something in Clare would be ideal, but really for the right venue we are willing to travel anywhere. We are based in Dublin and most of our family are in the west so really anyhow would suit!

I have checked out Anna Carriga in Killaloe which I love, but with their 100 minimum guests it is just not an option. I like the look of Mount Druid also, but again not willing to cater for a small wedding.

If anyone has any advise please let me know, I am getting very frustrated with this search!

Thanks

Addle

Are you open to private rental and hiring caterers?

How about
Sheedy's Country House Hotel, Lisdoonvara
Cregans Castle, Ballyvaughan
Moy House, Lahinch
or
Ballyportry Castle, Corofin?

Pistachios & cream

How about carrygerry house in shannon. I looked into it but it was too small for my wedding so might suit you. they cater for weddings between 20 and 100

here's a review on one fab day http://onefabday.com/carryverry-house-wedding-by-simona-reinyt/#more-62643

Mimojo

Addle wrote: »

Are you open to private rental and hiring caterers?

How about
Sheedy's Country House Hotel, Lisdoonvara
Cregans Castle, Ballyvaughan
Moy House, Lahinch
or
Ballyportry Castle, Corofin?

Thanks for the suggestions. I am open to the idea, its just coming is soooo much more expensive to do it this way, by the time you hire a venue and then get a quotation for caterers it is working out too expensive for our budget

ahayes84 wrote: »

How about carrygerry house in shannon. I looked into it but it was too small for my wedding so might suit you. they cater for weddings between 20 and 100

here's a review on one fab day http://onefabday.com/carryverry-house-wedding-by-simona-reinyt/#more-62643

Thanks! I had seem this place, but from the link it looks really gorg, and have heard so many great things about Grace Covers - Defo will be looking further into this one thanks! Did you visit the place, what did you think??

kkcatlou

The Mustard Seed in Limerick, or Cloughjordan House in Tipperary sound like they would be perfect for you, and not too far from Clare.
The Mustard Seed is a very fancy restaurant with very nice guest house accommodation on site and a brilliant host. Food is amazing. They only cater for weddings up to 80 I think, so that would be perfect.

Cloughjordan House is a country house with cookery school attached so they do all the catering on site. They can fit small numbers like yours in their ballroom or add on a marquee for bigger weddings. The hostess Sarah is really nice and accommodating too. Venue rental is expensive though! They are converting cow sheds into accommodation on site so that should house most of your guests!

Mimojo

kkcatlou wrote: »

The Mustard Seed in Limerick, or Cloughjordan House in Tipperary sound like they would be perfect for you, and not too far from Clare.
The Mustard Seed is a very fancy restaurant with very nice guest house accommodation on site and a brilliant host. Food is amazing. They only cater for weddings up to 80 I think, so that would be perfect.

Cloughjordan House is a country house with cookery school attached so they do all the catering on site. They can fit small numbers like yours in their ballroom or add on a marquee for bigger weddings. The hostess Sarah is really nice and accommodating too. Venue rental is expensive though! They are converting cow sheds into accommodation on site so that should house most of your guests!

Thanks for the recommendations, hadnt heard of these of these venues! Really like the look of the Mustard Seed in particular, have you attended a wedding there in the past by any chance??

kkcatlou

Mimojo wrote: »

Thanks for the recommendations, hadnt heard of these of these venues! Really like the look of the Mustard Seed in particular, have you attended a wedding there in the past by any chance??

No, but we spent a weekend there in January just after we got engaged. We weren't interested in it ourselves but asked loads of questions because it was top of mind for us, and it sounded amazing, and not unreasonably priced either. We thought it sounded fab for a small wedding and I would have no doubt they would make you feel really special.....not part of an assembly line wedding package like you get in lots of hotels!

Mimojo

kkcatlou wrote: »

No, but we spent a weekend there in January just after we got engaged. We weren't interested in it ourselves but asked loads of questions because it was top of mind for us, and it sounded amazing, and not unreasonably priced either. We thought it sounded fab for a small wedding and I would have no doubt they would make you feel really special.....not part of an assembly line wedding package like you get in lots of hotels!

Sounds really amazing, thanks again for the suggestion! The more I look at Cloughjordan I am also loving it, going to contact them both now, fingers crossed! Its hard to find an alternative venue, we really dont want a bit hotel assembly line wedding, we dont mind paying that bit extra per person as we have a small number, and good food is really important to us. These two def tick all the boxes!!!

Milly33

Just in-case you would be interested I was at a wedding fair last night and meet the chaps that run extreme structures they are on facebook. Loverly chaps and will travel they do marquee and tipis, with everything from heating, tables, dance floors the whole thing might be worth a look at it if you found something nice or had a spot to put one

Pistachios & cream

I Didn't go to see Carrygerry as it was miles too small.

Friends of mine are getting married in CloughJordan House. They had booked a hotel but decided it wasn't for them and changed their date so they could book CloughJordan. I know they are much happier with it.

am i bovvered

What kind of budget do you have ?

nosietoes

My folks have been to a wedding at the Mustard Seed - it was lovely.

Mimojo

am i bovvered wrote: »

What kind of budget do you have ?

Trying to decide on budget at the moment, We though that by having a small wedding we could do it a lot cheaper but at the moment that doesnt seem to be the case Smaller weddings cost a lot more per head from what we can see.

Really we dont want to spend a fortune, we dont have it to be honest, we will be paying for this ourselves, and neither of us are into the big white wedding thing, so were hoping to get away with about 6000, but looks like 10000 is a more realistic figure, and that is for a very basic wedding.

megan2013

Check out the Waterside House Hotel in Donabate. It's right at the beach and their packages are around 7k per wedding. And I was told they organise a jazz night and bbq the day after the wedding as part of the package.

nosietoes

Check one fab day website - they've recently featured a couple of smaller Dublin based weddings recently if you would like that kind of thing.

Davy80

Check out Inish Beg island in Baltimore West Cork, it would be lovely for 50 people

PinkLemonade

Davy80 wrote: »

Check out Inish Beg island in Baltimore West Cork, it would be lovely for 50 people

I went to a wedding here and it was lovely! Really nice location

am i bovvered

Mimojo wrote: »

Trying to decide on budget at the moment, We though that by having a small wedding we could do it a lot cheaper but at the moment that doesnt seem to be the case Smaller weddings cost a lot more per head from what we can see.

Really we dont want to spend a fortune, we dont have it to be honest, we will be paying for this ourselves, and neither of us are into the big white wedding thing, so were hoping to get away with about 6000, but looks like 10000 is a more realistic figure, and that is for a very basic wedding.

I work in Belleek Castle, IMO a lovely wedding venue, very different. PM me if you have any Qs

nearzero

I have to say, I went down this route too when I was booking my wedding... I could have written your original post myself! Its very hard to even find a house that you can hire to cater for 50 people, because their function rooms just cant hold this number. I would recommend looking at Trudder Lodge in Wicklow - its a stunning venue and if you cut your numbers to 40, they can accommodate you in the house but otherwise they have a purpose built marquee out the back which is attached to the house - but it works out very expensive for just 50 people.

When you add all the extras like catering etc... you do see why people do this in hotels! Its much easier!

We ended up increasing our guest list to 60 and booking out the Markree Castle in Sligo, as that was their minimum number. You have exclusive use of the hotel then - they only have 30 rooms anyway It has its own stunning chapel in the hotel & its still very much a castle in its original state - no big glass extensions or barn function rooms! The food is amazing & the atmosphere is unreal! And you could definitely do it within your 6000 budget - they offer alot for your money

Best of luck with it - I know exactly how you feel!

unacb

kkcatlou wrote: »

The Mustard Seed in Limerick, or Cloughjordan House in Tipperary sound like they would be perfect for you, and not too far from Clare.
The Mustard Seed is a very fancy restaurant with very nice guest house accommodation on site and a brilliant host. Food is amazing. They only cater for weddings up to 80 I think, so that would be perfect.

Cloughjordan House is a country house with cookery school attached so they do all the catering on site. They can fit small numbers like yours in their ballroom or add on a marquee for bigger weddings. The hostess Sarah is really nice and accommodating too. Venue rental is expensive though! They are converting cow sheds into accommodation on site so that should house most of your guests!

Hi just wondering if you have attended a wedding at Cloughjordan House? We have 170 ppl on our list and now looking at photos worrying they won't fit in the marquee for dinner or in the ballroom for dancing?!!
Can you let me know if you've been and how many guests there were?
Thanks!

unacb

ahayes84 wrote: »

I Didn't go to see Carrygerry as it was miles too small.

Friends of mine are getting married in CloughJordan House. They had booked a hotel but decided it wasn't for them and changed their date so they could book CloughJordan. I know they are much happier with it.

Hiya,
did you attend the wedding - do you know how many guests? We are worried our lot (150) won't fit in - the ballroom looks kind of small for band or dj, and the marquee looks a little small for dining?!!
Thanks!

kkcatlou

unacb wrote: »

Hi just wondering if you have attended a wedding at Cloughjordan House? We have 170 ppl on our list and now looking at photos worrying they won't fit in the marquee for dinner or in the ballroom for dancing?!!
Can you let me know if you've been and how many guests there were?
Thanks!

No, we didn't but we were 50/50 about choosing it for our own wedding. To be honest, it came down to two things in the end - the numbers like you described. They said 160 max, and while that's the numbers we still hope to have (despite the fact that we are about to send out invitations to 218 people in the morning), we were afraid just in case. The other issue was the accommodation locally. The hostel next door was fully booked and they couldn't guarantee us that the cowhouses would be finished on time. It would heave meant carting all the guests off to Nenagh which wasn't ideal.

Other than that though, we loved it, and it was an extremely close second choice. Haven't heard of anyone who has been to a wedding there. They only started doing weddings last year.

gillylilly

Ballintaggart house in dingle, we're in clare and that's where we loved. Viewed Cloughjordan but it didn't give the right vibe for us. You should try to view it as least, you'll know straight away

gillylilly

Ballintaggart house in dingle, we're in clare and that's where we loved and booked. Viewed Cloughjordan but it didn't give the right vibe for us. You should try to view it as least, you'll know straight away!