Mount Wolsley Carlow

annie2811

Hi there,
1st time poster to Boards but I could really do with some advice please!
Hoping to get married August 2015.
We are based in the south east. We have gone to see a few venues for the reception, Mount Wolsley in Carlow being one of them. I have fallen head over heels with the place and would love to hold our wedding reception there. My OH has reservations about it, mainly from hearing 2nd hand stories about the food not being great and slow service.
Has anyone any experience of the hotel please?
Much appreciated.

clint_silver

annie2811 wrote: »

Hi there,
1st time poster to Boards but I could really do with some advice please!
Hoping to get married August 2015.
We are based in the south east. We have gone to see a few venues for the reception, Mount Wolsley in Carlow being one of them. I have fallen head over heels with the place and would love to hold our wedding reception there. My OH has reservations about it, mainly from hearing 2nd hand stories about the food not being great and slow service.
Has anyone any experience of the hotel please?
Much appreciated.

some of the best staff in the country, great place for a wedding. Play there regularly and have been at 2 weddings there over last 3 years. couldnt fault them.

Not everyone will like the food no matter how good, someone somewhere always has a gripe about something.

If they host 180-200 weddings a year, if 1 time at 1 table the dinner wasnt as quick as they like, you're going to hear about it. Will you hear about the other 4000 tables that did get their dinner on time during the year? which are you worried about?

sparkynash

What about lyrath estate,5 star hotel.

sparkynash

A receiver was appointed this month to that hotel soooo it mite not even be open next year,if it is open it will cut every corner to save money.

pwurple

That's a great hotel, was at a wedding there this year. Food is good. Bedrooms are a little dated is the only thing, but that hardly matters for wedding.

bren2002

sparkynash wrote: »

A receiver was appointed this month to that hotel soooo it mite not even be open next year,if it is open it will cut every corner to save money.

Or it could have been sold to a top class operator.

YossiA

Why not have dinner there and judge the quality of the food yourselves?

littlelulu

I felt the room was too big for the size of the wedding I was at. There was too much space between tables and the atmosphere was lost.

The reception area is stunning though. I love the stairs

Our bedroom was awful and that does matter in my opinion. I don't remember anything about the food but I remember the really bad bedroom which was expensive. That was a good few years ago though so maybe it has improved. I do think that rooms are something a couple should factor in (especially in such a beautiful venue) because if guests are handing over money to stay the night then you want them to really enjoy it and not be disappointed with a shabby room. I know you can't please everyone but do the best you can. It only takes a few minutes to view a few bedrooms

Hope thats some help

annie2811

Thanks for the feedback folks.
I liked the room and we will have big enough numbers so that shouldn't be a problem. I agree re the rooms, they are important! I asked to see one, which I thought was lovely and absolutely spotless albeit a bit small.
To be honest I'm sold on the place, I love it! It's just allaying any concerns the OH has.

schoolhouse

I cannot comment on the wedding room or service, however we stayed there for a night last year andy while the setting is beautiful and the kids had a ball in the pool that is where the enjoyable experience ceased.
The food in lounge was beyond expensive, two soups, two cheese sandwiches and a chicken panini for €34. Hubby kept the receipt he was so shocked, only drink was tap water.

The bedroom looked nice on the surface.
The kids (3 and 5) were on a pull out sofabed no problem there. Unsurprisingly the bedding didn't fit but no effort was made to even tuck sheets in and try and secure them in place.

The main bed was supposed to be a kingsize bed. It was actually two single beds pushed together. Not a clip and zip bed that hotels use but two separate beds and separate mattresses unsecured. Again the bedding was to small for the bed and the matresses were lumpy and poorly sprung. Hubby fell through the gap in the mattresses during the night when the kids decided to join us.
I have stayed in many hotels and this is the worsted and most uncomfortable night I think I ever had.
All the money seems to be spent on the grounds, lounge and reception areas and nothing put into the bedrooms.
Sorry I can't give a more positive report but if I was a guest invited to your wedding there is no way I would waste my money staying in a 4star hotel whose rooms a 2star hotel would be ashamed of.
On a positive note we were at another wedding in the area and stayed at a B&B down the road from the Mount Wosley and rooms and breakfast were absolutely fabulous for a fraction on the cost.

highly1111

I was at a wedding there only last month and the setting is lovely, food was fine and bedrooms were grand - quite small and dated but fine. Think the wedding rate was €130 b&b.

However, the service was SHOCKING. There was no one to serve drinks during the drinks reception - there were just warm glasses of prosecco left on a bar (bride and groom and bridal party were getting photos done so don't know if they even knew), the girl sitting beside me had special dietary requirements and the waitress didn't have a clue about how anything was served, sauces on the side, did the sauce have cream etc and most annoying was that our glasses were empty foe ages - over the course of the meal (3 hours) our glasses were filled up 3 times. Then we saw them going around with wine when the band were on??? I know for a fact the b&g had budgeted for more than enough wine (money wouldn't have been an issue) so it definitely wasn't a case where the waiting staff were asked to hold back. Finally the toilets were filthy - locks were broken on doors l, wet floors, no toilet roll etc. My husband said the Mena were even worse. I never told my friend these problems as she doesn't need to know - she had a great day and of course the top table were well minded (rightly so!) but I just thought I'd give you an honest opinion. If you do go ahead I'd certainly have one or two clauses about full payment until service is outstanding. Finally drinks in the function room were crazy money. I went to get a glass of wine during the meal (cos none was forthcoming) and it was €7 and in the bar it was €5.70 I think. As you can imagine after the speeches the function room was pretty empty and the bar pretty full. Finally although at breakfast the food was nice, service again was non existent. If you were my friend, I'd be advising you against.

clint_silver

littlelulu wrote: »

I felt the room was too big for the size of the wedding I was at. There was too much space between tables and the atmosphere was lost.

Like a lot of hotels, theres the main room which can be divided into 2 if the numbers are smallish and then theres a smaller again room which is only used for very small weddings.

Ive seen numbers in there where the divided room was jammed, but also where the undivided room looked a bit sparse which you seem to have seen, the numbers attending might fall just either side of "too many for the half room but not enough for the full room".