final venue choice, opinions and feedback appreciated!

lovelystuff

I'm hoping this will be my last thread on venues, there is just so much out there! After a million emails, visits and open days we have it narrowed down to four.

Mount Druid- looks amazing, very unique but very expensive and not very suitable for older guests (not many toilets, need to be driven back to accommodation etc).

Leixlip Manor- great packages, reasonable, has barbeque and casual options. Drawback is that my fiance didn't really like it at the open day,he found it a bit claustrophobic.

Milhouse- looks great and good barbeque package. Can't find much feedback online.

Beaufield mews -looks great, good packages but no accommodation.

I'm really hoping for people's experiences with any of the venues above to help us make our final choice! Many thanks in advance!

Sherlof3

Hi Lovelystuff - Millhouse is gorgeous it's a nice mix of high end and relaxed. Good luck! My OH has a lot of elderly relations and it seems like our wedding venue choice is being dictated by the number and quality of toilets. Everyone says suit yourself and I would like to but don't think I can!

Third_Echelon

We looked at Leixlip Manor and Millhouse when searching for a venue.

I really liked the Millhouse. Really nice and relaxed venue and a really nice setting, but it had a couple of drawbacks for us personally. It didn't have many rooms, only 10 i think, which meant that guests couldn't stay the night at the venue and would be spread across B&Bs, you'd need to organise transport etc. Seemed a bit messy (but you could make it work).

Leixlip Manor was very nice as well. A smaller venue alright, but for us, we are doing a civil ceremony, so they'd have to re-arrange the main room twice. First time after the ceremony (get everyone out for a drink), setup for dinner, then everyone out again to setup for band and dancefloor. Seemed very messy again to us and you can never rely on the Irish weather (even in August) when everyone would be outside for the changeovers.

Again, both very nice venues, but personally we saw compromises.

In the end we went with Tulfarris in Blessington for August 2015.

lovelystuff

Thanks so much for this, yes the room having to be redone in leixlip really put us off it which is a shame because it's very reasonable and nice! Just didn't have the wow factor for us. Any other feedback would be great, I'm struggling to find the cons of Millhouse!

lovelystuff

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but unfortunately our chosen venue have been acting up. We were about to sign contract when we were informed their minimum numbers had increased by 30 guests unless we got married midweek which isn't an option for us. Very disappointed and they won't negotiate at all!

So I'm on the lookout again. I think beaufield mews is winning so far as it looks beautiful and they seem to be open to different ideas and quirky details. Amplified music has to finish by 12 but then an ipod or acoustic band is allowed til about 130 which sounds grand to me.

The other venue we're looking at is anglers rest but the only thing putting me off is that apparently the setup is a bit difficult for bands and djs, and in their contact with me they've said they prefer weddings to be dj only?

Any feedback on the above venues would be much appreciated, as feedback on older threads seems great for both,it's just the music problems I'm worried about. Thanks!

kandr10

lovelystuff wrote: »

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but unfortunately our chosen venue have been acting up. We were about to sign contract when we were informed their minimum numbers had increased by 30 guests unless we got married midweek which isn't an option for us. Very disappointed and they won't negotiate at all!

So I'm on the lookout again. I think beaufield mews is winning so far as it looks beautiful and they seem to be open to different ideas and quirky details. Amplified music has to finish by 12 but then an ipod or acoustic band is allowed til about 130 which sounds grand to me.

The other venue we're looking at is anglers rest but the only thing putting me off is that apparently the setup is a bit difficult for bands and djs, and in their contact with me they've said they prefer weddings to be dj only?

Any feedback on the above venues would be much appreciated, as feedback on older threads seems great for both,it's just the music problems I'm worried about. Thanks!

Sorry to hear your original choice fell through.
We got married in the beaufield news 4 years ago and had an amazing experience with them. The food was amazing and they were very open to tweaking and changing things to suit ourselves. For music, we went with dj only (mainly due to budget restrictions) which worked out fine for us. I felt with the music needing to stop at 12 that it would've been tight to have both a band and dj. That said I don't remember what time the meal was at so maybe that had some impact? For accommodation we used the stillorgan park across the road, who gave us very favourable rates. Any guests who stayed over stated there too which meant we had the use of the residents bar and got to see everyone who stayed at breakfast the next day.
I've heard great things about the anglers rest too mind you so I'm sure of the two choices youll have a wonderful wedding day. Speaking purely from my own dealings with the beaufield mews, I couldn't fault them and feel it was money well spent to have our wedding there.

lovelystuff

Thanks a million for the feedback, it looks like a brilliant place. It's great to hear they're flexible too,we have plenty of ideas! I've had lunch in the stilorgan park hotel before actually and its lovely so I'd say we'd stay there. We already picked our band and love them, they're quite unique so I reckon we might do band only then ipod or acoustic band. Thanks for the reply!

lovelystuff

Just one more thing, the coachhouse in beaufield mews looks pretty small and their minimum numbers for a Saturday are 90...is this a tight squeeze? I'm quite claustrophobic so like a bit of space! Thanks

kandr10

lovelystuff wrote: »

Just one more thing, the coachhouse in beaufield mews looks pretty small and their minimum numbers for a Saturday are 90...is this a tight squeeze? I'm quite claustrophobic so like a bit of space! Thanks

The space for a band/dj is decent though so I'm sure a band would work grand. It is a small enough space, being a restaurant, but the way they use it makes it work well. We would've had about 120 and it was comfortable. However it was summer and we were lucky to have had fine weather so a lot of people used the gardens. For 90 though it'd be grand even if you couldn't go out, remember you have the bar as well.

Adoolan85

lovelystuff wrote: »

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but unfortunately our chosen venue have been acting up. We were about to sign contract when we were informed their minimum numbers had increased by 30 guests unless we got married midweek which isn't an option for us. Very disappointed and they won't negotiate at all!

So I'm on the lookout again. I think beaufield mews is winning so far as it looks beautiful and they seem to be open to different ideas and quirky details. Amplified music has to finish by 12 but then an ipod or acoustic band is allowed til about 130 which sounds grand to me.

The other venue we're looking at is anglers rest but the only thing putting me off is that apparently the setup is a bit difficult for bands and djs, and in their contact with me they've said they prefer weddings to be dj only?

Any feedback on the above venues would be much appreciated, as feedback on older threads seems great for both,it's just the music problems I'm worried about. Thanks!

Hi lovelystuff,

We are seriously considering The Millhouse as our wedding venue for 2016 and am just wondering if the difficulties you experienced above are in relation to this venue?

Would really appreciate any feedback you may have, you can pm me if you would prefer.

Thanks.

lovelystuff

It was the Millhouse unfortunately, pm sent!

Milly33

just catching up sorry to hear loverlystuff, what do you mean with the min of 30 people, is this for the ceremony part?

Have ye managed to get another place now did beaufield mews work out

lovelystuff

Milly33 wrote: »

just catching up sorry to hear loverlystuff, what do you mean with the min of 30 people, is this for the ceremony part?

Have ye managed to get another place now did beaufield mews work out

Hi milly, I had agreed a package for 100 people, but they then said their minimum numbers had increased to 130 unless we got married midweek! Not sure what we're doing yet to be honest, beaufield mews is lovely but the music stopping at midnight is really putting us off. Thesearch continues!

Milly33

Hello oh I see sorry I was thinking 30 people in all.. Jes that is very annoying now ye must be very frustrated... Yeah I can imagine the music would be a bit of a let down if it stopped early. Have you asked them as such what they say amplified is, you could always try and start the band early and then sure the ipod and that would be fine for the afters,

Shybride2016

lovelystuff wrote: »

Hi milly, I had agreed a package for 100 people, but they then said their minimum numbers had increased to 130 unless we got married midweek! Not sure what we're doing yet to be honest, beaufield mews is lovely but the music stopping at midnight is really putting us off. Thesearch continues!

Hi lovely stuff,

Sorry for your difficulties in finding a suitable venue. Not sure if you've already discounted it but have you visited Johnstown House Hotel in Enfield? We've found them brilliant to deal with so far, our guest numbers have fluctuated up and down and anything we've queried or added since signing hasn't been a problem up to now.

Hope you get a venue sorted soon!

RentDayBlues

We had our reception in beaufiled mews 4 years ago. Meal was at 5:30, finished around 8ish, we had very short speeches.

We had a band, they played 9-12 and the floor was full. It was annoying that the music had to end so early but it did not take from our day. We stayed in the radisson and reserved an area in their residents bar from 1 on, about 75% of our party came back with us, most not staying there, they were great. We had some guitars and had a very old fashioned sing song until around 5 when most people left and we headed to bed

kandr10

RentDayBlues wrote: »

We had our reception in beaufiled mews 4 years ago. Meal was at 5:30, finished around 8ish, we had very short speeches.

We had a band, they played 9-12 and the floor was full. It was annoying that the music had to end so early but it did not take from our day. We stayed in the radisson and reserved an area in their residents bar from 1 on, about 75% of our party came back with us, most not staying there, they were great. We had some guitars and had a very old fashioned sing song until around 5 when most people left and we headed to bed

Exactly the same experience for us. Really didn't bother anyone as they went back to hotel after to continue. Also they did leave us to sit over drinks when the music finished. We weren't kicked out At 12:30 if I recall. It's such a fabulous place otherwise, I wouldn't let it put you off...but then I am biased

Milly33

sounds lovely OP.. Maybe breaking up earlyish isn't a bad thing... I might bring another element to the party as such. If like blues said head back to the hotel and finish the party off there..You could ask the hotel close by maybe to help out..

I for one wouldn't be too bothered with something like this, think it would be nice to break up the day...