Wedding abroad, but want a celebration at home too

Scarinae

My wedding is going to be in Canada, and realistically not everybody is going to be able to make it out there as I am aware that it's an expensive trip. Ideally I would like to have some sort of celebration in Ireland as well but I don't want it to be a second wedding - more like a party to celebrate the wedding, if that makes sense. Has anybody else ever done this, or been to something similar? I don't even know where to start with planning it, as any information I've found so far has been about actual weddings.

HeidiHeidi

My cousin had his wedding in the States (although both are Irish), and then a few weeks later had a great big fancy-dress party in a hotel in their home town in Ireland. It's a good few years ago (and it was a VERY good party) so I can't remember the details, but there was definitely no sit-down meal, and it was hugely informal.


I'd imagine if you don't want a "second wedding" then you just think of it like any other big party that you'd book somewhere.

odyssey06

Yes I have been to something similar for a cousin who was married abroad and had a 'homecoming' reception party.

It sounds like what you are looking to organise is the 'afters' of the wedding, so a room in a hotel or pub, maybe DJ or band, finger food or buffet?

Perhaps include a picture of you on your wedding day in the invitation so nobody thinks they are turning up to an actual wedding...

HeidiHeidi

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

My cousin had his wedding in the States (although both are Irish), and then a few weeks later had a great big fancy-dress party in a hotel in their home town in Ireland. It's a good few years ago (and it was a VERY good party) so I can't remember the details, but there was definitely no sit-down meal, and it was hugely informal.


I'd imagine if you don't want a "second wedding" then you just think of it like any other big party that you'd book somewhere.

odyssey06 wrote: »

Yes I have been to something similar for a cousin who was married abroad and had a 'homecoming' reception party.

It sounds like what you are looking to organise is the 'afters' of the wedding, so a room in a hotel or pub, maybe DJ or band, finger food or buffet?

Perhaps include a picture of you on your wedding day in the invitation so nobody thinks they are turning up to an actual wedding...

Are we related??? :eek:

odyssey06

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

Are we related??? :eek:

Mine wasn't fancy dress... apart from this one person in a dirndl...

HeidiHeidi

odyssey06 wrote: »

Mine wasn't fancy dress... apart from this one person in a dirndl...

Ok, that's even more :eek: !

Edit - sorry to OP for sidetracking your thread!!

odyssey06

If your wedding is in Canada, and your celebration is in London, what about here...
https://www.coventgarden.london/pubs/maple-leaf-bar

CeilingFly

Did it and if I could go back in time I wouldn't change anything.

Married in las vegas, reception and blessing a week later in Ireland.

Meant guests dressed for a celebration, didn't need to arrive til 3pm - 4pm. Meant most stayed up celebrating longer than normal as they were not tired.

Had a blessing at 5pm, little drinks reception and then the main dinner.

Wife still wore the wedding dress for the blessing and escorted to the blessing by her father.

Perfection.

Balmed Out

If booking a hotel function room don't use the word wedding as it can cause prices to rise dramaticall.

CeilingFly

Balmed Out wrote: »

If booking a hotel function room don't use the word wedding as it can cause prices to rise dramaticall.

In fairness hotels put a lot of effort into arranging the room and this is reflected in the price.

And for a wedding celebration you want the room to have a wow factor.

Scarinae

Thanks everyone for the responses so far, I wasn't expecting to get so many so quickly!

odyssey06 wrote: »

If your wedding is in Canada, and your celebration is in London, what about here...
https://www.coventgarden.london/pubs/maple-leaf-bar

I live in London, but I'm from Ireland, so I would be looking to have something around the Dublin/Wicklow area. I always assumed I'd get married in Ireland to be honest, but my boyfriend is Canadian and his parents are older than mine and not really able to travel, and I feel it's important to have his parents at the wedding.

Balmed Out wrote: »

If booking a hotel function room don't use the word wedding as it can cause prices to rise dramaticall.

I'd wondered about this as well, as I'd heard that this can happen - I wasn't sure if this would still happen if it wasn't actually a full wedding though. I mean I wasn't thinking of doing all the speeches, first dance, cake cutting etc for a second time and I haven't decided if I'd wear the dress again (I don't have the dress yet) - I was thinking more along the lines of what someone would do for a 21st!

odyssey06

Not sure how many guests you have in mind, but if it's 40-60 then you might have scope to do something a little different to the typical wedding.
You're not going to be able to compete with the cousin who had the 5-course banquet dinner in a country castle hotel.

Out of the box idea... canal boat hire on the Grand Canal:
http://lapeniche.ie/exclusive-hire/

If the celebration is in summer time have a BBQ.

If you're not sure about telling the venue it's for a wedding, say it's an engagement party or a wedding anniversary initially.

LirW

Balmed Out wrote: »

If booking a hotel function room don't use the word wedding as it can cause prices to rise dramaticall.

I'm sorry, but this isn't true.

When I was looking for a venue/function room for a small reception that basically just wants a meal, I got in touch with a ton of venues. I told them exactly what we wanted and didn't want and that it's a wedding and every single place quoted me their normal group menu prices. Not a single one was suggesting anything else.

Anyway, there are tons of lovely function rooms in Dublin, personally I'd look that it has a private bar in the function room. They usually let you do whatever you want anyway in a reasonable frame.
Most places charge a bit for the function room hire but I found the more "expensive" it is, the more private it will be.
If you want it more casual almost every bigger gastro pub has a function room too and reasonable prices for several food options.

Mech1

My little sister did this, had party in my big sisters house, i just pmd you a link to the pictures.
please do not share link.

it was perfect.

CeilingFly

A good option is the Irish Times building in D'olier Street.

I looked at this for a corporate dinner and it was superb, but couldn't take the numbers (limit is 150) Smock alley theatre is another option as are many golf clubs.

But what you are doing is not unusual and in a way very inclusive.

love_love

My cousin and his wife did this - private wedding on a beach with nearest and dearest, and family celebration a few weeks later. Evening thing rather than an all day thing, function room, buffet, can't remember if there was any dancing or not. The bride wore her dress again, and if my memory serves me the reason I know they got married on a beach is because I think they had a slide show of some pictures up in the function room. It was lovely and I'm sure saved them loads of money - we're a very big family and it was a nice way of being able to have everyone there without needing a mahoosive room and costs spiralling!!

Scarinae

Thanks so much everyone for the ideas, I really appreciate it! We've got plenty of time and most of our energy will be taken up planning to actual wedding with all the associated logistics of getting people there, but it would mean loads to me to have some sort of celebration at home too.