Small wedding.. can’t find a venue.

lollie25

Hi All,

Looking for help here. Looking to have a small family wedding of approx 20 people and really struggling to find somewhere that will facilitate the small numbers. Most places require a minimum of 50 and will only let us have our wedding Mon - Wed. My fiancée’s family are from the other side of the the country so would rather have it on a Friday/Sat.

Does anyone know any venues that could facilitate our numbers or have had their own experiences with a small venue. Living in Louth but don’t mind traveling too far. Even thinking of a nice restaurant.

Thanks in advance .

clint_silver

lollie25 wrote: »

Hi All,

Looking for help here. Looking to have a small family wedding of approx 20 people and really struggling to find somewhere that will facilitate the small numbers. Most places require a minimum of 50 and will only let us have our wedding Mon - Wed. My fiancée’s family are from the other side of the the country so would rather have it on a Friday/Sat.

Does anyone know any venues that could facilitate our numbers or have had their own experiences with a small venue. Living in Louth but don’t mind traveling too far. Even thinking of a nice restaurant.

Thanks in advance .

I know several small venues but as per your experiences I think 20 would be too small to block book an entire venue on a weekend night so unless you dont mind sharing Id imagine youre talking a restaraunt or gastropub with a private room. Would you consider Dublin city centre sort of like this

http://www.theworkshopgastropub.com/the-peppercorn-room.html

unklerosco

We had a small wedding, around 30 people. We booked a restaurant in a hotel for the meal and a function room for the party after.. Worked out really well.

Noodles81

Hi, we had an intimate wedding with 25 people last July in Tankardstown House, outside Slane. It was on a Tuesday as they can't use up a weekend date on such a small number. However we had the perfect wedding with all the trimmings including an amazing 6 course meal with locally sourced food prepared especially for us. We all stayed in the house and/ or the fabulous accommodation in the grounds. We had the house and staff all to ourselves the entire time. They were so so professional and it was 5 star treatment from start to finish. For all we got included, it was very reasonable. I would highly recommend them.

lollie25

Noodles81 wrote: »

Hi, we had an intimate wedding with 25 people last July in Tankardstown House, outside Slane. It was on a Tuesday as they can't use up a weekend date on such a small number. However we had the perfect wedding with all the trimmings including an amazing 6 course meal with locally sourced food prepared especially for us. We all stayed in the house and/ or the fabulous accommodation in the grounds. We had the house and staff all to ourselves the entire time. They were so so professional and it was 5 star treatment from start to finish. For all we got included, it was very reasonable. I would highly recommend them.

Thanks Noodles81,

I did try them and the said I a had a minimum of 50. Say you had a lovely day as it’s a faboulous venue ðŸ˜႒

greenwaving

Balyna House in Moyvalley? I don't know what it's minimum capacity is but it is a fabulous and intimate venue. You would also probably have enough accommodation for all your guests in Balyna House but the main hotel would always provide extra if needed.

Wrights Findlater in Howth is a restaurant that caters for small weddings which gets good reviews.

Have you inquired at places closer to home like Stranfield which might allow for events like this? Or in Newry the coffee shop Finegan and Sons is a cool venue that can be hired privately and caters for intimate evening events.

How far do you want to travel? And what direction? There are loads of cool restaurant/coffee shop venues in Belfast that do weddings and private events (Barking Dog, Deanes at Queenes, Harlem Cafe). The photos of weddings at them look seriously cool. That might be too far to travel but it's worth thinking outside the box and calling a few places that you like the interiors/decor/food etc of and seeing what they are do.

Rachiee

It would be worth trying Finnstown house as they have a lot of different sized rooms and it definitely has the look and feel of a wedding venue
Otherwise Air B and B have exclusive venues boutique castles etc that you could book for an overnight and hire catering

enricoh

Went for a walk one sunday n came across a great little venue in slane, along the river its an old house with a mill attached.
We asked about getting food but not open to the public only do weddings etc

December2012

That is called the Millhouse in Slane and I was at a beautiful wedding there, but it was for much larger numbers.

Do you still need to do the registry office during the week?

aluminium

Try Belinter house meath, restaurant is small and could be booked. Small intimate function rooms and Rathfaigh Church for ceremony.

Look at some country houses off the beaten track. They might be your best bet. The ones that come to mind are in Tipperary so probably no good for you. Try your local tourist office for names. You might get inspiration here. https://www.irelands-blue-book.ie/small-venues-weddings.html

buffin

We got married in Roundwood House in Laois, it's amazing and they only take small weddings, and only a few a year. Couldn't recommend there enough.

Happy to share more info if you'd like to know anything!

Maybe the Old Schoolhouse in Dublin, it's on the canal, something telling me from memory they do small weddings.

irishguy

We had 15 at ours, married in the registry office grand canal drinks reception at the old Old Schoolhouse and booked a private room in the saddle room @the Shelbourne (no charge for that and ordered off the pre-theater so wasnt expensive) they were fantastic there and food was great, would highly recommend.

Mr. Muddle

Beaulieu House do weddings and I think Listoke house does too, both near Drogheda in Louth with beautiful gardens for photos

miezekatze

I assume you just want to have your reception/meal there rather than the whole thing, right? You'd probably be better off searching for private dining rather than actual wedding venues. Lots of nice restaurants have private dining rooms you can book, sizes can vary a lot so I'm sure you can find something that suits you. My own wedding was even smaller than yours and that's what we did, worked out perfectly.

Sabby77

We had our wedding just over 2 weeks ago in the Shelbourne hotel. We had 12 people including ourselves and I have honestly never had service like it. The food was absolutely amazing and one of the cheapest we had looked at.
We had booked a room for the night and they upgraded us to a suite free of charge. The staff couldn't do enough for us even though it was a small wedding we were treated extremely well.
Afterwards we just reserved an area in a pub and had a great night.

Bandana boy

Deleted User wrote: »

Maybe the Old Schoolhouse in Dublin, it's on the canal, something telling me from memory they do small weddings.

I went to a wedding there of < 30 people
Avoid a night with an event in the Aviva and they should be happy to accommodate you

PhoenixParker

When is your wedding?

Our wedding was 110 people, on a Saturday, in a venue that had a much higher minimum. They were fine with it because the date we wanted was less than 6 months away. They were unlikely to get a bigger/financially better wedding at short notice.

If you’re willing to move quickly & be flexible on the date, looking for cancellations and unsold dates might work for venues, that would otherwise look for a higher minimum.

Sunday might also be a day to consider. Less popular than Friday but still just requires one day off for your guests.

jesso22

I don't know which part of the country your relatives are coming from.
I used to work in Castle Durrow, in Laois. A number of times they had small weddings there, like 20 or so people. They did big weddings on Monday, Thursdays and Saturdays, so one of the other days may suit you. It may have changed now, but worth a try

jesso22

Wrights Anglers Rest in Dublin. Pictures online look beautiful and appears to be a small venue, as it's a pub that does a good food trade also

lollie25

aluminium wrote: »

Try Belinter house meath, restaurant is small and could be booked. Small intimate function rooms and Rathfaigh Church for ceremony.

Went to Bellinter house when we were first looking for venues and really liked the venue but the wedding coordinator let it down. Was a bit stand offish and never heard from her again, even though she promised to send me on prices as she gave me no information when I was there.

lollie25

Mr. Muddle wrote: »

Beaulieu House do weddings and I think Listoke house does too, both near Drogheda in Louth with beautiful gardens for photos

Thanks, we live in Drogheda so did try Beaulieu but I don’t if they are closed over the winter months. Never thought of listoke, thanks.
Also Looking at Glebe house in Dowth but don’t know anyone that got married there.

lollie25

PhoenixParker wrote: »

When is your wedding?

Our wedding was 110 people, on a Saturday, in a venue that had a much higher minimum. They were fine with it because the date we wanted was less than 6 months away. They were unlikely to get a bigger/financially better wedding at short notice.

If you’re willing to move quickly & be flexible on the date, looking for cancellations and unsold dates might work for venues, that would otherwise look for a higher minimum.

Sunday might also be a day to consider. Less popular than Friday but still just requires one day off for your guests.

We are actually hoping to get married in this summer so just hope some have some free dates ðŸ˜႒

zoobizoo

The D hotel in Drogheda have a small room off their Mezzanine.

ixoy

jesso22 wrote: »

Wrights Anglers Rest in Dublin. Pictures online look beautiful and appears to be a small venue, as it's a pub that does a good food trade also

That's where we're having ours. There are minimum numbers for Friday and Saturday but outside of that they're flexible. We picked it because it's nice and intimate, without being too formal as I found some hotels were.

xalot

+1 for the Shelbourne, it's so beautiful.

Also, what about https://clifftownhouse.ie/events/

janja

We had our in Beaufield Mews under 20 people it was fantastic.