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Dublin wedding venues & reviews

ionapaul

I know there are a good few threads on wedding venues in and around Dublin but instead of bumping old threads, I thought I'd start a new one if that's alright. My fiancée and I are recently engaged and are hoping to have our wedding in mid September later this year.

We expect 80 guests for the civil ceremony and dinner, and want to use the same location for both. Maybe 40 more at the afters. It is important to me that we find somewhere that will allow the party to last into the night, and so lean towards a hotel / residence bar situation, while my fiancée would probably like to avoid a hotel if at all possible.

We've viewed the following places:

No. 6 (only the bride-to-be saw this, I would like to view though as it sounds nice)
Thomas Prior Hall (nice but the dates don't work at present)
The Clarence
The Westin (really lovely IMHO)
The Law Society at Blackhall Place (really great place as well)
Trinity Capital Hotel (only the bride-to-be has seen it)

Other places we're hoping to view soon:

Summerhill House in Co. Wicklow
Stephens Green Hibernian Club
Glenview Hotel
Maybe Horetown House in Co. Wexford (long way from Dublin!)
Kings Inn

I would have loved to have seen Tailor's Hall, and we were in contact with them, but An Taisce took the decision before Christmas to stop doing weddings / events there

We're hoping to spend about €15k on the day (or thereabouts, don't mind spending more if it really improves the day), with around €10k set aside for a wedding package, as 'all-inclusive' as possible. I know that's over €100 per guest but we want that to include drinks reception, a top quality 3 /4 course meal with a choice of mains, 1/2 bottle of wine per guest, nicely done up room(s), A/V system, bridal suite for the night, bar extension, evening food, security, etc, etc in the package! Probably going to go for a DJ only rather than a band & DJ, and only a photographer and forget about the videographer.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the venues listed above, and maybe suggestions for places we've missed? Are Dublin city venues open to haggling? Want to make sure we''re not turfed out too early from any venue and give a sing-song a chance of breaking out

Really want boardsies' perspectives as although I've been to a load of weddings, I've never been to any in Dublin city and have obviously never organised my own before!

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seamus

Summerhill is popular, but it's quite bland and cheap-looking IMO. Or at least it was when I last looked at it four years ago. I wouldn't even mention that except that you have The Westin on your list, so I'm presuming that you're looking at places that aren't just middle of the road.

By all accounts however, Summerhill are good at weddings and I've never heard anyone come back with a bad review. So if style isn't that important to you, it's worth a look.

RECEPIIB

Im afriad i dont know the answer to your questions, am wondering if anyone has any idea about dun laoghaire townhall as a venue. thanks

Glitter

We got married (civil ceremony) on a Friday two months ago in the Radisson St. Helen's Hotel in Stillorgan.

Like you we looked at a good few quirky city centre venues but if you want the all-inclusive, 5-star service you seem to be after then a hotel tends to come up trumps, IMO.

We had 60 guests for the day and another 20 or so for the evening and the whole wedding came in around €10K, approx half of which went to the Radisson and was money extremely well spent.

For €5,300 we got:
Tasting menu 6 weeks in advance
Consultation / photography of how we wanted the tables set up (which was incredibly useful)
Suite the night before for the bride & 1 bridesmaid w/breakfast
Civil ceremony room hire
Red Carpet 'arrival' and champagne for brides
Prosecco reception and chocolate covered strawberries for all the day guests
Le Panto reception room (which is STUNNING, all we got all day was how everyone felt like they were in an episode of 'Downton Abbey'

)
4 course meal with a half bottle of wine per person + t&c (food is incredible and they were endlessly accommodating with dietry requirements etc.)
Individualised menu cards, table plan, place cards
Basic flowers for both the ceremony & reception rooms
AV system
Evening food (antipasti platters and more choccy strawberries)
Late license
Access to residence bar
Bridal suite for the night of the wedding
Champagne breakfast for the brides

The service was top notch and I cannot recommend them enough.

I will point out that a wedding in November is 'off-season' and we therefore got a good discount on our menu and a few other bits of our package (approx. 20%).

If you and your bride to be are into vintage opulence this is the place to be in / around Dublin City.

Duberlin Chick

I went to a wedding in Beaufield Mews and it was the best wedding I've been to. The food, venue, gardens were gorgeous and perfect for the number you want to invite.

We all stayed in the Radisson St Helen's Stillorgan afterwards. Fab!

ionapaul

seamus wrote: »

Summerhill is popular, but it's quite bland and cheap-looking IMO. Or at least it was when I last looked at it four years ago. I wouldn't even mention that except that you have The Westin on your list, so I'm presuming that you're looking at places that aren't just middle of the road.

By all accounts however, Summerhill are good at weddings and I've never heard anyone come back with a bad review. So if style isn't that important to you, it's worth a look.

Hmm, Summerhill also only had the 'back-up' date we were looking at as well, so maybe isn't a front runner as a result.

The Westin was really nice (only saw it this morning though so maybe I'm still a bit over-awed) and may not be quite as expensive as I had thought - it will still be expensive, just not prohibitively so! I'm amazed that their packages (€99 - €115 per person) are so much cheaper than the Shelbourne (€125 - €165 per person), as I think the Westin is as impressive a hotel. Plus in the Westin you get to stay in their presidential suite, looks pretty amazing when you Google it!

Duberlin Chick, the reason we're not planning to go to Beaufield Mews is that I've heard you can't stay very late there - I just don't want to go anywhere where the dancing stops before 1am. Might check out the Radisson St. Helens though.

Duberlin Chick

Duberlin Chick, the reason we're not planning to go to Beaufield Mews is that I've heard you can't stay very late there - I just don't want to go anywhere where the dancing stops before 1am. Might check out the Radisson St. Helens though.[/QUOTE]

Ah I see. Felt like I danced all night!! Lol we may have finished dessert and headed straight into the dancing! Great spot!! Lol we had residents bar back in radisson so that finished us off! Lol

Best of luck!

deskgirl

Only Dublin wedding I have been to was in Thomas Prior Hall and i thought it was a great venue. The room was fab and imagine it would be great for your numbers as it was a bit crowded at the wedding I was at. The residence bar was quite big though so you had randoms in there too and not just wedding guests.

sweetie

beaufield is nice but maybe small for your numbers but I would really recommends checking out the Pillar room in the rotunda and Angler's rest, near the phoenix park, both are lovely.

Summerhill and glenview are very hotel-y imo. Westin is fab indeed, Tailor's hall was nice but serious sound limiter there spoiled it for me every time. Also consider the vaults in christchurch cathedral and harbourmaster in IFSC and fallon and byrne wicklow st. Each have their pros and cons.

Sleepy

Not sure on the late bar situ and it's not exactly Dublin City Centre but did you look at Village at Lyons? Aesthetically and food-wise I think it would have been my first choice if we could have afforded it...

clint_silver

westin doesnt have a residents bar AFAIR (stayed there once at a wedding and we only found out there was no ressies at 1:30 when the bar it does have was closing). Its very stylish and food amzing and youll get 5 star treatment but with the bar thing and acoustics in the ballroom Id look elsewhere if spending that money. village at lyons an example

summerhill and glenview are quite nice, they do weddings very well but as sweetie says very hotel-y. Never had a bad night there.

Ive played and stayed in the radisson and while good I would only have it a little bit above the glenview. If the budget was same Id pick the radisson.

beaufield is great but only suitable for smallish numbers 60-80. not great for entertainment after, area only suitable for half the guests. and you gotta go somewhere else to stay but is really nice.

I really like the thomas prior hall. the hotel is really good and stylish and the room is great. seats 120 comfortably and up to about 140-150 I think at a push. Id seriously look at this place if I were to get married again.

lazygal

Summerhill is a good choice if you want the safe, everything will be fine, nothing will go too badly wrong, typical Irish hotel wedding. I was at a wedding there and it was good - the function room is well setup for the meal and band.

I have also been to a wedding in No. 6 Kildare St. Food is excellent but the bar not being in the function room meant a lively, good band often played to an empty floor, given that the bride and groom seemed to set up camp in the bar rather than the room itself.

I looked into the Clarence and Fallon and Byrne. I didn't go with either due to shocking restrictions and very uppity catering managers. Plus, it was far too expensive in Fallon and Byrne with a very inflexible setup for the room and food.

ionapaul

The Westin have a residents bar alright - at least that's what we were told during the tour of the place yesterday! Will have to double check that and ask about how strict they are about a quiet enough singsong (nicer places are probably rightfully more careful with regard after hour music annoying other guests) as a few of our guests will bring along their guitars.

lazygal - wouldn't have to worry about the bride and groom in this instance setting up camp at the bar, zero chance of that, at a friend's wedding years ago a cousin of the bride asked her if I were the 'official wedding dancer' - I normally spend 80+% of the night on the dancefloor, will probably do at least that amount for my own if we skip getting a band and arrange a DJ to play our preferred setlist (not sure why you'd hire a DJ to do otherwise!) with a heavy focus on classic rock and 70s/80s pop

clint_silver - Thomas Prior Hall was nice alright but they didn't have our dates unfortunately, plus my fiancée didn't really fall in love with the place. It's probably not an option.

Have scratched both the Glenview and Summerhill House off our list due to the feedback here - the dates weren't our preferred ones anyhow so they were only going to work if they turned out to be way, way nicer than the other places we've seen so far. Current front runners are the Westin and Blackhall Place but seeing the Stephens Green Hibernian Club on Tuesday and hopefully the Radisson St. Helens on Wednesday so will be closer to making a decision when we get package quotations back from all of them. Might look into the Village at Lyons as well.

Thanks for all the feedback so far, it is so helpful to hear other people's experiences!

clint_silver

ionapaul wrote: »

The Westin have a residents bar alright - at least that's what we were told during the tour of the place yesterday! Will have to double check that and ask about how strict they are about a quiet enough singsong (nicer places are probably rightfully more careful with regard after hour music annoying other guests) as a few of our guests will bring along their guitars.

lazygal - wouldn't have to worry about the bride and groom in this instance setting up camp at the bar, zero chance of that, at a friend's wedding years ago a cousin of the bride asked her if I were the 'official wedding dancer' - I normally spend 80+% of the night on the dancefloor, will probably do at least that amount for my own if we skip getting a band and arrange a DJ to play our preferred setlist (not sure why you'd hire a DJ to do otherwise!) with a heavy focus on classic rock and 70s/80s pop

clint_silver - Thomas Prior Hall was nice alright but they didn't have our dates unfortunately, plus my fiancée didn't really fall in love with the place. It's probably not an option.

Have scratched both the Glenview and Summerhill House off our list due to the feedback here - the dates weren't our preferred ones anyhow so they were only going to work if they turned out to be way, way nicer than the other places we've seen so far. Current front runners are the Westin and Blackhall Place but seeing the Stephens Green Hibernian Club on Tuesday and hopefully the Radisson St. Helens on Wednesday so will be closer to making a decision when we get package quotations back from all of them. Might look into the Village at Lyons as well.

Thanks for all the feedback so far, it is so helpful to hear other people's experiences!

It was my brothers wedding in the Westin so we were there at 2am all getting ready to settle in for a few more after the bar closed and manager himself said no ressies, was a big bone of contention the day after. It was over a year ago though so maybe they've changed policy. Definitely clear that with them first if you're intending booking.

As a dj myself I love getting playlists from couples. It helps to guide a night. But your music might not keep a floor full. If you get a good guy he'll mix your selections with other tunes you might have missed. It's usually 15-20 songs per hour so factor that in to any list your giving him.

tinkerbell

Have you looked at the Dylan hotel in Dublin? It's really nice and caters to small numbers. Maybe you could also look at places on the Kildare side of Dublin, somebody else has already mentioned Village at Lyons, there's also Ballymagarvey Village, Barberstown Castle, K Club, Carton House (the old house part, not the new section).

Ballyman

I'd highly recommend the Village at Lyons as well. You will have the place to yourself in the evening but I wouldn't be 100% sure on the late bar situation but I can't see how it could be a problem? You could give them a call anyway and ask. The grounds are fabulous (especially so for great pics) and the food is top class - only problem is it's not central Dublin which most of the others on your list are.

If you end up thinking about the Village at Lyons then you might as well give the K-Club and Carton House a call as well as they are in the same general area and are both top class as well.

sweetie

Just to mention also ballymagarvey let's the music go on till 4am and later even....

Newgirl2012

Just wondering if anyone has been at a wedding in Blackhall place? I think the venue is beautiful but where would bridal party and guests stay considering there's no accommodation in the venue? Does anyone have an idea on how that would work?

clint_silver

Newgirl2012 wrote: »

Just wondering if anyone has been at a wedding in Blackhall place? I think the venue is beautiful but where would bridal party and guests stay considering there's no accommodation in the venue? Does anyone have an idea on how that would work?

they have agreements with a number of hotels to get prefential rates. contact them to get the list. even if you didnt like any of them its dublin city centre, you have your pick of 20 top notch hotels within 5 minutes in a cab...

Newgirl2012

clint_silver wrote: »

they have agreements with a number of hotels to get prefential rates. contact them to get the list. even if you didnt like any of them its dublin city centre, you have your pick of 20 top notch hotels within 5 minutes in a cab...

Thanks for the reply. I'm just concerned it could end up being a bit disjointed leaving the venue to go back to a hotel. I'm curious to hear from someone who's been at a wedding here that could describe how couples do it and does it mean the night ends very early because there's no residents bar etc?

clint_silver

Newgirl2012 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply. I'm just concerned it could end up being a bit disjointed leaving the venue to go back to a hotel. I'm curious to hear from someone who's been at a wedding here that could describe how couples do it and does it mean the night ends very early because there's no residents bar etc?

I've been at 2 weddings there. 1 of them they had horse and carts organized to bring them around Dublin at 1am. At the mercy of the weather there but it looked great. The other wedding AFAIR most of the bridal party went back to a hotel. Could organise a minibus. Maybe a hotel would put one on if enough if you were staying.
All depend how much you like the venue I suppose.

sweetie

Maldron hotel smithfield is 5 minute walk from blackhall place and aisling hotel 5 mins in other direction.

Slaygal

went to see Beaufield Mews. Myself and my Fiance met the owner and was very disapointed. Would have gone there regularly as it's my future MIL's favourite restaurant. We both left feeling like they didn't want to host our wedding.