small wedding venue Dublin/Meath

stonemiller · 11-02-2015 9:27pm #1

We are looking to get married at Christmas-time 2015 in Co. Meath or Dublin and we are looking for a fun/elegant/cool/unique venue.

We are finding that our group of 20-25 is too small for most of the venues that we like and want to consider some restaurants that do weddings but we live in Chicago so we are not familiar with the Dublin restaurant scene. We are expecting to pay over 100 Euros per person with alcohol.

Any suggestions, restaurants or otherwise would be greatly appreciated.

So far we like:

Bellinter House

25 Fitzwilliam Place

Fallon & Byrne

& Boutique Hotels in general

Please help!

Thanks,
Erika

lazygal · 11-02-2015 9:33pm

The Dylan Hotel might be worth a look.

kandr10 · 11-02-2015 9:34pm

Those are great suggestions you have there already, especially 25 fitzwilliam square. I'd add the beau field mews to your list as it's where I got married

Best of luck organising your wedding

stonemiller · 11-02-2015 9:45pm

I just checked out the Dylan and it's definitely a possibility- I will email them right now- Thanks!

sweetie · 11-02-2015 9:46pm

angler's rest might suit.

westernlass · 11-02-2015 10:28pm

There's medley too which is an option. The winding stairs is lovely too and in Dublin City centre.

PhoenixParker · 11-02-2015 10:34pm

With a budget like that I'd look at the Michelin restaurants and similar. Locks, guilbaud, chapter 1, l'ecrivain etc.

Most of them have private rooms for parties and their tasting menus are €75 or so a head, cheaper if you go at lunchtime. Reserve an area somewhere like the mint bar at the westin or odessa to continue the party afterwards.

Can't remember which have rooms up to 25 but i think locks does anyway.

stonemiller · 11-02-2015 10:41pm

I have been NON-STOP emailing all of the venues you guys are suggesting! Most of these places we have never heard of and we have been searching for venues for a week.
Thanks so much everyone!

byhookorbycrook · 11-02-2015 10:44pm

Not in Dublin, but the Cliff House in Ardmore would be wonderful.

westernlass · 11-02-2015 11:19pm

Have you seen this?

http://onefabday.com/ie/100-best-irish-wedding-venues-2015/

Roundwood house isn't Dublin but gorgeous for small weddings. Exclusive hire country house

jaja321 · 12-02-2015 4:40am

Have you looked at Stephens Green Hibernian Club?

channelcarrie · 12-02-2015 4:44am

Perhaps try the Merrion Hotel and Fitzpatricks Castle Hotel? We had wedding for 30 in 2013 and were quoted for both.

stonemiller · 12-02-2015 4:15pm

Thanks for the suggestion-- I contacted the Hibernian and they require a minimum of 70 guests for our date.

jimmii · 12-02-2015 4:17pm

We had the same problem with a wedding of 20 last year. In the end we went with Kippure its just south of Dublin so not far to go and its a beautiful setting.

DublinWriter · 12-02-2015 4:20pm

The Snailbox, Co. Meath.

stonemiller · 12-02-2015 4:51pm

-Ok so the Dylan Hotel is a maybe although the room they are offering is very small.

-We Have contacted Roundwood House (thanks for the suggestion!) and We REALLY like it, although we had not considered paying for everyone's overnight accommodations...and it is a little far from Meath.

-Annebrook House is lovely but I would prefer a venue that offers some of the basics so that we don't have to deal with a million vendors.

-Carton House is absolutely stunning... and very expensive-but definitely a consideration.

-Fallon & Byrne is by far the least expensive option that we like so far but we'd have to decorate the large room to make it not so cavernous...and Michael is not that keen on the space anyway.

-The Marker Hotel has a beautiful enclosed roof top dining area for 20 people max so we are talking to them about where to hold the ceremony

- The Morrison Hotel has offered 2 really interesting spaces that would work well- I am waiting on more information from them

- My first choice so far is 25 Fitzwilliam Place but I always have knack for falling in love with the most expensive options...

Thanks for the suggestion about the Michelin restaurants- wonderful idea but unlike America- you cannot just get married anywhere In Ireland- the venue must have a special license. so at Gauilbaud and Lock we would have to find a ceremony venue. I talked the guys over at The Greenhouse and they have offered the entire restaurant for a shocking price.

I sent out over a dozen new nquiries yesterday-today I will keep on exploring the ideas that I am getting from you guys... Have I said THANK YOU EVERYONE for the help.??!! Sincerely, this would have been hard enough if we were in Ireland but trying to organize everything from Chicago- sight unseen-is a challenge.

I will up date as I receive more replies.

Thanks again,
Erika

PhoenixParker · 12-02-2015 4:55pm

Both the Lock & Guilbauds (L'Ecrivain too) are very close to the registry office in Dublin. Though your wedding would have to be a weekday, there'd be no need for a ceremony venue, just use the registry office. It's one of the simplest ways to organise the ceremony.

Also I thought the requirement for a venue licence was gone now, but I'm not having a humanist ceremony so didn't look into it.

(Note - have you lined up a celebrant, that's often one of the most difficult things to line up in Ireland if you're not using the registry office or having a religious ceremony)

(Second Note - Not so much for the OP as for other people reading the thread, I found searching for "Private Dining" and "Private Party Venue" to be much for effective than looking for wedding venues for our post-ceremony 12 person celebration.)

stonemiller · 12-02-2015 5:08pm

Hold on...In American anyone can go online, pay $50 and be licensed to officiate weddings and the cost for the license in Chicago is $60. So with those 2 things you can get married ANYWHERE/ANYTIME.

From my ( maybe not so thorough) research on getting married in Ireland, I thought you had to get married in a church, in an licensed venue or at the Registrar's office. if you are having a Humanist ceremony- can you get married anywhere? We are looking into a Humanist ceremony because I thought that was our only option for a Sunday wedding.

PhoenixParker · 12-02-2015 5:22pm

For a humanist ceremony you can get married anywhere the humanist agrees to - http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/birth_family_relationships/getting_married/religious_marriage_ceremonies.html

The difficulty is generally getting the humanist celebrant lined up what with the limited non-religious weekend options and the limited number of humanist celebrants. You can also try the spiritualists I think it is.

I believe the civil registrants can also be persuaded to leave their building and possibly on weekends too, but I've no idea how you go about organising that.

pooch90 · 12-02-2015 6:19pm

PhoenixParker wrote: »

For a humanist ceremony you can get married anywhere the humanist agrees to - http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/birth_family_relationships/getting_married/religious_marriage_ceremonies.html

The difficulty is generally getting the humanist celebrant lined up what with the limited non-religious weekend options and the limited number of humanist celebrants. You can also try the spiritualists I think it is.

I believe the civil registrants can also be persuaded to leave their building and possibly on weekends too, but I've no idea how you go about organising that.

HSE registrar will officiate at your HSE approved venue on weekdays only.

stonemiller wrote: »

Hold on...In American anyone can go online, pay $50 and be licensed to officiate weddings and the cost for the license in Chicago is $60. So with those 2 things you can get married ANYWHERE/ANYTIME.

From my ( maybe not so thorough) research on getting married in Ireland, I thought you had to get married in a church, in an licensed venue or at the Registrar's office. if you are having a Humanist ceremony- can you get married anywhere? We are looking into a Humanist ceremony because I thought that was our only option for a Sunday wedding.

Humanists/Spiritualists will do a Sunday wedding.
There are also some other secular & religious (Unitarian Church I think) that may accommodate you.
We had our wedding on bank holiday Sunday in August with a Spiritualist celebrant.
Don't dismiss the spiritualists though, we did initially thinking it would be like a seance or something but they just did exactly what we asked with no spiritual aspects involved apart from lighting a candle for our fathers who has passed away.

AFAIK your venue for ceremony needs to have a definite address and be open to the public. Before the humanists/spiritualists got legal recognition last year, the venue needed to have been approved by the HSE, I'm not sure if that still stands or not.

Milly33 · 12-02-2015 6:23pm

I think it is all about sweet talking and who you know... You can also just go down the route of going into the reg office beforehand and just having a close family member or someone in to do the ceremony side of things..

I just thought of a place where we went on a Halloween trip close to Dublin. It was an estate place out in the woods!! Quote pretty locals were a but iffy but I can get the name from my friend if you like that might be a spot

pooch90 · 12-02-2015 6:43pm

Just thought of Loughcrew House in Oldcastle, Meath. Bit further out of Dublin but would be fab.
http://loughcrew.com/wp/accomodation/weddings/
It has the old church of St Oliver Plunkett onsite and is somewhere I wanted to get married when I was small but our numbers were too big.
You could also get the infamous Fr Ray Kelly to do your ceremony in the local church or Moylagh church which is a bit more intimate. Personally, I'm not a fan of the man but completely personal taste.

HarrietD · 12-02-2015 7:06pm

Ballymagarvey Village, Meath

pooch90 · 12-02-2015 7:24pm

Imagine Ballymagarvey would have strict minimum numbers, especially for Xmas period though.

channelcarrie · 12-02-2015 8:08pm

Maybe try Tankardstown House in Meath too:-)

amdublin · 12-02-2015 9:24pm

The Angler's Rest, Strawberry Beds

Tristram · 12-02-2015 9:27pm

The Station House, Meath. Was there for a function a few weeks back and loved the setting. Food was incredible.

pooch90 · 12-02-2015 9:35pm

Tristram wrote: »

The Station House, Meath. Was there for a function a few weeks back and loved the setting. Food was incredible.

This is where we got married in August, it's fab but will have minimum numbers too I'd say but worth an email I guess.
We did everything onsite-ceremony,reception and our photos in the grounds which are stunning (the pics & the grounds

)
It also looks lovely in the winter.

almorris · 12-02-2015 9:41pm

The Waterside, Donabate. If you fancy a frolic on the beach.

westernlass · 13-02-2015 12:21am

Getting hse approval for a new venue to be allowed to have marriages is actually pretty painless

jaja321 · 13-02-2015 3:55am

Sorry to hear Hibernian club didn't work out. You seem to have lots of options though. No. 25 is amazing, looked at it myself when we were looking - but with our numbers it was just getting too expensive. If you can work it though, AMAZING! And the food would be great there.

If you do go somewhere else and are looking for a ceremony venue separately - you can rent City Hall from Mon-Sat and have a civil or humanist ceremony Mon-Fri or just a humanist ceremony on Saturday (its not open on Sundays) - but it gets booked out REALLY quickly, so may not be an option. Anther possible venue is Smock Alley - you can get married there and/or have your reception there. For the reception though it finishes at 11pm. Its a really beautiful space. You can hire it though just for the ceremony and have the party elsewhere if 11pm is too early to finish up.

small wedding venue Dublin/Meath

Comments