Cabra Castle

**Portia** · 24-07-2011 10:07pm #1

Hi All,

Myself and my financé are looking at Cabra Castle for early October 2012 wedding. We viewed it yesterday and absolutely loved the place. We're looking for feed back on the venue from anyone who has either attended a wedding there or has had their own wedding there. The things we are most interested to know about are:

1. Food. What is the quality like? Also, if we were to go with the Fairytale Package, is there a choice of main course?? We forgot to ask the wedding coordinator anything about food when we visited!!

2. Service. How was it?

3. Money-Saving Tips. Is there anything they will negotiate on/provide FOC? They are such a popular venue that it seems like they have the upper hand at the moment. We originally wanted a September wedding but all Thurs/Fris/Sats in Sept 2012 are taken!

Would appreciate any advice!

Penny Dreadful · 25-07-2011 10:32am

I haven't booked a wedding there but did attend a wedding in March and was very impressed with the castle as a venue. I had been to a wedding there about 10 years previously and thought it was dreadful at the time, food, service etc.
However I can now, quite happily report that the venue has been renovated (actually only finished at 11am on the morning of the wedding we were attending!!) to a fantastic standard, the staff were really polite and friendly, the food was great and the accomodation was really impressive.
For interests sake, the wedding was a civil service in the Castle and it was really lovely and well done too. We stayed in the cottages rather than the Castle itself and I was very happy with them too. The wedding took place on a Wednesday and was cheaper as a result than it would have been on a Thu/Fri or Sat. I realise a Wednesday can be awkward for a lot of people and that Wednesday was the day before St. Patricks Day so everyone/almost everyone would have been off anyway which made it easier.

Good luck with your decision and congratulations on your wedding.

Laura.Lee · 25-07-2011 12:52pm

I considered Cabra Castle for my wedding.
Grounds are lovely. I have been to 2 weddings there recently.
The food and service was excellent. Best wedding food ever.
Dance-floor a little small. Drink is expensive at the bar.
I didn't like the fact that there were so may long tables as opposed to round, felt a bit squashed.
They've also built a balcony in the ballroom, where there are at least 5/6 tables. These tables weren't even overlooking the dance floor and I felt the people sitting up there were very separate to the rest of the guests. Even when the speeches were on, they were talking through them and having their own crack!
However, what turned me off Cabra Castle was the pricing, far far too expensive.
Are they passing on the vat reduction?
€8 a bottle:eek: corkage or €16 per bottle for house wine.:eek:.
I was going to have my wedding there and I live an hour away but I just found the pricing shocking in comparison to other venues.
When we added up the costs and compared to other venues, the difference was thousands.
Maybe you can afford that but I just found it over-rated for the price.

itsallaboutme!! · 25-07-2011 10:24pm

HI!

myself and my fiance are actually in the bridal party for our friends wedding here this friday! ill post again at the weekend and let you know how it all goes!!

Our friends booked this venue almost 3 and a haf years ago so its been a long time coming. The place has been completely renovated since they first booked and looks great now.By all accounts the wedding planning staff are lovely to deal with as well.

anyway we are all really looking forward to the day on friday so watch this space!!!

**Portia** · 25-07-2011 10:48pm

Hi Guys,

Thanks so much for your responses.

We found the price to be very competitive - I think that's why it is completely booked out Thurs-Sun next May thorugh to September. We have provisionally booked 4th Oct 2012.

We had thought of going with the Fairytale package but may price the a la carte option and see hwat is best.

Regarding the tables on the mezzanine area -yeah I will definitely have to consider this area when the speeeches are on. As we are having a smallish wedding of approx. 130 guests I may get away with only using the floorspace on the main floor and then making the mezzanine available after the speeches.

@allaboutme - would be very interested to hear how you get on on Friday - please let me know any details you have!

Grapefruit Moon · 27-07-2011 8:40pm

Hi Portia,
we looked at Cabra Castle earlier this year for our wedding, the venue was nice but we weren't mad about the reception room, we had a Sunday dinner there which wasn't great so decided not to go for it. But we wouldn't have been able to book there anyway because we want 100-110 at our wedding and were told it had to be 150 people min. Have you said you want 130 people? Maybe they have changed that rule now, but just thought I'd mention it in case you hadn't brought it up with them. Best of luck with the venue hunt.

sirdeclan · 14-01-2013 11:49am

Hi all,

Myself and Fiancee have been looking at Cabra Castle and have made a provisional booking for our wedding later this year. We have a provisional booking made.

Any advice on whether they will budge on the price. We will be going for the fairytail package.

Also should we be looking for extras on top of what is in the package and are they flexible when it comes to this.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

frankspencer · 15-01-2013 12:36am

I have done a few weddings there as a DJ,lovely venue,ballroom is one of the best I have played in.They even have their own build in disco lighting which really adds to the night when band/dj take over. I found the staff to be very much on the ball when it came to running the show,whole night was on schedule(couple told me after)

sirdeclan · 16-01-2013 12:32pm

Frankspencer

What did you mean couple told you after? Told you what?

Any tips appreciated.

Thanks

clint_silver · 16-01-2013 2:43pm

sirdeclan wrote: »

Frankspencer

What did you mean couple told you after? Told you what?

Any tips appreciated.

Thanks

I'll go with what frank said. Great to play since they did it up. Id recommend it.

most hotels run on clockwork though. check guests in. serve meals on time. make sure theyre not dried out. serve finger food on time. close the bar a litte later than you should. if they know their job, and most do, hard to go wrong really.

One thing, theres very little mobile coverage up there and I dont think theyve got internet access. I was there last year and bride changed her mind on a first dance 20 minutes before we were due to go on and it was some strange acoustic version of a tune on youtube she'd heard.. no hotel wifi to get it and noone had mobile coverage. drove out to the main road, got a signal, got the tune down in 2 minutes, drove back in, bride says no, we'll go with original. what can ya do.

pooch90 · 16-01-2013 9:07pm

Now there's a dedicated band! Who are ye??

clint_silver · 17-01-2013 2:26am

pooch90 wrote: »

Now there's a dedicated band! Who are ye??

a dedicated band/DJ like many others.

Its not a problem to get a tune at short notice, good DJ should carry a large catalog anyway but couple times a year a request comes in thats not there, good coverage and 99cents off itunes can get it down in under 10 minutes.

Caveat though, If its bride or grooms request then no problem, if its a random drunk guest who wants some unheard of remix of a techno dance number that he heard on some pirate radio station 15 years ago that will almost surely have the brides mother over to me with the wedding cake knife, then how can I put it... diplomacy must be used. "sorry, didnt bring my trance library with me, good tune though".

Cabra Castle

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