Okay, time is marching on and we have finally decided on the type of wedding we want, however I am having difficulty finding the right location for this. Criteria as follows: Small wedding (40 people tops), civil ceremony, want to get married in evening ceremony (5pm ish) then nice drinks/cocktail reception then nice meal followed by drinking in to wee hours. I want to keep it as low key as possible, however any venues I have come across only do wedding packages and all of that rubbish, cakes etc etc - essentially I want a reception venue that will just provide dinner, drinks and nice atmosphere for an evening. As to actual wedding venue - not fussy - if I could combine it with the reception venue then great!. Won't be doing a big white dress job - just plain and simple. I want the wedding to be just people having a meal and drinks together. Any suggestions for restaurants/pubs/hotels in Dublin or Meath very much appreciated. Will be looking to do this at the end of 2009.
wedding venues.......yet again
- Thread starter ney001
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truthseeker
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Hi ney001,
Am dealing with similiar myself right now - I would strongly advise you to get onto the HSE (relevant local office) to arrange your appointment to Notify of Your Intention to Marry as this has to be done in person. I phoned in August and the very earliest they could see me is end of November - and the earliest you can marry after that is 3 months later.
We will do civil ceremony (in registry office in Dublin), around 10 people or so, dinner in a hotel afterwards and perhaps some professional photos.
For a 'reception' we plan to book a venue for a party for the night after the actual wedding itself - NOT booking it as a wedding, no cake, no wedding dress, no speeches etc... for 80ish people. Just food, booze, entertainment (band, dj whatever). We are deliberately not booking it as a wedding because we dont want all the wedding package rubbish.
Am dealing with similiar myself right now - I would strongly advise you to get onto the HSE (relevant local office) to arrange your appointment to Notify of Your Intention to Marry as this has to be done in person. I phoned in August and the very earliest they could see me is end of November - and the earliest you can marry after that is 3 months later.
We will do civil ceremony (in registry office in Dublin), around 10 people or so, dinner in a hotel afterwards and perhaps some professional photos.
For a 'reception' we plan to book a venue for a party for the night after the actual wedding itself - NOT booking it as a wedding, no cake, no wedding dress, no speeches etc... for 80ish people. Just food, booze, entertainment (band, dj whatever). We are deliberately not booking it as a wedding because we dont want all the wedding package rubbish.
we were thinking about doing the party thing for friends etc but to be honest we're not going to bother - we will be inviting main people to the wedding itself and will just catch up with everybody else for drinks in the days after the wedding. I just hate the whole wedding package thing that's what's getting me, we are also trying to keep costs down but for the money that is going to be spent on it -i want to spend it on a nice meal in a nice venue then go out for the night to good pub or something - I just can't find the right venue in either Dublin or Meath.
WHAT'SFREE?
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What about this?
[broken link removed]
Don't know anything about it - good, bad or indifferent - just remember reading a newspaper article (quite recently) about the wedding ceremony taking place in the restaurant.
[broken link removed]
Don't know anything about it - good, bad or indifferent - just remember reading a newspaper article (quite recently) about the wedding ceremony taking place in the restaurant.
I did actually look into this but was looking for something a bit more central. Main criteria would be nice food, good bar if poss and nearby club/dancing etc. This will be more of a night out then a wedding. aiming for December 2009 so when would I need to book a restaurant etc? any clue?. Also will there be a problem with a booking of 40-50 people?, I want people to order what they like for meal i.e I don't want just 2 or 3 choices!.
truthseeker
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ok - Brassiere 66 (not sure if thats spelled correctly) takes large bookings, has a bar that stays open quite late, very central and is a nice venue. Its on Georges St (dublin) so very close to clubs/dancing - and the food is YUM in there. You can expect to pay a good deposit per head to book that many - but they will probably only look for a deposit close to the time. They also give you full access to the whole menu no matter how large the group (in fact they have a special roast pig dish that only large groups can order). Its a very relaxed athmosphere in there too - you wont get rushed at all.
You could also look into the upstairs function room of FXBs on Pembrooke st - that seats around 40ish - quite a limited menu though, if people dont like steak theyre a bit stuck!
Would you be into hiring a venue and getting it catered? If so there are a number of nice places that can be hired in Dublin, very central - you could cater food and drink and then head off to a club later on?
An example of somewhere like this is 6 Kildare St:
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Check out
www.venuesearch.ie - they have a large number of restaurants and unusual venues listed.
Thanks Truthseeker - venue search is handy!. I don't think I want to get into the catering in a venue thing as I am trying to keep the costs down and the hire of a venue alone would blow the budget that's why I thought spend the money on the food and drink and then the night will look after itself. I hate all of this wedding stuff so am aiming for party night instead of formal wedding do - (does that make any sense).
Also, we will be doing a civil ceremony, do you have to do this in the registry office or can you go anywhere??
Also, we will be doing a civil ceremony, do you have to do this in the registry office or can you go anywhere??
truthseeker
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I hear ya re the catering - having the same dilemma myself
Im also not digging the whole formal wedding idea and just want a party - but I am considering catering it myself depending on how expensive a venue is - we are not planning on a full meal - more a buffet type affair, as we are just planning an evening party the day after the wedding.
Best bet is to go look at nice restaurants and see if you can do a large group booking close to xmas - dont mention wedding to them, just book it as a party (family celebration perhaps) - some restaurants may allow you to book out the entire place and then you could decide on what time youd stay til, head off later to wherever.
It depends what you want re the ceremony, you CAN get a registrar to come to an approved venue but when I looked into it it seemed to be quite a lot of hassle, there are strict rules surrounding approval (registrar has to have a private room available for him, no outdoors venues etc...), and then it turns out that a lot of places that have been approved only offer the facility as part of 'wedding package' so thats pushing costs right back up. We decided to abandon idea of doing it that way and are just using the registry office for the actual ceremony.
sorry the website is www.schoolhouse.ie think it looks really lovely. have been there for drinks after work before but not restaurant so cant comment on the food
Schoolhouse is on my shortlist - looks nice.
Truthseeker re registry offices - is there just the one in Dublin or a few, also, do you pick your registrar to do the wedding from the approved list or how does it work?? - Am going to take advantage of your planning sorry!
truthseeker
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On registry offices, you can notify HSE of intention to marry at either Lombard St or Patrick Duns Hospital - and if you want to use registrar somewhere other than the actual registry office you can get a registrar from either (dont know if you can choose who you get or are you just assigned one) - but the only option to actually use a registry office for ceremony is Patrick Duns Hospital (in dublin anyway).
You should ring Patrick Duns and tell them you want to notify them of your intention to marry asap - they are very nice on phone (when you ring you leave message and they DO phone back that day) - chances are that the earliest opportunity for you to go and notify in person will be 3 months from now. Very earliest you can marry is 3 months after that appointment.
Its possible wait times are shorter outside of dublin (for notifying intention to marry). I dont know what the story is for registry offices outside of dublin, how many of them there are etc...
I used this website to get all this info:
http://www.groireland.ie/getting_married.htm
The first thing I did was phone Lombard St to tell them I wanted to notify them of intention to marry, when they heard I wanted to use the registry office for the ceremony they said to notify Patrick Duns of intention to marry instead as if I notified Lombard St, then they would have to liase with Patrick Duns etc...Easier to notify the place you want to use. So dont bother ringing Lombard St - go straight for Patrick Duns.
While that website has a lot of detail there was no substitute for the person on the phone who was able to clarify and simplify things for me within minutes.
When I told Patrick Duns I was ringing to notify of intention to marry they said earliest appointment to do so was end of November and I was to bring various bits, passport, long form of birth cert etc.. and that they would send me letter confirming appointment which would include list of necessary documents for appointment at end of November, they will organise wedding date at that appointment also.
They sent me the letter and they also phoned me yesterday just to confirm I was still going to the appointment (its next week - so I will have more info for you after it).
You should ring Patrick Duns and tell them you want to notify them of your intention to marry asap - they are very nice on phone (when you ring you leave message and they DO phone back that day) - chances are that the earliest opportunity for you to go and notify in person will be 3 months from now. Very earliest you can marry is 3 months after that appointment.
Its possible wait times are shorter outside of dublin (for notifying intention to marry). I dont know what the story is for registry offices outside of dublin, how many of them there are etc...
I used this website to get all this info:
http://www.groireland.ie/getting_married.htm
The first thing I did was phone Lombard St to tell them I wanted to notify them of intention to marry, when they heard I wanted to use the registry office for the ceremony they said to notify Patrick Duns of intention to marry instead as if I notified Lombard St, then they would have to liase with Patrick Duns etc...Easier to notify the place you want to use. So dont bother ringing Lombard St - go straight for Patrick Duns.
While that website has a lot of detail there was no substitute for the person on the phone who was able to clarify and simplify things for me within minutes.
When I told Patrick Duns I was ringing to notify of intention to marry they said earliest appointment to do so was end of November and I was to bring various bits, passport, long form of birth cert etc.. and that they would send me letter confirming appointment which would include list of necessary documents for appointment at end of November, they will organise wedding date at that appointment also.
They sent me the letter and they also phoned me yesterday just to confirm I was still going to the appointment (its next week - so I will have more info for you after it).
Thanks Guys, have taken the first step - appointment made for end of January notify intention of marriage . I am looking in to doing it next December i.e Dec 09 so I think this will give plenty of notice, however, do you have to have an exact date for wedding at this appointment? - because we might even bring it forward by a couple of months if time allows?.
. I am looking in to doing it next December i.e Dec 09 so I think this will give plenty of notice, however, do you have to have an exact date for wedding at this appointment? - because we might even bring it forward by a couple of months if time allows?.truthseeker
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Thanks Guys, have taken the first step - appointment made for end of January notify intention of marriage
Yipee!! Well done!
I do not know the answer to this question now but I will find out at my appointment next week and let you know. We have a date in mind, which we will tell them, but if for some reason we cant get the venue we want for the date we want we may consider changing the wedding date too.
Right kids, things have moved on rather swiftly - we have booked the registry office in Dublin for the day we want in December - it's available and now all we have to do is bring all paperwork in January to local office. Truthseeker - I rang the Dublin office and told them the date I wanted he checked it there and then and booked it for me there and then!
Okay, thanks to AAMers I am now getting married next year!! - all I need to do is sort out reception!!
Oh yeah - I suppose I better tell himself!
Okay, thanks to AAMers I am now getting married next year!! - all I need to do is sort out reception!!
Oh yeah - I suppose I better tell himself!
truthseeker
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begod Ney001, in the space of a day you went from asking a few vague questions to booking the whole thing!
Excellent work!!!
Excellent work!!!
Ha ha don't I know it - I thought I'd make preliminary enquiries then in a few months see registrar and arrange a date - all done over the phone in two minutes!. Still thinking about venue thing of course but I have a few months for that one I expect. Many thanks truthseeker - I am holding you responsible for this! Have to say though am relieved that it's finally done, we have kept putting it off for various reasons, house, bills, family not here etc etc - eventually you just have to do it!!