Wedding Venue Possibility

Idbatterim

Hey guys, if anyone on this forum is involved in the wedding industry, please pm me as I would like to ask a few question. Long story short, the parents bought a small hotel a few years (a period house), the basement and ground floor level are not too far from completion, we are now thinking about the best use for the building, I reckon the place would / could be great for weddings... Thanks!

westernlass

I am and am engaged. Feel free to pm me

onlyone

I am the ex owner and operator of a reasonably successful country house wedding venue. No longer involved.

I think this thread would be a good opportunity for people to ask questions about the operation of a country house wedding venue, or indeed any wedding venue. I am happy to answer any questions, but mostly wont do Pm's,as I think it better for and the point of the boards.ie, that these things are shared openly and online.

To the OP, the question is vague, it depends on a lot, location, capacity, planning, EPA compliance, licensing, accommodation, food offering etc.

What do you want to know?

Toots

This is probably better suited to Entrepreneurial & Business Management.

OP, there's a redirect link from the Weddings forum, so people can still access this thread from there also.

Buttercake

I have a business involved in the wedding market.

My 2 cents - Over the last few years, I found a lot of brides to be would go to ends of the earth to be alternative...there are a few country house venues around that are busy every weekend, purpose built for weddings - Boyne Hill house, Bellinter, Ballybeg, Ballymacgarvey, Clonabreaney who market themselves as "indie" and "alternative" - also because weddings were getting smaller and country houses were ideal.

This year though, I find brides are moving away from alternative as its been done to death with 0 novelty factor and more towards traditional - the big wedding, organised hotels, lots of rooms, amenities, managers at beck and call, glitz and glamour instead of wellies and wedding dresses.

The hotels have structured their packages so you get a bit of the alternative(a tandem bike outside or a barn full of candles) while also getting the amenities of a hotel.

Examples: Brooklodge, Village at Lyons, Druids Glen, Castlebellingham, Summerhill House, Station House, Cliff House etc

My own opinion is that the country house market is pretty heavy with a lot of players and i know of some who will drop everything to get business in. I fear you might be too late to the game or will have to do something extra special to capture the market.

Idbatterim

thanks for the replies! ok so the situation it is a period house that was opened as a hotel in the late 60's, the folks bought it nearly 10 years ago, at this stage, the basement and ground floor could be finished in less than a year. The basement has a function froom 18.5 x 7.5m (had two bars, down to one currently), two huge open fireplaces with vaulted ceilings in the bar areas and two other nice rooms (off the main corridor) along with a male and female toilet, this leads outside which has a courtyard to the front and rear. The rear one is usually in the shade and would be more for operations. But the one to the front is very bright and also has 3 wine cellar like structures off it (probably about 3x3m or so, would be nice and very atmospheric with tables and candles etc in them) The ground floor then has a porch, entrance hall, lounge, office, large dining room and commercial kitchen. There is two stories of accommodation above this (with lots of rooms, some ensuite) but some if not all, not really up to todays size requirements, currently). The house is on about 1.5 acres, not much for a house its size, but the courtyards and nice garden to the side make up somewhat for the lack of grounds for a house its size.

The plan would be to get the basement, grounds (pretty much completed) and ground floor done, rent them out for functions and events and when there is cash flow coming in, use this income to fund the accommodation floor construction.

This venue is several miles outside of athlone, so less than 1.5 hour drive from Dublin and about an hour from Galway. Would it in your opinions be feasible to let our a venue, without accommodation in the short term, there are quite a medium and high end hotels only a few minutes drive, currently available...

Idbatterim

My own opinion is that the country house market is pretty heavy with a lot of players and i know of some who will drop everything to get business in. I fear you might be too late to the game or will have to do something extra special to capture the market.

that is why I am here looking for the advice that you guys are very kindly prepared to offer based on your experience. In my opinion the venue sells itself, due to the aforementioned courtyard, nice gardens, vaulted ceilings in basement etc. This wouldnt be some massive operation on our end, my dad does the maintenance, gardening, security, I already run another company so the setting up of a new company wont pose many challenges etc, I can look after the admin and management. We wouldnt be looking to or have to take in major amounts of money for it to pay its way. What I would need if we were going down the wedding route is someone with experience in it, possibly to manage operations on the day, because it is not something I have experience in or would fancy taking on myself...

Buttercake

You should contact the Francis Brennan to get some publicity!

Idbatterim

You should contact the Francis Brennan to get some publicity!

I think grand designs first at this stage, then Francis Brennan

westernlass

Buttercake wrote: »

You should contact the Francis Brennan to get some publicity!

Why not look at where your competitors advertise and gauge who is nearby geographically as a player?

I would disagree re the demise of alternative weddings. While this is a return to glamour rather than rustic, the exclusive hire element of a gorgeous venue is not going to go away in popularity compared to a hotel. They are two completely different markets and there is very little overlap when it comes to venues.

onlyone

There are a lot of issues you would have to consider. Here are some

Dublin is the biggest part of the market and most coupes will not look beyond the immediate counties (Kildare, Louth, Meath, and Wicklow) or an hour’s drive. The 90 minute drive will restrict the market.

The dining areas you describe is only around 120 sq metres and would perhaps accommodate 60 sit down. While large weddings (200 plus) are increasingly rare, the average invited is around 150, and attending around 130. There are of course any smaller weddings, but again your target market is smaller.

Couples will in general not split the crowd between rooms, and despite the fashion for unconventional venues they still want conventional things such as a bar in the dining area, and music and dancing in the same place afterwards.

Then there are also many legal and regulatory issues. First off it sounds if the premises has not been used or registered as a hotel for a while. If so you will need to comply with current HSE regulation, Fire Regulations, Planning and Licensing laws. If you are not registered with Bord Failte you will have to register, and have at least 10 bedrooms (all ensuite) to get a Hotel licence. Alternatively you might have to buy and transfer a 7 day licence (costing 60k plus fees). At that stage you will be commercially rated and also have to get public and employees insurance (ie more costs). There are plenty more regulations that would have to be met. The cost of these regulations etc will run to several hundreds of thousands of euros to do properly and legally.

Weddings are not as profitable as many assume, there are huge costs, such as labour, foods, Energy etc. Marketing is also a considerable expense.

Do you intend to the catering yourself, if so you will need an experienced chef and associated staff. The chef will also be responsible for HACAAP compliance. How will you pay for a chef if he only doing a wedding or two a week in the season (March to December)

Many country houses have gone down the route of weddings and they come and go, as they discover its not very profitable. It strikes me that to be a fully operational legal licensed wedding venue would be beyond the scope of what you are talking about.

An alternate route would be to rent out the house for weddings and let the bride a groom sort out the catering using outside caterers (possibly with your assistance). Again most couples don’t want this, and in any event the kitchen would still have to meet the Haccap regulations. Also in these circumstances, legally, you can’t sell alcohol (although many premises do so) and the bride and groom would have to provide free drinks all night.

Just a few thoughts.