Castle Quest - Reply to Topic

Forum:	Where To Wed?
Topic:	Castles with chapel that can serve a medieval banquet for upto 150 people.

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T O P I C R E V I E W
carole palin I am trying to plan my wedding for upto 150 people. We would like to get married in an old castle (anywhere in the UK) but I do not want a civil ceremony. I would like a castle with it's own chapel / church where the ceremony can be taken. Additionally we would like a medieval style banquet afterwards as the reception. (We have ideas about wooden tables and chairs with no table cloths, crystal or traditional cutlery. Log fires crackling in open grates, eating with candle light etc...) I have so far drawn a blank. can you help ??
Gordon Mmmm, many medieval castles had chapels, often exclusively for the Lord and his family, and they tended to be pretty small. However, Stirling Castle has the chapel Royal, which could probably accomodate a function like this, ceratinly the Great Hall at either Stirling or Edinburgh could, and both have had their share of functions, though not necesarily private ones like a wedding. Contact Historic Scotland, who may provide details. Alternatively, there are a variety of privately owned castles in Scotland, who can certainly accomodate weddings, though probably not in their chapels.
A word of warning though, there is a current review of the law concerning civil ceremonies, and this may mean that many sites are valid for the reception only, and you may have to have the ceremony elsewhere. Make proper enquiries.
Try http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/ http://www.nts.org.uk/ http://www.traquair.co.uk/ (numbers limited to 25-35) http://www.scottscastles.com/index.html http://www.celticcastles.com/ http://www.scottishweddingconsultants.co.uk/venues.htm
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'Demeure par la verite'
Visit; Gordon's Scottish Castles Resource Page

Peter You can try the site; www.auckland-castle.co.uk
there is also Ruthin castle in North Wales, which is a mixture of old & new.
Peckforton Castle in Cheshire, whilst not medieval, was the place where one of the Robin Hood films was set.
The last two have excellent settings.
kodak We had our wedding there in November 2005 and the service was appalling. Things like nobody answering phone and not being able to contact anyone for weeks, venue not cleaned from previous wedding when our guests arrived and food being left on walls! Not receiving the food we ordered, wedding breakfast being served over 1 and a half hours late and slowly because of too few staff and those that did wore jeans and trainers! Double charging guests for rooms and refusing to pay money back - giving rooms we'd booked and paid deposits for to other people, not putting the heating on in Winter! Charging for things they did not provide - the list is endless. I cannot stress how diabolical they are. Has anybody else had similar experiences? They shouldn't be allowed to hold weddings!
I have asked for a partial refund for items we paid for that were not delivered.
The owner of the castle replied with a catalogue of lies, most of which I have evidence to disprove.
I am now undertaking legal action and am in the process of contact trading standards and the registry office.
Hopefully I can at least prevent couples in the future from suffering at the hands of these charlatans.
If anybody is any doubt as to my complaints, search through other chat forums for Peckforton Castle and you will find numerous complaints of the same nature going back years.
If anybody has had a similar experience at Peckforton Castle please feel free to contact me at kodak1970@yahoo.co.uk and we can represent ourselves together to the trading standards and local registrar.
Morag Carole,
My family and I stayed at Dalhousie Castle in Bonnyrigg, Scotland (near Edinburgh) and it was marvelous! They have a beautiful restarant in the Dungeon and lovely rooms. Also, they have a chapel. Check out the website--just google Dalhousie Castle.
Highly recommend--there was a lovely wedding in progress when we were there (Oct. 2005).
Best of luck!