Wedding in Ireland 2011 - Help!

Here's a good article about the requirements for getting married in Ireland: http://tinyurl.com/9swln

High season runs from June through August, shoulder seasons are in the spring and fall, with December through February being considered off-season.

I bet those 50 people will love having to pony up a couple thousand bucks each to attend. Do your friends and family a favor and save Europe for the honeymoon.

Just sayin....

Michael, no one is forced to go to a destination wedding. My wife and I had one last year for the sole purpose of keeping the guest count low. In any case, her wording made it sound as if they were paying for the guest's travel expenses. If that's the case, Erin, this is one of those times that a travel agent would be extremely useful in getting consolidator discounts.

Erin,
Congratulations! My husband and I got married in at Dromoland Castle, co. clare 12 years ago. It's sister castle is Ashford in Cong, Mayo. We got an idea of how many people would be coming from the states (about 60) and called a tour company. Club ABC put together a custom 9 day package for our guests. Included was transportation to and from the wedding as well as a customized bus tour of Ireland. It was really fabulous and something we all still talk about. As far as dates, you can't rely on the weather in Ireland. August could be rainy & 50. October might be a nice time to consider, beautiful foliage and not too cold yet. I don't know of any specific places in Galway but still it might be a better location than Mayo. Only because the drive to Cong from the airport is LONG. Our guests' tour included Cork, & Kerry in the trip. A good itinerary might make the trip more worthwhile for your family who are using vacation days & money to go.

Hi Everyone!

Thank you so much for all your insight, I really appreciate it!

The main reason for the choice of Ireland is that my fiance and I fell in love with it while visiting a few years back.

As for family coming to the wedding, most want to extend it into a vacation afterwards so they are happy to pay the money to attend, granted we will pay for as much as we can (outside of flights and extended vacation choices).

I wasn't too familiar with high and low season so I just wanted to get an idea of pricing and whatnot to help out ourselves and guests as much as possible.

And yes, Michael we are looking to do our honeymoon in Europe hence the idea of getting married in Ireland to quickly jet elsewhere afterwards.

Any additional ideas on venues and or people to talk to are welcomed ;)

Thanks, Erin

Michael from Phoenix-I generally agree with you about destination weddings, but Ireland may be the exception. Family may want a reason to gather there. She's probably named Erin for a reason!

I think it would be really cool to get married on Inchagoill where the Druids banished St. Patrick and where he built a church (still standing except missing the roof). Corrib Cruises can get you there from either Oughterrard or Cong and you can either do your reception on the cruise back from the Island or at Ashford Castle. I bet Patrick and David Luskin (the owners/operators of the cruises) would be able to answer a lot of your questions about it. www.corribcruises.com