Go Weddings:The Royal wedding has even the most ardent of realists getting lost in the froth of it all. ALANNA GALLAGHERlists 10 confections that give couples options for a fairytale wedding of their own
Fairy fort
Seduce your guests with a classic fairytale exterior that Tinkerbell would be proud to wave her wand over. Château de la Couronne, in the Dordogne region of France, blends 16th century architecture on the outside with its owners’ urbane design inside.
The castle is on the edge of Marthon village and can accommodate 80 guests for dinner in its refectoire, but the five-acre gardens can play host to more if you put up marquees. Catering, flowers, hairdressing, DJs and photography can be arranged.
Suggested theme: Peter Pan
Site booking fee: €2,000 a day for exclusive use of the chateau plus a wedding planning fee of €1,000
Cost per guest: from €100
Minimum number: two but the castle is booked on an exclusive basis so see rates
Next available weekend: Friday September 30th
Can guests stay?The chateau has nine rooms, costing from €145 in summer (June, July and August)
Flights: Aer Lingus (aerlingus.com) flies to Bordeaux, about 128km away. Ryanair (ryanair.com) flies to La Rochelle 147 km away
Contact: 00-33-545-622996, chateaudelacouronne.com or book on mrandmrssmith.com and 00-44-208987-4312
Highland fling
Scotland appeared on the celebrity radar as a wedding destination when Madonna wed Guy Ritchie in Skibo Castle in 2000. This summer Scotland plays host to a second royal wedding, when Zara Philips marries England rugby captain Mike Tindall on July 30th.
If you like your big day to be more tartan tale than fairy tale then check out Dalhousie Castle where you and your guests can enjoy a highland fling in a castle that dates back to the 13th century. Originally built by the Ramsay’s of Dalhousie, a noble Scottish family, the castle has received many famous guests in its time including Mary Queen of Scots. Edward I spent a night at Dalhousie before going on to defeat William Wallace at Falkirk. Oliver Cromwell was at the castle in October 1648.
Suggested theme: Tartan Army
Site booking fee: Friday or Saturday about €2,828, Sunday about €2,658
Cost per guest: from €48
Minimum number: two
Next available weekend: April 16th
Can guests stay?Yes, there are 29 rooms which cost €136 in high season (June, July August)
Flights: Ryanair (ryanair.com) and Aer Lingus (aerlingus.com) both fly to Edinburgh airport which is 22.5km away. See visitscotland.com for more
Contact: 00-44-1875-820153, dalhousiecastle.co.uk
That’s amore
A wedding in Italy is romantic in terms of its setting but also offers gastronomes the option of delicious food and drink.
The rustic Castello di Vicarello in Tuscany has had 900 years to cultivate its air of mystery and offers home-cooked Tuscan cuisine and a working vineyard and olive grove as a backdrop to your big day. It was selected as one of the 60 best new hotels in the world by Conde Nast Traveller'shot list. It is licensed for weddings up to 85 people inside, and 150 outside. There is a spa where the bridal party can sensuously soothe themselves while the gentlemen play at being landed gentry, honing their hunting skills in the hotel's forested grounds.
Suggested theme: The Italian Job
Site booking fee: Exclusive use of the castle is €5,500 a day, with a minimum hire of three days required for exclusive use. Cost per guest: wedding breakfasts start from €140 per person for a three-course meal
Minimum number: 12
Next available weekend: third and fourth weekend of May, then September
Can guests stay?There are six suites accommodating 12. Rooms cost from €480 a night B&B in summer (June, July, August)
Flights: Florence Peretola 145km, Pisa 191km, Rome Fiumicino 202km
Contact: mrandmrssmith.com or call 00-44-208987-4312, vicarello.it
Traditional Irish
Channel your inner Maureen O’Hara with a fairytale day at home. Ballyseede Castle outside Tralee ticks many boxes. Parts of the castle date to the 1590s and the property was transformed into a hotel in 1965. There are open fires and a split staircase for dramatic bridal descents. The castle’s formal gardens make a great backdrop for photographs. Ballyseede Castle has 23 en suite bedrooms, three function rooms and beautiful reception rooms complemented by enchanting formal gardens.
Suggested theme: The Quiet Man
Site booking fee: from €5,000 for exclusive use of the castle
Cost per guest: from an all-inclusive price of €65 pp mid-week to €79.50 at weekends that includes half a bottle of wine each with dinner.
Minimum number: 80
Next available weekend: November
Can guests stay?Yes there are 23 rooms, costing from €75pps (€150 per room) B&B wedding rate in summer (June, July, August)
Flights: Kerry International Airport at Farranfore is a 15-minute drive.
Contact: Ballyseede Castle 066-7125799, ballyseedecastle.com
A run for your money
Craig-y-Nos Castle stands in the Brecon Beacons National Park, in the Upper Swansea Valley, South Wales. The area is designated for its natural beauty and has an interesting history. As well as a picturesque location Craig-y-Nos offers a castle wedding at an everyday hotel price. The price per guest starts from about €34 for a carvery-style two-course meal.
The menu price does not include wine or drinks but it is good value for the bride on a budget.
Think of the photo opportunities plus it shouldn’t be too hard to convince 50 of your closest friends and family to make the short trip across the water to celebrate your big day with you.
Suggested theme: Darling Buds of May
Site booking fee: exclusive use from £5,000 (but if your party books all the rooms you have in effect exclusive use)
Cost per guest: From £30 if minimum of 50 guests
Minimum number: 50
Next available weekend: June 11th
Can guests stay?Yes there are 35 double rooms, costing from €171 B&B in summer (June, July, August)
Travel: Aer Lingus (aerlingus.com flies to Cardiff, ferry from Rosslare to Fishgard (stenaline.co.uk)
Contact: 00-44-1639-730725 craigynoscastle.com or through Celticcastles.com
The Tudors
For a dramatic setting choose the 500-year-old Tudor Thornbury Castle where King Henry VIII once walked the rooms and grounds with Anne Boleyn. Try not to focus on the fact that Henry has her beheaded after just 1,000 days of marriage and focus instead on the castle’s charm: dramatic halls with heavy oak accents, roaring fires in the bedrooms, sumptuous bedchambers and modern cuisine. There is a vineyard within the castle walls from which Thornbury Castle wine is still produced.
Suggested theme: Take your lead from the hit TV series and go with The Tudors
Site booking fee: Room hire starts at €683
Cost per guest: from €51
Minimum number: two
Next available weekend: July 16th
Can guests stay?Yes, there are 27 bedrooms, from €250 B&B in summer (June, July, August)
Flights: Bristol airport is 40 minutes away.
Contact: 00-44-1454-281182 thornburycastle.co.ukand Celticcastles.com
Spanish train
The Paradores of Spain and Portugal offer great fairytale settings. Some are castles, others former monestaries and convents. Parado Cangas de Onis in Asturias, Spain is a former Benedictine monestry, that comes highly recommended by Tara Faye of Xena Productions. Set on the green banks of the River Sella and framed by the Picos de Europa Mountains, this property has plenty of cloisters to let your wedding train run free.
The hotel is on the outskirts of the town of Villanueva de Cangas, which is just 2km from Canga de Onís.
Suggested theme: Spanish romance
Site booking fee: There isn't one but there is a 10 per cent discount if the wedding isn't on Saturday or the day before a holiday. If there are more than 100 guests the music is free and the nuptial suite as well.
Cost per guest: from €90
Minimum number: no minimum
Next available weekend: October
Can guests stay?Yes, there are 64 bedrooms which cost from €130-€162 B&B in summer (June, July, August)
Flights: Ranon Airport (Asturias) is 115km from the Parador
Bohemian rhapsody
Deep in the heart of Bohemia is Hluboka bad Vlravou, one of the many castles owned by the wealthy, powerful Schwartzenberg family. The castle was remodelled to resemble Windsor Castle after a visit to Britain in the 1800s. Take your wedding vows in the castle’s hall and hold the reception in its magnificent neo-Gothic orangerie or at the castle gates in the Castle Hotel Stekl. Organising a wedding in the Czech Republic is tricky so it’s best to use a wedding planner. The White Agency (whiteagency.cz) can organise it
Suggested theme: suit the setting with Bohemian Rhapsody
Site booking fee: €270-€400 Cost per guest: from €16
Minimum number: no minimum
Next available weekend: end of November
Can guests stay?No, but Hotel Stekl is at the castle entrance gates. Rooms cost from €128 B&B in summer (June, July, August)
Flights: Prague Airport is 150 minutes away. Aer Lingus (aerlingus.com) flies there.
Princess bride
Austria has amazing food and wine and five-star service, says wedding planner Tara Faye of Xena Productions. The Castle Schloss Velden on Lake Woerth in Austria has the best of both worlds. The exterior ticks all the romantic boxes but the contemporary interior offers modern creature comforts. There is a church on the edge of the lake and you can get in the boat and hold a reception on the jetty.
Suggested theme: The Great Waltz
Site booking fee: None unless booking the entire hotel
Cost per guest: From €85 for a four-course meal
Minimum number: no minimum
Next available weekend: end of May
Can guests stay?Yes 104 rooms from €310 B&B in summer (June, July, August) Flights: Ryanair (ryanair.com) flies from Stanstead to Klagenfurt, 30km from the hotel
Contact: 00-43-4274-52000-5109, schlossveldencapella.com
Xanadu I do
If you like the idea of a castle but want your wedding to have a New-World feel sprinkled with celebrity fairy dust then consider Oheka, a large pile that forms part of the Long Island Gold Coast Mansions that inspired Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel, The Great Gatsby.
N’Sync’s Joey Fatone, The Jonas Brothers’ Kevin Jonas and congressman Anthony Weiner, who had President Bill Clinton as the officiant, have all said, “I do” here.
Oheka's film debut was made in 1941, in the Orson Welles picture, Citizen Kaneand the castle can be seen in the opening montage representing Xanadu. It was also the backdrop for the 2008 film What Happens In Vegas.
The property only hosts one wedding a day and is fully booked during the summer but special rates are available off-season, in January, February and March.
Suggested theme: Steal bride-to-be Kate Moss's style with a The Beautiful and the Damnedtheme, doffing your cap at another of Fitzgerald's novels
Site booking fee: about €4,889-€8,381
Cost per guest: weddings start from €175 per guest
Minimum number: 400 for a sit-down and 1,000 for Gatsby-style affairs
Next available weekend: December 9th
Can guests stay?Yes. There are 32 rooms costing from €276-€765 B&B in summer (June, July, August)
Flights: John F Kennedy and La Guardia
Contact: 001-631-659-1360, oheka.com
