Another day, another bride in need of some assistance. Today's wedding dilemma comes from a Cork bride in search of the perfect venue, this wedding planning dilemma resonated deeply with all of us OneFabDay girls, because each of us has had our troubles with finding the venue that meets all of our criteria.  So we put our searching caps on and found some options, but as with all dilemmas all your help and suggestions very gratefully received...

Hi there

My fiancé and I are hoping to get married next year. We got engaged at Christmas and haven’t been able to progress with our plans because we can’t find a venue that I am happy with!

Basically, I want to stay away from the traditional/typical hotel wedding and want to try to do things a bit different. We are based in Dublin but are getting married down home in North Cork. So we are looking at venues no more than 1hr 30 mins away in Cork (east and west cork are out because they are too far from North Cork)/Kerry/Limerick. While I have found some alternative venues none of them can work because they can’t hold our capacity which is about 150/175.

I was just wondering if you had any additional venues around that area that are similar to the ones listed in your post: 18 exceptional exclusive wedding venues, as all of those were really up my street. We just want some place where we can have a big party that isn’t you typical ‘reception’ room

I really hope you can help because I am at my wits end.

I can well understand why this bride is having trouble, the core of the issue is that very few private venues have large spaces for bigger weddings. For over 100 guests you are usually looking at a hotel or a specially built wedding venue. We found some options that might work...

Barnabrow Country House near Ballycotton in East Cork, may be a little far for this bride, but the lovely country estate can accomodate up to 150 in the restaurant and is available for exclusive use by a wedding party. And with 22 bedrooms and 9 cottages on the estate there is accomodation for almost 100 guests - perfect for a shindig.

Just up the road the world-famous Ballymaloe House has just opened a specially built wedding venue called The Grainstore at Ballymaloe, as expected the food is outstanding and the capacity much bigger than the original house was.

A bit smaller, but perfect for a private wedding is Blackwater Castle, it can only seat 120 inside so you would have to jettison a few guests (we had to unfort) but the castle has two large reception rooms and a number of holiday apartments so guests can be easily accomodated.

Castle Oliver in Kilmallock, Co. Limerick has the same capacity inside - 120 - but as with all of these venues you can have a marquee of any size outside. The recently restored baronial mansion has a level of luxury unusual in private country houses, and is available on a exclusive rental basis.

Dunraven Arms in Adare, Co. Limerick is a hotel but the cosiness, amazing food and great atmosphere make it very intimate and special venue, compensating for the fact you don't have absolute privacy.

Another option available is to have a marquee on the lawn at any of these venues, which affords a bigger capacity. Two very pretty venues that have limited space inside but would be perfect for a marquee wedding are Springfield Castle and Lisselan House