Wedding Information in Detail

All the information you need to decide if Gliffaes is the wedding venue for you.

Watch the film to find out how we might organise your Wedding Day.

Numbers and Timings
Costs
Food and Drink
Evening Parties
Civil Ceremonies
Wedding Planning
Useful Contacts

We can cater for a small and intimate weddings from just half a dozen people up to a maximum of around 64 ( we can cater for more if you take the hotel for exclusive use). We have plenty of parking space and room for a coach if needed.

Our core business is taking care of our residential guests and for this reason we are not usually able to cater for evening parties as we would not have enough space for your wedding and our resident hotel guests. There are exceptions (see Evening parties below).  We therefore ask that guests leave Gliffaes between 5.30 – 6.00pm. Suggested timings for your Wedding Day could be:

12 noon – Civil wedding ceremony.

12.30 – 1.30 – Drinks reception and photos.

1.30 – Wedding Lunch.

3.30 – Speeches and cake cutting.

3.30 – 5.30 – Tea, Coffee. Few more drinks and chatting.

5.30 – Guests depart Gliffaes.

These times are not set in stone. Equally you may wish to have the marriage ceremony in a church nearby but we recommend you plan to eat no later than 2.00pm.

A word on timings and photos. Please do not allow your photographer dominate your reception by dragging you to the bottom of the garden for hundreds of photos while your guests chat among themselves. Remember they have come to see you and celebrate with you. Back to the top

By far and away the biggest asset Gliffaes has to offer for a bride and groom on their wedding day is our stunning location.

The grounds, the house and the surrounding countryside are pretty much at your disposal for your wedding day.

Gliffaes receives many requests for weddings and we are unable to accept them all as we will only cater for a maximum of two a month, making us an exclusive venue.

Our costs are based on the fact that you are not just paying for a meal in a hotel but to have your entire day planned & organised for you, the house and grounds put at your disposal and food and drink prepared and  served by our  staff. Your wedding will also be overseen by the owners themselves who have over 20 years experience between them in running such events on a regular basis. To this end our costs for 2013 will be around £65 a person . (This would increase if very expensive food was requested or more than three courses asked for.)

To give some idea of  costs, I have drawn up an imaginary bill for a couple and 48 guests who have the following requirements;

• Civil Ceremony
• Reception drinks – Sparkling Wine
• Sit down meal for 50
• House Wine with the meal
• Tea & Coffee

Civil Ceremony – £330

Reception drinks – £400.  A word on drinks charges. We charge for what you drink. We do not tie you into a complicated ‘drinks package’. We just serve what you ask for and can easily work to a set budget or a set number of bottles.

Lunch for 50 people at £65- £3250

House wine, say 18 bottles at £15.00 – £270

GRAND TOTAL – £4250 - This includes tea and coffee after lunch, a cake stand and knife if you wish, linen, cutlery, glasses, place cards etc. The only thing I have not included is flowers as most brides want to arrange for their own table flowers. Back to the top

I do not have pages of menus at various prices for you to choose from, I think that it is very restrictive for you. The chef and I prefer to discuss with you as to what you would really like to eat and come up with a menu that suits you and the time of the year. That way you can choose from fresh ingredients that are in season.  By having a look at our sample dinner menu you will get some idea as to what we can do.

Three courses will cost you in the region of £60per person for a wedding breakfast, we can of course do a buffet should you wish at the same  price.

We do not have a ‘drinks package’, you pay for as much or as little you and your friends drink. There is nothing worse than a party that runs out of booze! Your reception drinks can either be served on the terrace or in one of our reception rooms if the weather is not fine. Suggestions for drinks along with our current prices are listed below;

• Cava – Spanish sparkling wine – £23
• House Champagne – £37
• House wine – £15
• Jug of Pimms – £24
• Jug of Mulled Wine – £23
• Elderflower Presse – £10

All of the above will serve around five to six glasses. Our experience shows that a budget of between £10-£15 per head, based on house wine with lunch and Cava or Pimm’s for the reception, is about right.

Corkage
If you wish to bring your own wine or Champagne we make a charge of £12 (ex VAT) per bottle. Have a look at our wine list to see the full range of over 80 wines we offer.

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Evening Parties

There have been some truly fantastic parties at Gliffaes before and people still talk about them years later, this house just lends itself to a fantastic night of feasting, drinking, laughing and dancing, in other words a proper party. The hotel’s sitting room is cleared of furniture and the band set up while you enjoy dinner so they are ready when dinner is over . The bar, drawing room and conservatory has plenty of space for those who would rather have a chat and a drink. If you are having an evening party we can cater for up to 80 people.

The only way we can achieve a great night like this for you is for you to book out the whole hotel for exclusive use. This way you can make as much noise as you like and you will not be able to disturb anyone . What this means is you will need to book all 23 bedrooms (for two nights if its a Saturday night) and in addition to booking the rooms you will be asked to pay a fee for exclusive use of the hotel. . Gliffaes is available for exclusive use from November through to April for which the fee is currently £2000 and from May to the end of October the fee will be £6000. This fee is in addition to the cost of the rooms, food, drink and any other costs. It will guarantee that you have exclusive use of the hotel and grounds for the weekend.

This may sound like an expensive undertaking but if your guests pay for their own rooms for the two nights you will probably find that this is cheaper than putting up a marquee in your garden and hiring caterers, generators, portable loos, a dance floor etc etc. If you still have questions about this option why not drop me an email? Or listen in more detail about evening parties.

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Civil Ceremonies

Gliffaes is licensed to hold Civil Wedding Ceremonies in our drawing room, a lovely period room with a fireplace, in which we can seat up to around 40 with standing room for a few more. It is the responsibility of the bride and groom to make arrangements and book the Powys Registrar. The Powys Registrar can be contacted on 0845 602 7038 (Monday to Friday 0900 to 1700) , email ceremony.admin@powys.gov.uk. You now have the ability to provisionally book your wedding on line and download an information form their website.

You have the option of having live music, say a harpist, play during your ceremony or we can play your chosen tracks on CD.

The fee for using our Drawing Room for the Ceremony is £330. The Registrar will also charge a fee for conducting the ceremony. A civil wedding ceremony lasts about 20-25 minutes. I will be more than happy to walk you through the basics of the Ceremony when you come up to Gliffaes.

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Once you have come up to the hotel to discuss your wedding I will daw up a plan of action for the day outlining what is happening when, what the menu is and what the costs are. Here is an example. (This will open in a new window)

Florists:

Love Lily in Abergavenny – truly excellent.  01873 856 618

Petals in Crickhowell – 01873 811 885

Cakes

Kate Gladwyn – 01873 860 675

Photography

Naomi and Vince at Whole Picture Weddings

A R Jenkins Photography - highly recommended (see an example of his wedding pictures shot at Gliffaes)

Peter Joyce  - 01497 831 485

Harry Richards

Richard Dutkowski

Ray Edgar

John White

Video

PVP Systems Television Come highly recommended. Recent won a National Wedding Award for their work.

Printing & Stationery

Dover & Co – 01873 853 106

Biscuit Designs for handmade wedding stationery.

Wedding Cars
Crickhowell Wedding Cars

Do you still have questions or would like to know more?

Please call James Suter on 01874 730 371 or send a message via our contact form.
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