Weddings and Civil Ceremonies in South Wales, Gliffaes Country House Hotel

All The Information You Need about Weddings at Gliffaes.

I am sure you have a lot of questions and as we do not have a wedding pack to send out you will find all the information about weddings at Gliffaes on this page. Use the links below or simply just read on as each section follows on from the next.

Numbers & Timings

Costs

Food & Drink

Evening Parties

Civil Ceremonies

Useful Contacts

Numbers & Timings

We can cater for a small and intimate weddings from just half a dozen people up to a maximum of around 64. 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 residenl hotel guests. There are exceptions (see Evening parties). We therefore ask that guests leave Gliffaes between 5.30 - 6.00pm. Suggested timings for your Wedding Day could be:

12 Noon	Civil Ceremony
12.30 - 1.30	Reception drinks & Photos
1.30	Lunch
3.30	Speeches and Cake cutting
5.30 - 6.00	Guests depart

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.

Costs

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 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 2008 will be around £55 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
Table flowers from our gardens

Civil Ceremony	£300.00
Reception drinks	£400.00
Lunch 50 @ £55	£2750.00
House Wine - 18 bottles @ £13.20	£237.60
Tea & Coffee	-
Table Flowers 6 @ £25.00*	£150.00
TOTAL	£3837.60

This is an example based on fairly moderate drinking.
*Flowers may be cheaper from a florist.

Food & Drink

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 and 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 £55 per 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	£21.00
Pink Sparkling French Wine	£21.00
House Champagne	£31.00
House Wine	£13.20
Jug of Pimm's	£21.00
Jug of Mulled Wine	£19.75
Elderflower Pressé	£7.50
Jug of Orange Juice	£5.00

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 per bottle. Have a look at our wine list to see the full range of over 80 wines we offer.

A typical table layout for a wedding. We use round tables mainly, seating up to 8.

wedding table layout

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. At present we are just too busy to offer this service in the summer months. Gliffaes is available for exclusive use from November through to April for which the fee is currently £4000. 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?

Firework displays can be arranged.

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. The Ceremony is conducted by the Brecon Registrar, Mrs Cheryl King who can be contacted on 01874 624 334. It is important that you check that the Registrar is available before you confirm you wish to go ahead with your wedding at Gliffaes.

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 £300. The Registrar will also charge a fee for conducting the ceremony. A civil wedding ceremony lasts about 20-25 minutes.