Regular letters to Enquirers for a wedding at Craig y Nos Castle
Wedding Planning > Plan your Wedding Day
Plan your Wedding Letters for Couples getting married in South Wales
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Forms & Templates - Letters for Weeks 1-4
Daily emails 1-30 for Wedding Couples considering
Craig y Nos Castle for their wedding venue
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As a wedding couple who has enquired about getting married at Craig y Nos Castle, we'll send you a daily 'hints and tips' email to help with choosing the best wedding package at the Castle. After your first 4 weeks with us, we'll drop to a weekly email with more detailed information on Wedding Day Preparation and Wedding Planning.
The Week 1-4 daily emails are for Couples considering Craig y Nos Castle for their wedding venue. Our weekly letters sent in Weeks 5-30, are for Couples who have either booked, or about to book their wedding at the Castle.
These letters should be helpful to you whether you are considering Craig y Nos Castle for your wedding venue, or whether you have booked the Castle. They will continue to be sent to you until you unsubscribe from our mailing list. Once you 'unsubscribe' we'll regard you as 'not interested' and cease all contact. If you inadvertently unsubscribe while still interested, and miss out on the wedding planning advice, you can find the first 30 daily letters indexed below and the subsequent 25 weekly letters here.
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Enquirers' Letter Index
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1. Welcome to Craig y Nos Castle Weddings
2. Planning your Wedding Budget
6. What about the evening guests?
8. Last Minute Weddings & Winter Weddings?
12. Planning your Guest Accommodation at Craig y Nos Castle
19. Should I use professional Suppliers, or can I use a friend who makes cakes / DJ’s / has a band (etc)?
20. Bake me a Cake – how to create a Wedding Cake that will not collapse on the day, and that I can keep to eat a year later on my first wedding anniversary!
25. Will the Wedding Venue be ‘a match’ for my wedding day?
26. Why do I absolutely need to have a toastmaster, and what do they do?
27. The Wedding Ceremony, how it works, how people are seated, and in what order do people arrive, and more
28. Your Wedding Invitations
29. Menu Planning
30. Who’s Who at Craig y Nos Castle – meet our Wedding Planners
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Email FU Day 1
Welcome to Craig y Nos Castle Weddings
Hi
Thank you for signing up to receive information about weddings at our castle. Reception will have sent you some links to our wedding website:
I will be in regular daily contact with a wedding tip each day, for the next 30 days. Please look out for these tips and over the next 30 days we will together build up a picture of how your wedding will be planned at Craig y Nos Castle.
If at any time you wish to unsubscribe from our daily tips and advisory notes, simply press the ‘unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of this email.
When you are ready to come to a viewing, or if you have already been to a viewing and would like to arrange a second viewing, remember you can book a viewing on this link:
Kind regards
Martin Gover
Owner/ Craig y Nos Castle
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Email FU Day 2
Craig y Nos Castle Weddings – Planning your Wedding Budget
Hi again,
When you first thought of getting married, the chances are you had a budget vaguely in mind.
Let me tell you something you will not have realised! As the months go by and your planned wedding date gets nearer, no matter what you think you can afford or wish to spend at first, your budget will increase.
How much by?
Well that depends on how much you want to plan for your wedding day.
How much are you prepared to compromise your Special Day by staying within budget, and how much are you prepared to compromise your initial budget as you add in what you really want for your Day?
I read somewhere recently that the average Couple in Wales start off with a budget of around £7,000 for their wedding, and end up spending nearer £17,000.
The days between now and your Wedding Day are a new journey, and a few unexpected things will happen along the way. Adding £10k to your initial budget is, based on averages in Wales, something you will not have expected!
Read more on setting your budget for your wedding on our Free on-line Wedding Planner report here:
Kind regards,
Martin Gover
Owner/ Craig y Nos Castle
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Email FU Day 3
Craig y Nos Castle Weddings – Who pays for what?
Hi,
Yesterday we talked about your wedding budget, and how you may start with a budget of £7,000 and end up spending £17,000 (in Wales).
Incidentally I read in The Times recently that in England, the end figure is around £27,000, on average. So, Castles in South Wales do offer better value!
I do hope these dramatic figures have not put you off getting married at Craig y Nos Castle. I know you would love to have your wedding exclusively in our Castle. The question is, how can we make this affordable for you?
Well, before we discuss ‘affordability’ at the castle, I thought I should let you know that it is not customary for YOU, as the Wedding Couple, or for a Bride or Groom individually, to be paying for the whole wedding.
Did you know there is an established custom on who pays for what, at a wedding? While individual circumstances of family members may vary, the guide on the link below could be very useful for you. It will indicate how and where you can start sharing the cost of your wedding.
It’s a simple formula but could save you £ thousands, personally, if you can get some help from others.
See:
Now you will begin to see how the budget can be split among others, and how with others help, you can really start planning for your Special Day.
Kind regards
Martin Gover (Craig y Nos Castle)
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Email FU Day 4
Craig y Nos Castle Weddings – Affordability?
Hi,
Over the last couple of days, we have covered your likely wedding budget, and how you can get help from your family members with the costs of your Special Day.
Today, as promised, I want to briefly touch upon how a wedding at Craig y Nos Castle can be made more affordable for you. In essence, how can WE, as your wedding venue, help you save on costs?
Well, one of the key problems for every Bride and Groom, every Wedding Couple, is the cost of the venue. Typically, a venue will charge you for these 5 elements of your wedding:
1. The venue – venue hire is quite common, typically from £1500 - £5,000 across our competitors (2025)
2. The Wedding Breakfast – anything from £70 to £120 per guest (2025)
3. The Evening Buffet – typically anything from £20 to £35 (2025)
4. Drinks Package – varies hugely
Some venues will require you to buy a whole package including all the above. Others may allow you to pick and choose.
At Craig y Nos Castle, we allow you to pick and choose or you can choose an all inclusive package. You can start by booking a basic Day Guest Package from £60/ head (2024), plus exclusive use of the venue at discounted or no venue hire, depending on the Wedding Package chosen. A simple day guest rate for each wedding package makes it easier for you to work out your costs for the ‘wedding breakfast and venue’.
Rates have risen in 2025-2027 due to inflation.
All our Wedding Packages together with links to 'What is Included', 'Terms' and 'Tariffs', based on your guest numbers can be seen here.
See: our weekend wedding package here:
Kind regards
Martin Gover
Craig y Nos Castle weddings
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Email FU Day 5
Craig y Nos Castle Weddings – Weekday or Weekend Wedding?
Hi
Yesterday I sent you a link to our Weekend Wedding Package and we discussed Affordability and Tariffs.
See also the Wedding Package Selector Page with links to What's Included in each wedding package, Terms and Tariffs.
Our weekend weddings at Craig y Nos Castle are really for larger weddings of 60 – 80 day guests. We are a large castle wedding venue, and only allow one wedding to take place a day. You have exclusive use of the whole venue ground floor rooms on our Special Weekend Wedding Package. You really do need to ‘fill the venue’, to have enough guests to justify holding a wedding at Craig y Nos Castle.
If yours is a smaller wedding, below 60 Day guests, then the Weekend Wedding Package is not for you. There are alternatives, which I will explain over the next few days. But for now, if you are looking for a smaller wedding, for around 50-day guests, then as far as Craig y Nos Castle is concerned, you are looking at a weekday wedding package.
If you are considering a mid-week wedding, or a smaller wedding for 50 guests, note that Sundays are included in our ‘mid-week’ days. Sundays are becoming increasingly popular for smaller more intimate weddings, and we have seen a surge in bookings for Sundays and midweek weddings.
See more here:
Remember, when you are ready to book a viewing, if you have not already done so, you can book a viewing on the site, by completing the viewing request form which appears on most pages.
Kind regards,
Martin Gover
Owner/ Craig y Nos Castle
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Email FU Day 6
Craig y Nos Castle Weddings – what about the evening guests?
Hi,
Yesterday we talked about the possibility of holding a midweek wedding, which would be best if you had a smaller wedding of around 50 day guests.
Now on a lot of enquiries that come in to Craig y Nos Castle, I see Couples fill in two numbers for their guests – one number for Day Guests attending, and a much larger number for Evening Guests.
Often there is quite a big difference between the two.
Yet in practice, because Craig y Nos Castle is a ‘destination wedding venue’, and because we are in a rural area in the Brecon Beacons, we are quite a trek for ‘evening only’ guests to make.
A 'destination wedding venue' is one you have to travel to and where you tend to have everyone stay over for the day and night. Having extra evening guests at a 'destination wedding venue' is not so practical - instead you invite everyone for the whole day.
A 'local wedding venue' is one in your own home town near to which most of your guests live, and to which evening guests can travel, and get back home from, within a 30 - 40 minute drive. Evening only guests are more likely to attend a 'local' venue than a 'destination wedding venue'.
Day guests, no problem, they will feel valued, and if invited for the whole day, they will make the effort. But evening guests, contemplating the journey for just a few hours …. well, they may not feel as valued, being invited for the evening only. They may feel it does not matter so much if they do not turn up, that their absence will not be noticed.
You are then left with fewer people coming in the evening than you thought (and may have paid for). For a wedding at Craig y Nos Castle, where you take the venue exclusively for your wedding day, it is better to invite everyone for the whole day. You'll then make full use of the castle’s exclusive rooms for ALL your guests, for the whole day.
See more on who to invite for the day and who to invite for the evening only, or whether to combine the two lists into one shorter ‘whole day list’, here:
Kind regards
Martin Gover
Owner/ Craig y Nos Castle
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Email FU Day 7
Craig y Nos Castle Weddings – Friday or a Saturday?
Hi,
Yesterday we considered the benefits of inviting all your guests for the whole day, rather than have a separate evening guest list that is much higher than your day guest list.
This may have allowed you to increase your Day Guests from around the 50 mark to a higher level, to qualify for the Weekend Wedding Packages.
If you have settled on a weekend Wedding Package at Craig y Nos Castle, as your preferred option, the next question will be whether you go for a Saturday wedding (generally very popular – hence the Saturdays go first) or a Friday Wedding.
In our view, a Friday Wedding has several advantages over a Saturday wedding.
Here are five advantages:
1. Reduced venue hire on the Friday Wedding Package – with exclusive use of whole castle venue.
2. Friday guests will be able to stay two nights, as the first night on the Thursday will have availability, whereas on a Saturday, fewer guests can stay two nights because there’ll be guests of the Friday wedding staying.
3. We offer 30% off on your second night, meaning guests staying the night before your wedding only pay £105 B&B for a double en-suite, compared with the normal tariff of £150 per double room on the night of your wedding (based upon two sharing an en suite double).
4. The very low B&B rate for the night before the wedding means guests having a long journey can get to the venue the night before, instead of staying in local hotels, and have no travelling on the wedding day (this also applies to yourself and your bridesmaids).
5. Many Brides with a Friday wedding now make an ‘early weekend’ of it, effectively taking over Craig y Nos Castle for the whole two days. You and close friends and family can have a meal and an informal get-together and relax in our bar the evening before the wedding – so relaxing, no rush or pressure on the day!
See more on the benefits of Friday weddings (and the pros and cons of other days of the week) for your Wedding Day here:
Kind regards
Martin Gover,
Owner/ Craig y Nos Castle
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Email FU Day 8
Craig y Nos Castle Weddings – Last Minute Weddings & Winter Weddings?
Hi,
Yesterday we looked at the benefits of Friday and Saturday weddings.
You will have noticed the link I sent you yesterday also discussed the benefits of a winter wedding over a summer wedding, and so I would like to touch upon this a little further.
Until 2018 we used to have only a few weddings in January, February and March, typically 5 – 7. Yet in 2018, we jumped to 21 weddings in the first quarter and now tend to have more winter weddings.
So, what has changed?
Well, in part, it is becoming more fashionable to have a winter wedding. Also, Winter Weddings suit smaller weddings looking for a good deal, which you cannot so easily get in the peak summer months. But the main reason for the tripling in the number of Couples choosing to get married at Craig y Nos Castle in winter was down to us promoting a deal no one could refuse! We extended our Last Minute Wedding Package a year ahead, to include Jan Feb Mar of the following year.
Our Last Minute Wedding Package also carries a value for money guarantee on it, meaning you don’t need to look anywhere else for ‘better value’. If, before or even after booking, you find any venue offering a similar package at a similar standard of venue, with exclusive use of multiple function rooms etc, we will match their price.
Well, with a guarantee like that, Couples have been snapping up February and March weekend dates. See more on Last Minute Wedding Package here:
Kind regards
Martin Gover
Owner/ Craig y Nos Castle
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Email FU Day 9
Craig y Nos Castle Weddings – Will your guests want to stay overnight - what if they won’t?
Hi,
Delighted you are still with us! Remember you can unsubscribe from our Craig y Nos Castle Weddings Tips and Advisory emails at any time, simply by ticking the unsubscribe box at the end of this email.
Hopefully you will continue to find our Wedding Tips for your wedding at Craig y Nos Castle, both helpful and informative.
Over the last few days we have looked at a few wedding packages where you will have noticed you need a minimum number of day guests and some staying overnight. The number of guests needed varies depending on the Package you choose and the day of the week. Most prestigious wedding venues will have varying minimum numbers but few are geared up to have all your wedding guests stay overnight on your Wedding day (and the day before).
However, you may not have sufficient guests to stay overnight. Here's an alternative package where you do not need ANY guests to stay overnight - our Ultimate Wedding Package – see more here:
Our Ultimate Wedding Package is for large local weddings (Swansea area) where most guests, being ‘local’, will NOT want to stay overnight. You’ll need 100 guests at your wedding for full exclusive use of the whole castle ground floor.
Kind regards,
Martin Gover
Owner / Craig y Nos Castle
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Email FU Day 10
Craig y Nos Castle Weddings – How you can save money with an evening only wedding reception
Hi,
So far, we have together looked at a number of Wedding Packages offered by the castle and considered the benefits of a smaller or larger wedding. We have considered the benefits of a weekend or weekday wedding, a Friday or Saturday wedding. We have looked at several Day Wedding Packages, with or without overnight guests, and also looked at how you can share your wedding budget among family members according to tradition.
Today I am going to share with you a new trend in money-saving on the wedding venue. It is this. Rather than go for a full wedding day, with traditional wedding breakfast, and all the trimmings, how about having a later Wedding Ceremony and an evening only Wedding Reception?
Now this may not be your cup of tea, and to be honest, it is only a recent trend and we are seeing most weddings prefer the full day and evening at the castle, to make the most of the daytime views from the Conservatory over the Brecon Beacons and to make the most of the exclusive use of the ground floor rooms of the whole Castle. However, I must mention this ‘evening only’ option here, in case it is something you might like to consider for your wedding at Craig y Nos Castle.
See more here:
The above evening only Package can be taken either as an add-on to the Day Party, or as a stand-alone. Terms and conditions apply – e.g. you will need a minimum of 100 evening guests. See more details on what is included in the evening entertainment package here.
Also, this Package does not include the Ceremony room, yet it might suit you, particularly if you were marrying elsewhere (for example, having a church wedding).
Kind regards,
Martin Gover
Owner / Craig y Nos Castle
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Email FU Day 11
Craig y Nos Castle Weddings – Planning your Wedding at Craig y Nos Castle
Hi,
We’ve now looked at various wedding options for your wedding at Craig y Nos Castle – different days of the week, different packages, different seasons for your wedding etc - but what we have not yet covered in any detail is planning your wedding at Craig y Nos.
Weddings are our business. We specialise in weddings and in planning weddings, and we hold in excess of 110 weddings a year at Craig y Nos. Yet each wedding is unique, each Wedding Couple has their own precise requirements. No one wedding is the same. You will want things done your way, to your plan.It is vitally important for us and of course for you, that we each know what you want, and that we are efficient in our systems and procedures to work with you to create your tailor made, bespoke Perfect Day.
So, in the next few daily emails, I am going to cover what we at Craig y Nos Castle, do, to plan your Perfect Wedding Day, and explain how it all works, with links to each element of planning your wedding.
See more on Planning your Wedding at the Castle here:
The above is a general introduction to our planning service. It will help you to understand all that goes in to planning your perfect day, and to ensure everything runs smoothly and effortlessly on the Day itself.
Kind regards,
Martin Gover
Owner / Craig y Nos Castle
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Email FU Day 12
Craig y Nos Castle Weddings – Planning your Guest Accommodation at Craig y Nos Castle
Hi,
I hope you found yesterdays link to planning your wedding at Craig y Nos Castle useful. If you did not manage to read it, fully, here it is again:
Today I would like to cover accommodation planning. This is where you reserve rooms for your guests and your guests then book the rooms. The links below will give you the following information:
2. Monitoring numbers of guests reserved and booked against number of guests required to stay overnight under the Packages
3. The Special Room Use Monitor spreadsheet which lists all our rooms and on which you can list all your guests who are staying, thus reserving specific rooms for your named guests.
See more here:
Tomorrow I will send you further information on our rooms, which are the best rooms for certain guests, our room capacity, and more.
Kind regards,
Martin Gover
Owner / Craig y Nos Castle
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Email FU Day 13
Craig y Nos Castle Weddings – Accommodation at Craig y Nos Castle – how many guests can stay overnight?
Hi,
As you know, most of our wedding packages ask you to book a number of guests in to the accommodation. Because we are in a rural location, and most guests will need to travel to get here, and because we are a ‘destination wedding venue’, we do attract a lot of weddings from all over the country.
You want to be sure that we have enough good standard accommodation and that we can accommodate all your guests.
So here is a summary of our accommodation capacity:
1. Our en-suites comprise a mix of double en-suites, triples, and family ‘apartments’, numbering 25 in total.
2. We can sleep 81 guests across our 25 en-suites, as several are double bedroomed and larger family rooms.
3. A further 21 guests can sleep in our budget ‘Nurses Building’ which comprises a mix of doubles and twins and one single. If you do not require this building, it can and may also be used for guests not attending your wedding, should guests of the next day’s wedding need to stay over the night before.
4. Our total guest capacity is therefore 100 overnight guests.
5. Where there is no wedding before yours, typically if your wedding is on a Friday or midweek, your guests will be able to book in to their room the night before your wedding, at 30% off, if staying two nights. See Availability of B&B here (only shown 6 months ahead).
See more on our accommodation capacity here:
You’ll find information on where to change if guests are not staying the night before (as the official booking in time is after the wedding ceremony), single occupancy, two-night stays and more.
Kind regards,
Martin Gover
Owner / Craig y Nos Castle
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Email FU Day 14
Craig y Nos Castle Weddings – Planning which rooms are best suited to each guest
Hi,
Over the last couple of days, we have been looking at the accommodation availability at Craig y Nos Castle.
Because under each of our Packages (well, all but the Ultimate Wedding Package), you will want to make maximum use of our accommodation, you will probably want to reserve rooms specifically for each of your guests.
See more on our room selection, including links to each individual room on a chart showing each room’s capacity, here:
Your reserving of rooms will need to consider the following:
1. Where you have disabled guests or guests needing the ground floor rooms, you will want to select the most appropriate rooms for them.
2. Where you have families, or at least a group of guests willing to share a family room or apartment, you will want to nominate family rooms for them to use these rooms to best advantage.
3. If you are seeking to fit in more than 50, or have a number of singles, you will need to fit more than two guests into family rooms.
This information will hopefully prove invaluable in deciding which rooms are best suited to which guests. Alternatively, if you prefer, you can leave it to us to book guests randomly into the rooms as and when they contact us.
Kind regards
Martin Gover
Owner / Craig y Nos Castle
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Email FU Day 15
Craig y Nos Castle Weddings – Encouraging Guests to Stay overnight at Craig y Nos Castle
Hi,
As you will know from our past Advisory Emails on holding your wedding at Craig y Nos Castle, we allow you free or discounted exclusive use of the Castle Wedding Venue, provided you have certain minimum numbers attending your wedding and staying overnight.
Since most of our weddings are travelling some distance, we tend to have everyone wanting to stay overnight on your wedding day. However, some guests may opt to shop around, and pay less by staying in a local pub.
To discourage this, and to encourage all your guests to actively want to book in at the castle, we have devised a list of reasons to stay, for you to send to wedding guests. We've summarised the benefits of staying overnight at Craig y Nos Castle, here:
And see the letter to guests that you can send, here:
This will ensure all your guests stay overnight at the castle, provided you have sufficient guests living a little distance away, and also it will even encourage local guests to stay over, and party with you late into the night, instead of risking drink-driving back to their own home or to some local pub for the night.
Kind regards,
Martin Gover
Owner / Craig y Nos Castle.
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Email FU Day 16
Craig y Nos Castle Weddings – Wedding Breakfast Choices
Hi,
It’s now been a couple of weeks since you enquired (or longer, maybe) and we’ve covered, so far, the various wedding packages and our accommodation.
Yet the most important part of the day we have not addressed is your wedding banquet.
Included in all our wedding packages is a 3-course wedding breakfast. You can choose any two mains, any two starters and any two desserts, to create a three course bespoke wedding breakfast. You then send your RSVPs to guests, with the choice of two mains and two starters, a vegetarian option, plus a choice of two desserts, and invite them to confirm they can attend your wedding and to choose their preferred menu.
There are in fact four wedding breakfast menus to select from, two menus on the standard wedding breakfast, and two on the superior wedding breakfast (which costs a bit more). You can mix and match items from each menu, to make your choice of two mains and two starters (a higher rate applies to items chosen from the superior menu).
See more on our wedding breakfast menus here:
and
Once you have made your selection, let us know, and then you send out your invites with your selected menu items, inviting guests to choose what they would like to eat at your wedding banquet.
Kind regards.
Martin Gover
Owner / Craig y Nos Castle
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Email FU Day 17
Craig y Nos Castle Weddings – Wedding Buffet Choices
Hi,
Yesterday we discussed your choices for your Wedding Breakfast Menu at Craig y Nos Castle. If you did not catch the link yesterday, here it is again:
You will need a decent gap between the Wedding Banquet and the Evening Party.
Once the drinks flow (your average guest will spend £25 over the bar during the night), people recover their appetite and will want to eat an evening buffet.
They may only start picking at the buffet around 10 pm, so it’s a good idea to choose items that can be ‘left on the buffet table’ for longer.
See Buffet Choices here:
Try to leave a 3 hour gap between the end of the Wedding Banquet and the Evening Buffet going out.
Guests do get hungry again, eventually, especially when a wedding party is going on till midnight or later. However your evening buffet should not be served too close to the end of your Day Banquet, to allow guests to work up an appetite as they dance the night away.
Kind regards,
Martin Gover
Owner / Craig y Nos Castle
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Email FU Day 18
Craig y Nos Castle Weddings – Evening Buffet – More choices
Hi,
Yesterday we discussed the Evening Buffet choices. I forgot to mention you can select any 6 items from the buffet, for your own evening buffet.
Here is the link again: https://www.craigynoscastleweddings.com/wedding-reception-swansea-evening-buffet.html
We have recently added many new Evening Buffet options:
Fish N Chip Supper
(priced same as original Evening Finger Buffet)
Mini Fish Goujons
Sticky Cauliflower Florets
Chips
Mushy Peas
Crusty Rolls
Curry Sauce
Wing Bar
(priced same as Hot Fork Evening Buffet 1)
BBQ Wings
Chinese Marinated wings
Salted Chili Rub
Jerk Chicken
Honey and Chili Wings
Caramel Chicken
Blue Cheese and Celery Dip
Tofu Selection
Asian Slaw
Min 40 guests required
On average each guest will get one of each flavour
Build Your Own Burger
(Priced same as Hot Fork Evening Buffet 2)
Beef Burger
Lamb Burger
Falafel Burger
Crusty Bread Rolls
Homemade Burger Relish
Bacon
Baby Gem Lettuce
Sauteed Onions
Potato Wedges
Cheese
Hog Roast Buffet
(Priced same as Hot Fork Buffet 1)
Pork Loin
Sea Salted Crispy Crackling
Stuffing Balls
Tofu (Vegetarian & Vegan Option )
Crusty Baps
Apple Sauce
Coleslaw
Mixed Leaves
Curry Buffet
(Priced same as Hot Fork Evening Buffet 2)
Homemade Chicken Curry
Home made Cauliflower Curry
Coconut and Coriander Rice
Chips
Naan Bread
Papadums
Onion Bhajis
Martin Gover
Owner / Craig y Nos Castle
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Email FU Day 19
Craig y Nos Castle Weddings – Should I use professional Suppliers, or can I use a friend who makes cakes / DJ’s / has a band (etc)?
Hi,
As you look around at who you know who can help out at your wedding, either financially or in planning the Day, it may occur to you that you actually have some useful contacts who could do a bit more for you.
You may know a friend who is excellent at table décor, or who does cupcakes, or who DJ’s, or who makes cakes, etc. Should you use them, or should you use a professional?
Well, the general rule is, if you want to keep your friends, do not let them do anything ‘critical’ for your wedding day. Make sure you use professionals for key elements such as Wedding Photography, the Dress, the Wedding Cake, and the DJ’ing.
Someone to help with a non-critical element (so long as it is non-critical) such as a cupcake display, maybe OK (but even then, you will be furious with them if they muck up)!
For more on choosing suppliers see:
For a HUGE and comprehensive list of the Craig y Nos Castle approved Wedding Suppliers, featuring every conceivable supplier you could possibly imagine (and a load you won’t even have thought of!) see here:
Kind regards,
Martin Gover
Owner / Craig y Nos Castle
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Email FU Day 20
Craig y Nos Castle Weddings – Bake me a Cake – how to create a Wedding Cake that will not collapse on the day, and that I can keep to eat a year later on my first wedding anniversary!
Hi,
Whoever would have thought that there was a science to making a wedding cake? But there is. Get it wrong and your cake could end up askew like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
As you can imagine, with now over 100 weddings a year, over 24 years of handling weddings at Craig y Nos Castle, we have seen everything that can go wrong with wedding cakes.
We have seen cakes that have ‘taken off’ in the boot of a car, due to travelling unsecured and too fast cornering, needing some careful surgery by our own staff on arrival.
We have seen upper tiers lean precariously, due to use of a sponge base with top-heavy fruit upper levels.
We’ve seen decorative objects disappearing behind the Cake Stand, in pieces.
On one occasion we had to borrow a previous wedding’s discarded turrets to reconstruct the fallen turrets of the Couple’s collapsed castle wedding cake (both Couples had castle wedding cakes that weekend).
So, for help with choosing cakes, see loads off cake designs and Cake Suppliers here:
And for information you never knew you needed to know about wedding cakes design see:
The above link has useful information on cake construction, cake positioning, cake transport, cake cutting and serving the cake.
Kind regards,
Martin Gover
Owner / Craig y Nos Castle
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Email FU Day 21
Craig y Nos Castle Weddings – Get everything in Writing – here’s why and how!
Hi,
In life, we all deal with people we like. A friendly smile, someone who remembers our name, someone whom we can believe in, we will choose over a non-peopley, non-friendly person.
And yet, when it comes to planning your wedding, how the Supplier comes across to you may have little to do with how competent they are.
Most Suppliers, particularly wedding suppliers, depend on their reputation, so they will not let you down. Nearly all the wedding Suppliers on our list have been known to the Castle for years, decades, even, so it makes sense to select Suppliers from our own list here.
It can happen that with the best will in the world, a Supplier, or a Wedding Planner, anyone, may miss some little detail you mention, may fail to hear something you say, and may say yes and yet forget to note it down. The answer is so basic, yet so important, and it is that you must get it all in writing.
See more here:
It can be an email confirmation of a telephone conversation, or a text confirmation of a conversation, or meeting. The main thing, is you summarise what you have agreed in writing. This then forms a binding contract between you and the supplier. The Supplier can refer to your emails and text, to be sure they have done everything you want them to do.
When you see your own Order of the Day at Craig y Nos Castle (more tomorrow) you will see how we too have to be sure to get everything you require for your Wedding Day written down and planned, to the letter.
Kind regards,
Martin Gover
Craig y Nos Castle
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Email FU Day 22
Craig y Nos Castle Weddings – Running Order of the Day
Hi,
At Craig y Nos Castle, 4 – 6 weeks before your Wedding Day, we will call you to arrange the Event Finalise Meeting. You will have prepared your own thoughts on your Order of the Day before this meeting, and our job is to get down exactly what you want and to make sure it happens smoothly on the Day.
Getting the Order of the Day right can be complicated, as every wedding is individual. No wedding is the same, in many respects, yet all weddings are the same in other respects – namely for each of our Wedding Couples, this day is the most important day in their lives. It has to go right.
The other thing all weddings seem to have in common, is that all weddings run along smoothly and effortlessly on the day – as far as the wedding couple is concerned. If things do go wrong on the day, you will never know about it, for the Running Order Plan is in place, and is followed by our team.
The worst that ever happens is the photographer over-runs - so pay particular attention to the schedule of the day here: https://www.craigynoscastleweddings.com/wedding-planner-tips-11a-wedding-day-schedule.html
See how we plan your Running Order of the Day here:
There are a lot of useful links on the above, to other ‘Planning your wedding’ pages on the site. As you’ll now be discovering, the Castle weddings website is a useful on-line resource which will help you plan your perfect day. There is so much of it to absorb, that it’s best studied a bit at a time!
Kind regards,
Martin Gover
Owner / Craig y Nos Castle
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Email FU Day 23
Craig y Nos Castle Weddings – Wedding Day Countdown
Hi,
Yesterday we touched upon a load more Wedding Planning links when we considered the Running Order of the Day.
That is looking quite far ahead, to your wedding day. Before then, a lot needs to happen and in an ideal world (less easy if you are organising a short notice wedding) these lists of things need to take place over a period of several months, in a given order.
If you have less than a year to your wedding then the time schedule for these tasks needs to be reduced, but you will still need to complete most of the tasks.
See tasks needing to be done before the wedding day – your wedding day countdown – here:
Ok, so a few of the above you might dispense with, but it is a useful aid to ensure you do not forget anything.
There are also handy links on the above, to the various suppliers who provide each of the services you’ll need to arrange.
Kind regards,
Martin Gover
Owner / Craig y Nos Castle
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Email FU Day 24
Craig y Nos Castle Weddings – Choosing my Wedding Venue
Hi,
Have you arranged a viewing yet? If you are still with me on this journey through our wedding tips and advisory notes, you are probably quite keen on holding your wedding at Craig y Nos Castle.
If you are not so keen on getting married in our Castle, remember you can unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this email. You will then not hear from me, nor any of our wedding planning team, again!
Still with me? Excellent.
Now let’s cover the choice of your wedding venue. For, let’s be honest, until you view the venue, you won’t know if it’s right for you. But you can do some early preparation to decide which venues to view, based on your own requirements for your wedding day.
So, if you have not yet decided on a shortlist of venues to view, see some excellent advice on choosing your wedding venue here:
Consider:
1. Numbers attending your wedding Vs size of wedding venue
2. Licensing hours – how late does the bar stay open for
3. Wedding Licence up to date
4. Catering standards
6. Exclusive use – yes or no
7. Wedding Dates Availability – is your date available?
8. Obligation to use preferred suppliers – yes or no?
10. Photo Opportunities inside (in case it’s pouring with rain) and outside.
11. LOCATION – will you and your guests get to the venue/ are you all prepared to travel to it?
Kind regards,
Martin Gover
Owner/ Craig y Nos Castle
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Email FU Day 25
Craig y Nos Castle Weddings – Will the Wedding Venue be ‘a match’ for my wedding day?
Hi,
Yesterday we covered what you might need to consider on choosing a venue, but we did not consider whether the venue could be a match for your wedding day.
You might think we did, but in a way, it is not just whether the venue is big enough, or in the right location, or has a late bar.
Choosing a venue is not just an exercise in ticking boxes – yes it has these facilities – no it doesn’t have those facilities. Choosing a venue is more an emotive question – like choosing a partner, the venue has to be ‘a match’ for your wedding day.
So how will you know, how do you decide on something that is really more ‘emotional’ than logical? Well, as it happens, there is a way of doing this.
See more about matching your wedding venue to your own wedding day here:
Consider:
1. Venue old or new; do you want characterful gothic historic, or clean pristine lines and modern?
2. Do you have a wedding theme? If so, how will the venue complement the theme, the colours, the style of your wedding?
3. What natural features (fireplaces, view points, scenery, balconies, doors, arches etc) will complement your own wedding décor ideas?
4. Acoustics – where is best for bands, live musicians etc, if planned?
5. Ambience – what ambience does the venue have, how might it fit your wedding plans?
Kind regards,
Martin Gover
Owner / Craig y Nos Castle
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Email FU Day 26
Craig y Nos Castle Weddings – why do I absolutely need to have a toastmaster, and what do they do?
Hi,
You have probably never considered a toastmaster – why would you? Few weddings seem to have them these days, admittedly. And yet they are almost a must-have.
Some venues even say they ‘include a toastmaster’. We do not, but if we slipped a red jacket on our wedding planner, we could claim to provide this service! For in the absence of a delightfully traditional and smart red-jacketed toastmaster, our Wedding Planner will fulfil the functions of a toastmaster for you.
Our wedding planner is on duty on the day, ever present, to ensure everything runs smoothly.
So why, you may well ask, have a toastmaster? Why do I like them so much? Why do I, as owner of the Castle, like to see a toastmaster at a Wedding?
Well, it’s difficult to put in words, and to be fair, my reasons won’t be the same as yours.
You might not like the look of a toastmaster.
You have to ask; will a toastmaster enhance the ambience at your wedding? Are they suited to your wedding style?
Will your guests even appreciate this addition?
Personally, I feel a toastmaster ‘suits the castle’, much like having a smart Butler opening the front door to guests in the old days would have suited the castle, when a private house. I just think it looks ‘quality’ to have a smart Toastmaster.
He creates a distinctive first impression as your guests arrive. A good local toastmaster is also very handy for keeping things running on schedule, ensuring suppliers are following your ‘order of the day’, and rounding up your guests for the photographs.
He calmly and effortlessly directs everyone to where they need to be, when they need to be there.
See more here: https://www.craigynoscastleweddings.com/wedding-planner-tips-10-a-wedding-organiser.html
Please do not employ anyone other than our own approved toastmaster as anyone not familiar with the building has to be shown from scratch, in addition to understanding your specific Running Order of the Day.
Kind regards,
Martin Gover
Owner / Craig y Nos Castle
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Email FU Day 27
Craig y Nos Castle Weddings – The Wedding Ceremony, how it works, how people are seated, and in what order do people arrive, and more
Hi,
The Wedding Ceremony is a formal occasion that follows a strict and set pattern. You will be rehearsing this with the Registrar, but there are elements to the Ceremony the Registrar won’t be covering.
The Ceremony breaks down into the prelude, the seating of the mothers, the processional, the ceremony itself, and the recessional.
You will have a period of half an hour or so before with music playing during which time guests arrive in any particular order, and sit down, space being left in advance for close relatives etc on the front rows.
The Mothers are then seated, duly escorted, five minutes ahead of the Processional. You will need someone to organise the correct music for the Processional, so timing and co-ordinating things is important. The Ceremony itself only lasts 20 minutes, and is the section you should be able to practice a little before hand with the Registrar.
Organise your photographer to take the Recessional and Post Recessional photographs and ensure whoever is playing the music knows to play the correct song as you leave.
See more on the Wedding Ceremony here: https://www.craigynoscastleweddings.com/wedding-planner-tips-11c-wedding-ceremony.html
Kind regards
Martin Gover
Owner / Craig y Nos Castle
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Email FU Day 28
Craig y Nos Castle Weddings – Your Wedding Invitations
Hi,
Once you have an idea of who is coming to your wedding, you’ll be wanting to send out professionally designed and printed RSVP invites and copies of the Wedding Breakfast Menu so your guests can choose what they want to eat.
Before you send out your RSVP’s, you will have created a shortlist of wedding guests, not all of whom are going to be able to come to your Wedding Day.
If you have planned your wedding a year or more in advance, you can send out ‘save the date’ cards, prior to sending out your formal RSVPs.
Ideally between the save the date cards and sending out the formal invites, you should have got some idea via modern social media, text, email, etc, who is actually planning to come to your wedding.
See advisory on Wedding Invitations here:
And see stationery suppliers for Wedding Invites, save the date cards, place cards, menus etc here:
Kind regards,
Martin Gover
Owner / Craig y Nos Castle
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Email FU Day 29
Craig y Nos Castle Weddings – Menu Planning
Hi,
Yesterday we talked about Wedding Invitations but I perhaps got this the wrong way around, as before you send out your formal invites, you should have organised your choice of menu. This enables you to send out your menu options with the invitations.
So, with your RSVP’s seeking confirmations from guests, you also invite your guests to select their preferred menu choice for your Wedding Banquet.
See Planning your menu and Menu selection for guests here:
Note also how you will be able to choose one of the approved stationary suppliers to create your menus for the tables / and for the invites themselves, if you wish.
You will then provide us with a list of guests for each table, and what they are eating.
See also table planning here:
You will not be able to commence the table plan till you know for sure who is coming, at which point you then have another interesting issue, deciding who will sit at which table. Consider who will get along with whom? After all, your wedding guests will be sat at their table with your choice of fellow diners, for the better part of 3 hours!
Kind regards,
Martin Gover.
Owner / Craig y Nos Castle
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Email FU Day 30
Craig y Nos Castle Weddings – Who’s Who at Craig y Nos Castle – meet our Wedding Planners
Hi,
We are now coming to the end of our initial sequence of email advisory notes and hints. If you have not yet arranged a viewing at the Castle, I hope you will soon do so, as you will not know if you like the venue or not, without seeing it first-hand.
However, I can at least introduce you to our team of happy and experienced Wedding Planners and assistants – see more here:
If you would like to ask any of our Planners a question, you can email any one of them direct and ask a question.
Or you can simply arrange to book a viewing by completing the Viewing Request form here:
And we also have our overnight ‘wine and dine, stay and view’ deal here:
We hope to see you soon at the Castle and look forward to holding your Wedding at Craig y Nos, where we only ever hold ONE wedding a day – yours.
Kind regards,
Martin Gover
Owner / Craig y Nos Castle
Enjoy a Homely Welcome and Friendly Service at Craig y Nos Castle