Ross Priory or Harburn House in Scotland

Hi!

I'm afraid I've never heard of Harburn House. My fiance and I looked at Ross Priory about two weeks ago and I'll give you my honest opinion about it, but I'd recommend seeing it yourself if you're interested (cos we're both fussy buggers, lol).

We thought the building and views were stunning but it's reasonably far from the actual loch (told you we were fussy)!

The dining room is also lovely, very nicely decorated!

The other room (where both the ceremony and the reception are held) is nice enough but not decorated to our tastes. We felt it lacked the 'grandness' we wanted for our wedding.

The bedroom we were shown (they could only show us one as it was the only room free) was very basic.

You get the use of the Scott Room which is upstairs and used for the bride to get ready and then come 12 guests are asked to go upstairs but they can all congregate in this room if they are staying. It is a nice enough room and is a good idea for people wanting to continue the party!

Overall, we thought the inside let down the beautiful building and scenery by not being as spectacular as the building itself.

Hope that helps!

I'm getting married in Ross Priory and I have to say loved it. I agree the rooms are a bit basic (the guest rooms at least) but the bridal suite downtairs has newly been renovated and is lovely. I thought the inside was gorgeous but I agree with Jen that it's each to their own with taste-what we were looking for was something relaxed and comfortable if that makes sense?. We were told that he evening receptions in there normally felt like "house parties" (that's what the manager said) which sounds awful but was exactly what we were looking for (kind of relaxed and informal. Anyhoo - just a different opinion for Ross Priory.

I have also never heard of the other place so can't help you there sorry!

Hope you find the perfect place.xx

Thanks both for your responses. I have booked to see Ross Priory for Dec 21st. So will let you know what I think.

Harburn House is in West Lothian.

What about prices at Ross- any info?

My daughter is looking for October 2010 and there is still availability for then- but still, it may or may not be suitable.

But if there is info on price, that would be great to know.

Cheers both

The Ross priory website has info on prices, although they are 2009 prices and when we went they gave us the updated prices for 2010 which were slightly higher.

If you google Ross Priory then the website will pop up. ?

Hiya :-)

I'm getting married at Ross Priory next year and have found them very helpful and the location beautiful. The venue looks very grand from the outside but has a very cosy feel inside. They can fit about 60-62 in the dining room (including the head table) and about 30 in an adjoining room, though with the door open this is fine - if you're having children at the wedding this may be a good solution to give them their own room! :-) I am also using the Ross Priory florist who can source you anything from cakes to hiring umbrellas (as well as the flowers obviously) for a very reasonable price that is much cheaper than going to places like Confetti and also has the added benefit of her knowing the venue inside out. I haven't eaten a wedding meal there before but when I visited the venue for the first time we had some lunch there and it was very nice. You can also hold the ceremony at Ross Priory though we are actually getting married in a gorgeous little church about 5mins from Ross Priory which allows us to travel up the long driveway on the day which is an experience in itself. I haven't seen the new bedroom renovations but the bedrooms I saw last year were basic but still adequate - especially for the price! I also found when I was searching for venues that a lot of places had venue hire fees on top of having to pay for the wedding meal and drinks package but they don't have this at Ross Priory which is great when you're working to a budget like we are! The gardens there are also very beautiful so when you visit make sure you go for a stroll and visit the walled garden which is very pretty when all of the flowers are out. I'm certain that you can gather from my post that I am very happy with Ross Priory and think it will be perfect for a small-medium wedding party. Good luck with your visit!!

P.S. Take your camera along as they are quite happy to wait while you take photos of everything as it's great to help you remember everything when you get home and discuss the venue.

Oh Aussie bride how exciting that you're getting marrie dthere too. we're the end of April and I can't wait. we will have our meeting about numbers etc in January.

I spoke to the florist and she seemed really nice although she said she'd email me details and she never did (that was only last week though so she may still do it - I'm just impatient). don't suppose you were sent photos as well? I'm not seeing her until January but am really exciting. Eeeeeee only 4 months to go.

Oh sorry for hijacking this thread.

L.xxx

How exciting!!! April should be a lovely time going by the last few years!! I'm getting married in August and so I'm going to hire umbrella's to be on the safe side! lol :-) With regards to the florist she's not the best with email (more a creative personality than technical :-) ) so I would suggest giving her a call - she came to our house after work one night and had loads of pictures from various weddings on her laptop so they should help you decide what you want. I also had some magazine cut-outs with me to show her what I liked. I haven't seen in real life any bouquets that she's done but when my Mum was visiting in September we went up to Ross Priory and she was there doing the outside pillars and they looked great. Also if you want things like lanterns, fairy lights or battery operated candles (as you can't have normal candles for dancing) etc then she will be able to organise it for you. She also has a friend that does cakes if you haven't got that yet - though I haven't yet had a chance to visit the cake lady. If you haven't got your favours or want extra decorations for the reception she also knows a good wholesaler that are a fraction of the price of normal wedding related shops :-) Hope that this helps!! ? Also, if you're having the ceremony nearby she will be able to transport the flowers from the ceremony venue to Ross Priory which saves on flower costs!

N xxx

Oooooh thank you! I will give her another call and arrange to see her.

Thanks again

L.xx

No worries :-) Enjoy choosing your flowers!!

xxx

Thanks for the info- silly me, I had seen those prices but forgot. So went back and checked on it.

Not too bad on the prices for now.

All the info about florists etc is so useful for the future if we do use Ross.

We are working to a budget too though prepared to be flexible if the place is nice. I am not sure why I was not enamoured about the Lodge as my daughter was.

Will post again once we have been to see RP.?

Hi- I said I would post having visited Ross Priory.

The views outside Ross was stunning. Having seen The Cruin, Lodge and Ross- I would say the views at Ross Priory are the best and I would definitely choose this location compared to the other two.

However, the inside while cosy is as Jen has said is tired and basic. I think a Christmas wedding will be fantastic as the dark reds will be warm and with holly etc.. it will look really pretty. We saw it last Sunday with the Christmas tree all dressed up and looking nice.

However, the dining arrangement put us off a little, we can't see who to place in the other room so if we were to go for it, we will try and accommodate everyone in the one room. There are no young children or many work colleagues that you could place in that room. My daughter was not keen at all at having people in long tables which meant if we wanted square or rectangle tables, we can only accommodate about 40 which is far too few for us.

The rooms( other than the recently refurbished ones downstairs) were also quite tired looking and we were only shown one - room 7, so I am not sure what the others were like?

However, the price is attractive and we did like the bar area with the open fire. So it is still on the 'possible' list for us. I wish they would spend a little to bring the inside up a grade or two, that would certainly make it quite perfect.

The windows were filthy- so I hope they will clean them before a wedding as the ceremony room looks onto the loch and it is a nice view. We had less of an issue of the loch being a little further away. At the Lodge, the loch was nearby but there was a car park etc and it was actually less pretty. The Cruin view is great but I believe they are looking to extend and so we do not want the risk of it being a building site in late 2010.

Laura/Aussie Bride- any further tips about Ross, now you have booked? e.g. which wedding package are you going for etc..

Thanks and have a happy new year all of you.

Rowena