Hi all,
We're getting married in early 2012 and are starting to look at reception venues. We're planning to get married at a church in North Sydney and want to have a boat cruise for guests (as most are from overseas) between the church and reception ... so the reception needs to be near the water too. 80-100 guests.
The only venue I'm keen on at the moment is Athol Hall ... but I'm a bit worried about how rustic it is. I love that it's private.
Has anyone had a wedding there?
How was the food?
Were they sufficiently flexible on start and finish times?
Do they mind if you use an external decorator?
Any insights would be much appreciated, and also any other suggestions.
Cheers!

Has anyone had a wedding there?
- Yes, me! In November '06. It was amazing. We had our ceremony on the island at Balmoral and then bussed our guests over. Most of our guests were from overseas and they LOVED having cocktails before dinner in the late afternoon sun, watching the boats on the harbour and views over to the bridge. I'm mean, come on, can you GET any more fabulous than that view!!!
They also got a great kick out of the kookaburras and possums at night.

How was the food?
- Great. We had THE largest prawns ever. Guests raved about it for ages.

Were they sufficiently flexible on start and finish times?
- VERY. In fact, we chose them because they were one of the few places round that would let us stay later than 11pm. We had a 1am close - as my hubbys family is irish and irish weddings go till 3-4am we couldn't kick everyone out at 11!

Do they mind if you use an external decorator?
- No... although I didn't do anything. We just had red orchids and red candles on their white table cloths and red candles in jars outside and in the loos. I just let the venue speak for itself and everyone LOVED how rustic it was. I agonised over chair covers and in the end didn't even bother with them!! Such a lovely change from all the 'big old house' venues that all start to look the same. It really felt like we were in a house in the bush all alone (but at the same time in the middle of Sydney Harbour).

Any insights would be much appreciated, and also any other suggestions.
- Go for it. I did and never regretted a second of it AND I had SO SO many people tell me how it was such a great venue and so 'different' and refreshing. Back then we were living in Mosman so it was important to have our wedding in our 'back yard' - hence Balmoral and Athol Hall. And we are really outdoorsy types anyway so it suited us down to the ground. We wouldn't have gone near anything 'posh'

For some reason I don't have that many wedding photos online..but here are some links to a few from Athol. Feel free to scroll through the albums
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/lh/photo/--...feat=directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/lh/photo/cB...feat=directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/lh/photo/Ep...feat=directlink

I think Athol is gorgeous we nearly had our wedding there but found it a bit too expensive for our budget.

I had my Wedding reception at Clonny's on the beach at Clontarf and would recommend them very highly as well if you are looking for something private with a spectacular veiw and access to a jetty ! Goodluck with your plans

They have a curfew of 11pm though don't they?

Yes it is a curfew of 11pm which we found was fine for us as our reception began with drinks at 5pm watching a spectacular sunset

We had our reception there this year, and it was amazing.

We definitly found them flexible with start / finish times. ALl in all they were incredibly accommodating about every request we had, from big things through to the tinyiest issue.

Nothing was too much trouble, the view was gorgeous, the food divine. All of our guests were raving for months afterwards. We also got some amazing photos of the harbour / opera house / sydney skylines and all of our guests (especially the O/S ones) were absolutely in awe of the friendly possums and birds.

You can definitly have outside decorators in. We did, PM if you would like to see some photos of what we had done.

I loved the rustic feel, so I can't really comment too much on that, it was a big part of what sold it to us.

If you have any further questions feel free to ask. I would be happy to help, I could not recommend the place any more highly.

Hi just bumping this thread!!
We are looking at having our wedding at Athol Hall in January however would love some feedback as to whether or not the hall go too hot in summer without air con? How was it for your wedding? Other then that we love the venue but are worried it will be too hot at that time of year...