The first thing I've done to start my wedding preparation is - to email the QUT Classifieds community about a recommendation for a place for wedding ceremony and reception. What a supportive community it is and a short-cut way to get more information through the words of mouth.
They are more helpful than you could ever imagine. So I received lotsa responses - hope this helps those who are starting their wedding plan as well:
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We went to a great wedding reception at the State Library. I think it was called the Qld Terrace, but if you look on their website you'll probably find some info about it. It was a great venue. I think you'll need a caterer as well, though.
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I'd also try Customs House or Watt Modern Dining. Both venues are on the river and I think they have function menus especially for weddings, etc.
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There is always McGuires Hotels - The Colmslie probably has one of the nicer function rooms which can be halved. They do charge room hire as well though. They have a garden too I think if it's a celebrant wedding (as does Calamvale etc). A couple like Alexandra Hills also have hotel rooms. When I was doing my marriage celebrants course, I looked at Victoria park Golf Club, though they were a little expensive I reckon.
Heaps on Google.
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for my own wedding in 2000 we had 36 guests. For it we hired a beautiful marquee with cathedral windows from Garden City Hire which we 'pitched' in a private garden (our own, but you may have a friend/family member who has a nice garden). We had it privately catered (I can find the caterer if you are interested) as a wedding breakfast. We also hired a string quartet - again I may still have these details.
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I got married in a open chapel at a beautiful golf course out the back of Coolangatta.
I won’t say that it was cheap as it was not, but ask me if it was worth it the answer is most definitely yes.
The chapel was utterly gorgeous and we were able to get dressed on site and use for the morning and night.
We then walked about 20 yards to our reception in a gorgeous barn which was so lovely and the staff were brilliant.
Do a search on Woodlands Manor Gold Coast
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Just a couple of suggestions from an audience perspective. I recently attended a wedding at Boulevarde Gardens at Indooroopilly. The wedding was held in the garden, about 70 people, chairs were provided, there was a rotunda for the bride and groom and ceremony, and white bows for decorations, and flowers. After the ceremony we moved to another area for drinks and nibbles, then inside for the reception.
Another wedding I attended a few years ago was at the Indooroopilly Golf Club. Once again, the wedding ceremony was held in the grounds, and we moved indoors for the reception. I like the idea of wedding and reception at the same venue, but this may not be want you want. No idea of the costs.
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After holding a conference recently at Victoria Park Golf Club, I would certainly avoid this venue.
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My son was married at Victoria Park Golf Course last December – had the ceremony and the reception there. It was a “low budget” event – finger food and wine/beer but there is also the option of a sit down dinner. The staff very helpful and friendly and everyone had a ball.
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We’re having our ceremony in a church but the place where we’re having our reception also does weddings on their balcony, with the sun setting over the boats at Scarborough marina. Very gorgeous. Check out www.sunsetblue.com.au – very reasonable price for ceremony ($300 or something like that).
Or there’s also Reid’s Place, also in Scarborough www.reidsplace.com.au – a bit more expensive but VERY beautiful and totally full of pampering for the bride and bridal party. I went there a few weekends ago to look at it and it was just gorgeous!
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My recommendation below is based purely on my experience as a guest, so I cannot say whether this venue is reasonably priced or not. Custom House is great! True that it doesn't have a garden and nowhere close to a golf course, but the wedding that we went to had the ceremony done in the back area downstairs, which was on the river and it was beautiful. The reception room upstairs from the ceremony area was nicely decorated & the food (including the canapé that we were served while waiting for the reception room to be opened) was nice. Overall, very classy. The dance floor could be a big bigger, but I think that perhaps you can request that, since I think the room can accommodate about 120 people and you will only have around 70 guests. For that wedding, I know that the bride booked a room at the Marriott, which is only a short distance away, and got herself ready there and actually walked along the river to the wedding venue, which saved them the cost of hiring a wedding car. The bride & groom took their photos in & around the venue and, whilst I think the skills and techniques of the photographer determine the results of the photos, the ones showing the Custom House as the background were great, make them look like they were in Italy or Paris.
Hope this is useful.
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We have a lot of weddings at our golf club at Bribie Island.
I have attached the website as the outlook and venue are beautiful
http://www.pacificharbourgolf.com.au/main_golf.php
Click on the weddings and functions key.
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A fantastic venue is the Hillstone at St Lucia Golf course.
Check out the website http://www.hillstonestlucia.com.au/hillstone-weddings.html.
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I don't know where you live, but the Pacific Harbour Golf & Country Club at Bribie Island has a lovely reception room. You can also get married on the deck over looking the Golf Course. Their prices are pretty reasonable. They book out very quickly. Their number is: 1300 744 653 and their website is www.pacificharbour.com.au, they are located at Banksia Beach. My wedding is in October and it will be held at Bribie RSL. There is some nice reasonably priced accommodation on the Island, for all price ranges.
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My son was married at Keperra Golf Club, I would recommend this venue. There is a lovely enclosed garden setting for the wedding and they will allow professional photos to be taken around the course.
Food was also excellent. http://www.keperragolf.com.au/functions.htm
Hope your find somewhere suitable
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I'm getting married in 2 months in the Mt Cotton Rainforest Gardens. They are seriously the most beautiful gardens in Brisbane, and they have many different options for weddings and lots of different spots to choose from. We're having 120 guests with the ceremony/reception in the same place, and chairs are included in the package. They host weddings with as little as no guests up to 500. We've visited many times now and been to another wedding there before. It's wonderful!
http://www.rainforestgardens.com.au/
Basically you pay by the hour. We've booked our garden from 2pm - 7pm on a Friday, for around $1,000. It gets cheaper the less hours you have, and I think we've booked the most expensive option. Go and have a look one Saturday: even if you don't end up hiring the venue it makes for a beautiful day out, and you can take a picnic lunch.
Best of luck with your preparations,
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Don't go to Victoria Park!!
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I was a guest at a wedding held at Boulevard Gardens (Indooroopilly) in June and everything was very nice.
The bride and groom were extremely happy with everything....
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The St Lucia Golf club is really lovely but I was there as a guest, so don't know how expensive it was... but very beautiful..
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I can highly recommend the Pavilion at Albion. My son had his reception here and it has large open areas suitable for ceremonies. It was superb and the people excellent. Website follows
Cheers and good luck
http://www.thepavilion.net.au
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We had our wedding reception and celebrant at Eve’s on the River at Teneriffe. It was wonderful we thought. They have since opened another establishment Eve’s on the Park in the city gardens and have heard that is good too.
are you looking for a celebrant? If so, I can recommend a really good celebrant. Sheridan Bryant 0418887646.
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We had a lovely reception at the Icon Bar and Bistro at Cleveland - right on the marina and staff were excellent. Great venue for a smaller function and no venue hire and I think we paid about $35 per head with a bar tab
We had our wedding ceremony and reception at Maleny Manor (www.malenymanor.com.au) on the sunshine coast. It was just lovely. I arrived there in the morning in my casual clothes, I had arranged for the makeup and hair people to meet me there, so there was no running around to make appointments and getting in and out of hot cars! We had our ceremony and photos in the gardens and then we all went inside for the reception. It was so nice and relaxed and there was no public gawking at us! There are lots of nice accommodation places around, so out guests made a weekend of it. We had also organised a bus to collect everyone and return everyone after the reception - no drink driving and no late appearances!! I can certainly recommend them. Marlene and Simon (who run it) are absolutely fantastic and make the day perfect and stress free!
My Mum got married at the Nudgee Golf Club last year and also had the reception there. Neither she nor her husband have any interest in golf but it was a beautiful place for a wedding - golf courses are always green, even during a drought. There were married outside on the golf course, then had photos taken around the course while their guests had a drink or two. After photos everybody went into the function room for the reception. There is heaps of parking available and the staff were very helpful and friendly.
I live at Bribie Island and play golf at Pacific Harbour.
They host a lot of weddings.
Check out the website and click on "weddings and functions"
It is worth asking if they can cater for a small group, I wouldn't be surprised if they can.
The outlook and the surroundings are lovely.
http://www.pacificharbourgolf.com.au/main_clubhouse.php***************************************************************************
My son was married at Keperra Golf Club, I would recommend this venue. There is a lovely enclosed garden setting for the wedding and they will allow professional photos to be taken around the course.
Food was also excellent. http://www.keperragolf.com.au/functions.htmHope your find somewhere suitable
*************************************************************************** We had our reception at Royal on the Park. From memory I think that they can cater by head as opposed to minimum numbers. Helen Russo was our contact. Phone number and email are below if you wanted to give her a call.
07 3112 1693
helen_russo@royalonthepark.com.au
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We had our wedding at the Bardon Conference centre located about 5 minutes from the Mt Cootha Botanic Gardens. We only had about 30 people there for the ceremony (held in their gazebo on site) and then had a sit down dinner for about 20. They were really good and very well priced. They gave us a room for the night there and I was able to get ready there so I didn't have to worry about how I was going to get to the wedding, hiring cars etc. They've got a fairly big property and there are plenty of nice places to get your photos taken - plus the Mt Cootha lookout and botanic gardens are really close so you don't have to worry about travel time to and from your wedding photo locations.
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I have a friend getting married at Maleny (a reception centre with accommodation attached) – not sure of the name “something Resort”.
Another friend is having their ceremony & cocktail reception at the Powerhouse which I think will be an awesome site. Very unique place with interesting spaces. Theirs is on the rooftop and I think she said $1400 to hire plus the costs of catering/drinks supplier.
A family member had a reception at the All Saints' Centre, Wickham Terrace (Anne Street end). Air conditioned and with excellent catering facilities. Lots of parking nearby too and a small dance floor that would I think suit the numbers you have mentioned.
Sorry, don't have a telephone number but it would be obtainable on the web.
When is the wedding planned for?
*************************************************************************** You do know our Old Government House at GP is being renovated for completion around mid next year... and will be available for wedding hires. :)
If this sounds suitable and need more info, contact Elaine MacRae who is our events officer for the venue. (e3.king@qut.edu.au)
Also, I had my wedding at marycairncross park in Maleny. was simply beautiful.
i hired a bus for 55 people and bused them from Brisbane and back, was only about $800 for this, and was nothing due to saving heaps of money on the venue being BYO and brought in my own wine etc. sowas awesome too as everyone didn’t have to worry about not drinking etc. Food was good quality standup coctail so none of the forced seating senario which worked well. ... anyhow just an idea to throw into the mix.
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