Fingask Castle

User Reviews

Kirstin & Vernon's Wedding - 19th September 2010

DO NOT BOOK AN EVENT HERE!
The exterior looks fabulous but look a little further & you will find it is very run down and in great need of organisation, some TLC & a cleaner.

We chose Fingask because of it's beauty, the fact that it feels very remote but in reality only a few minutes from the motorway & because of it's very relaxed & eccentric people, but what we soon realised was that the relaxed & eccentric attitude was just a mask for rude & disorganised people.

I had my wedding here last September; my husband & I are still very disappointed that we chose Fingask castle!

I was no bridezilla and wanted just a stress free & relaxed day but what I got was a nightmare and the only people who got a stress free & relaxed day was the people of Fingask.

We booked our wedding with fingask almost a year in advance & were told that they only ever had one wedding each weekend so if we wanted to come set up & have a rehersal even days before that would be fine; lies just to get us to book and then we were told the truth which was that there was a wedding the day before (which was not a new booking) so we could not set up or have even a rehearsal, because we did not find this out until just a few weeks before we could not change venue!

We did not get what we asked for, were promised & even paid extra for, they have a standard "paint by numbers" style wedding & that is what you will get!

We had arranged for our ceremony to take place on the grass just outside of the castle & went through this with them in detail several times and even had a rehearsal the week before on the very spot but then 2 days before the wedding we found out from our guests staying in one of the cottages in grounds that they were building a fountain with an ugly merman statue on the exact spot of our proposed ceremony ... We asked why we were never told about this & if building could be delayed just two days until after our wedding but we just told that this is what was happening and they had decided to move us into the pavilion: all without telling us or asking our opinion.

We were announced into our reception & escorted in to discover they had forgot to set a place for us to sit (bride & groom) & the staff proceeded to crack jokes about it at our expense, we tried to see the funny side until we had to ask for them to organise somewhere for us to sit; the staff saw this as a major inconvenience to them & sat us with our backs towards our guests saying there was no room anywhere else & just threw a simple place setting down for us to organise ourself, without even a water glass to use for the toasts. They had the table plans days before as requested but we later found out that they set up for our wedding at 2am the night before, while they were clearing down from the last wedding so obviously the staff just did it as fast as they could so they could go home & then did not check it the day of our wedding even though we did not get married until late afternoon!

We requested & paid for glass bottles of highland spring water to be on all the tables (part of the Scottish decor) & asked for them to put our homemade lemonade in jugs along side the bottles for guests to help themselves... Instead we got bottles of nasty red wine which we did not choose or want & tap water in jugs on some but not all the tables & when we asked about the bottles of water & lemonade we were told that it could not be changed now. So my parents took home gallons of unused lemonade & found crates of the highland spring water we had asked for them to order & serve just sitting in a corner.

We felt neglected by the staff all day

The staff were clearly exhausted from the wedding the day before and it was made clear that they could not care less.

We had paid for them to organize and serve Champagne & because we did not want a boozy wedding we just asked for 1 per guest at the drinks reception & 1 per guest for the toasts before the meal; even though we made this clear during several meetings/emails/phone calls...they went round with bottles refilling glasses & several of our guests have mentioned that they had never been to a wedding before that had an open champagne bar many guests having up to 5 glasses (almost a full bottle), the consequence to this was that there was not enough champagne for every guest for the toasts meaning that some had to buy there own drink or toast with water. The champagne ran out before we (bride&groom) got a glass & they were not willing or able to even offer an alternative...even thought it was there mistake! To make matters worse many of our guest commented that the champagne was warm & the few guests that got champagne for the toasts said it was completely flat meaning it had been o! pened & poured into glasses a long time before the reception started.

There were endless mistakes & disorganised chaos throughout the day, which included the grace for the meal, speeches & toasts being announced at the wrong time. They served tea & cake 30mins early while our band was trying to get people up to dance; we had asked for it to be served during the bands break & for them to just set it up & allow the "mums" to serve; we had even organised mother of the bride & mother of the groom aprons which were never used because the serving of the tea & cake was in full swing by the time the mums were told it was happening.

As we left to go on honeymoon we thought at least now its over & we don't have to deal with any more; but we were wrong... We got a very aggressive phone call during our honeymoon about something that needed to be collected by another wedding & could not be found, & we were accused of stealing! So we had to call home to get someone to sort this out ... my parents drove back to fingask and found the item for them, apparently where it had been left all along & could have been found just by walking out of their office into the pavilion & looking themselves... All without even an apology!!

When we wrote a complaint letter to them and asked for our outstanding drinks bill to be at the very least reduced to refund us for the things not received and compensate for the general lack of care ... We were just threatened with legal action and accused of being liars even though we have proof in the form of video footage/photos/invoices/emails/personal accounts of 110 guests.

I think if TV ever make a "Mary queen of shops" / "hotel inspector" type program for this type of business Fingask would definitely make an appearance because it has so much potential but that's where it ends!!! The people running it just do not have a clue; just because someone who is a farmer calls himself an MC and runs a few weddings on a very part time basis does not mean he is an MC capable of organising a wedding.

If you have set your heart on Fingask as your wedding venue or like me found out the truth to late and can't get your deposit back/organise an alternative ..... My plea to you is do not allow them to destroy your wedding day as they destroyed mine: get a wedding planner to make sure everything goes to plan ... I wish I had done this! It does not matter how organise you are they will do their own thing on the day unless you take it out of their control!

Wedding Details

• Ceremony venue: Fingask castle
• Reception venue: Fingask castle
• Number of day guests: 110
• Number of additional evening guests: 50
• Evening Entertainment: Ceilidh band
• Venue support rating: 1 star
• Overall venue rating: 1 star

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