Weddings
Weddings are our most popular type of hire and we are delighted to be able to offer our castle for such a special occasion. We do our utmost to cater for your every wish and aim to apply as few restrictions as possible, and our Castle Manager has wide discretion to agree to reasonable requests. We are licenced for civil and religious wedding ceremonies in the Dewar Room and Main Hall.
Rooms Available
Dewar Room
Our ballroom the Dewar Room, is the largest and grandest of our spaces available for hire. With splendid plaster ceiling and fine views over the countryside through large windows, this Victorian baronial style room on the first floor of the 19th Century wing of the Castle makes a fine setting for a meal (seating up to 100 comfortably or 120 at a squash), a ceilidh and other dancing, and wedding ceremony (seating up to 200). This room is licenced for civil wedding ceremonies. The landing directly outside the Dewar Room is a good site for a bar.
Main Hall
The main hall of the Castle (which we also informally call the ‘Pink Room’) is a grand, panelled, Georgian style room on the first floor of the 16th Century part of the Castle. This room is full of natural light from tall windows and is accessed directly off the main spiral staircase. It can seat approximately 54 for a meal, 120 for a stand-up buffet and 80 for a seated wedding ceremony. This room is licenced for civil wedding ceremonies.
Antechamber
Old Kitchen
In the few years since we started offering it for hire, the Old Kitchen has rapidly become our most popular room according to wedding guests. Situated on the ground floor, directly next to the main entrance, this 16th Century kitchen boasts ancient flagstones, a large rustic table and an enormous fireplace, complete with ancient brick bread oven and space for seating inside the hearth itself. Within its enormous fire basket a large log fire can burn merrily all evening, and it is a very welcoming spot. We find that it provides an excellent room for more intimate chats away from the noise and hustle of the party upstairs, for the wedding couple to use as a retreat, for storing wedding presents and as an area in which to welcome guests and/or to use for a late evening supper in front of the fire before your guests depart. If hiring the Castle, don’t forget to include the Old Kitchen in your package. (A log fire is an extra charge.)
Other rooms
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Prices & Terms
The Castle has a basic hire package, which includes:
Your choice of the Dewar Room or the Main Hall (or both) for your wedding or event.
The other public areas of the Castle available for your guests to explore.
Use of grassed area immediately in front of, and to the side of, the Castle.
Cost of basic package for events (subject to review from time to time):
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with Dewar Room £2,395
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with Main Hall £2,035
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with both Dewar Room and Main Hall £4,175
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corkage £3 per bottle
(up to 100 bottles; no charge for any over 100)
For catering, see the Catering section below. You may also bring in additional suppliers (music, bar, etc.) at your own expense (see Extras below).
We reserve the right to review and amend our prices from year to year. When we do, prices agreed for existing bookings will be honoured.
All prices shown on this site are subject to increases from time to time at our discretion. We do not currently charge VAT.
If you wish to make a booking for a future year not shown above, please contact the Castle Manager for the applicable prices.
Additions to basic package
We can add the following extras to our basic hire package:
Catering package
Drinks package
Use of the Old Kitchen (maximum of 20 persons at any one time) £420*
Use of the Walled Garden: £600
Use of small garden to rear of Castle: £360
Exclusive use of the Castle for your event: see below
Log fires in the Dewar Room and/or the Old Kitchen: £50 per fire
Passageways lit by candles: £30
Staff for serving, security and/or cloakroom duties: by arrangement with Castle Manager
Guided tours of the Castle for 45 minutes for you and your guests: £150 per 20 persons
* The Old Kitchen is also available for hire on its own, for those seeking a small and intimate event in front of its roaring log fire. Note that the log fire itself is charged separately – see above. We reserve the right to review and amend our prices from year to year. When we do, prices agreed for existing bookings will be honoured.
Exclusive use
The Castle admits visiting members of the public until 4.30pm each day and they have usually all left by 5.30pm. If an event is taking place or setting up during visitor times then we close off the hired rooms from the public. Some hirers do not mind members of the public being present in the Castle at the same time, but others prefer to have the whole Castle exclusively for the use of them and their guests for the day. If you are holding your wedding ceremony in the Castle during the day then this option may be particularly relevant to you.
If you wish to have exclusive use of the Castle, a surcharge (simply to cover the loss to us of visitor fees) is applicable as follows:
May and June: £1,200
July and August: £1,800
Rest of ‘open’ season (April, Sept, Oct and early Nov): £840
‘Closed’ season (remainder of year): no charge
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Other Information
Bookings
The following information is a summary of our Terms of Hire relating to bookings, payment and cancellation. For full details please see our Terms of Hire which apply to all bookings and events.
Making a booking
In order to make a booking for your event you must pay us a deposit of 30% of the total hire fee (with a minimum of £500). Upon receipt of this deposit payment your booking will be confirmed, but not before.
Cancellation
If you cancel your booking 6 months or more prior to the booked date, the deposit will be refunded to you minus a 10% administration fee. If a cancellation is made closer than 6 months to the booked date then we will refund your deposit (in full or in part) only if we get another booking for that booked date (if the value of the new booking is less than your deposit, then we will only refund up to the value of the new booking).
Full payment
The balance of our hire fee must be paid in full no later than 8 weeks before the hire date. If the full balance is not paid in full by then, the booking will be cancelled and the deposit dealt with as detailed above. (For cancellation after payment of the balance please see our Terms of Hire under ‘Important Terms and Legal Notices’.)
Adequate insurance
You must take out adequate insurance cover to cover the cost to you of such things as cancellation of the hire, loss of deposit, any additional expenses if you need to change the wedding date and other liabilities, including loss and damage caused by you, your party, your guests and any third parties engaged by you.
Terms of Hire
Our full Terms of Hire apply to all bookings and events. We reserve the right to amend these terms and any of the prices and terms set out on this page and elsewhere in this website from time to time without notice.
Extras
Depending on the nature of your event, extra aspects and special arrangements may be added to suit the occasion, subject to some restrictions due to the nature of our ancient building and health & safety considerations. Our Castle Manager has wide discretion to agree reasonable requests.
If you do not take one of our catering or drinks packages you may arrange for your own external suppliers to provide them and other items such as:
Music – live band, ceilidh, disco, etc.
A bar (from a licenced provider)
Fireworks outside the Castle
Castle brightly lit from the outside (see below)
Other entertainments (subject to approval by the Castle Manager)
Waiting staff
We are able to suggest local providers if you wish.
We regret that, due to health & safety concerns from local farmers, we are unable to allow the release of Chinese lanterns. Please speak to Castle Manager and, if possible, arrange to view the Castle, to see if the arrangements you have in mind will be possible.
Alcohol
The Castle does not run a permanent bar and does not have a premises licence for the sale of alcohol. If you wish to have a bar you will need to make arrangements, by agreement with the Castle Manager, to hire a licenced bar provider. We do offer a drinks package from a reputable local bar provider.
If you wish to purchase alcohol yourself and provide it to your guests, please note our corkage charge. Please also note that it is strictly your responsibility to ensure that you comply with all the legal requirements for such an activity. You would need to contact Perth & Kinross Council (www.pkc.gov.uk) to obtain the necessary information.
Catering
Hirers are responsible for choosing and hiring caterers at their own expense. We have our preferred caterers, whose details we can supply, but other caterers may be approved by arrangement with the Castle Manager.
Other
Event ending time
All guests must leave the Castle by 2.00am. Last orders of alcohol by 1.00am, followed by 20 minutes’ drinking-up time.
Accommodation
Unfortunately no overnight accommodation is available in the Castle but there is a wide variety of hotels, guesthouses and hostels in the local area, several within walking distance of the Castle.
Grounds
Please note that we do not have extensive grounds available for your use. All that is available outside is the lawned area immediately around the Castle walls, the small garden to the rear of the Castle and the Walled Garden which a minute’s walk from the Castle (bear in mind that high heels may not be suitable for this in wet weather).
Driveway
The driveway to the Castle from the main road is not owned by us. We do our best to contribute towards its upkeep but it remains a fairly rough track under agricultural use and we cannot guarantee that it will be free from any holes and puddles during your event.
Parking
Due to the limited size of our grounds we regret that we are unable to offer parking for all your guests. We can offer limited parking for the wedding/hiring party itself and for your caterers and other suppliers. We recommend that the majority of your guests arrange alternative travel to the Castle, such as hiring a coach or taxis. The Castle Manager is happy to discuss parking in more detail if you have any concerns.
Castle externally lit at night
We have modest spotlights buried in the grass which bathe the outside of the Castle in a warm glow at night. However, they do not provide the level of light that you can see on some of the photos on our website. These were taken on occasions where guests have hired powerful external lights to make a stunning feature of the outside of the Castle, usually in conjunction with a firework display (but not Chinese lanterns). If you wish to hire powerful external lights please discuss with the Castle Manager.