My mom and I stayed in a standard room for 1 night in early August 2006. I had stayed in Dromoland Castle in Ireland a few years back and absolutely loved my castle experience. I wanted to give my mom that same experience and thought that Dalhousie would be a good choice based on the pictures on their website. I was disappointed when I arrived, that the castle itself was pretty small. Later, I realized that Dalhouse was 3 star hotel where Dromoland was a 5 star. If I had known this, my expectations would have been different.
Our room was clean but the bathroom had a moldy smell to it. Our room was on the 5th floor and faced the parking lot. There was a wedding party that was outside in the parking lot for most of the night. We just flew in from Chicago and we were tired so we slept through the noise. The staff was wonderful though. The best thing about our stay was the food. I would highly recommend making reservations at the Dungeon Restaraunt. Breakfast was the best we had in all of our stay in Scotland.

In early 2003 we looked around Venues in Scotland and England for our Wedding in 2004. Dalhousie Castle was the first venue that we looked at and fell in love with it. Although we still looked at the other venues we had arranged to view, none of them could beat the ambience of Dalhousie Castle.

When we tried to book, they were fully booked up for the next two years. We then noticed that a date in 2004 was written in pencil. This had been reserved for a potential client but the time had expired - luckily for us we were able to secure the booking.

For our Wedding we booked 90% of the rooms in the Castle from the Friday to Sunday including all the themed rooms - so it really did feel like it was ours for the weekend. I arranged a pre-wedding dinner the evening before in the Dungeon restaurant with close family and friend - the Best Man and Groom spent the evening in Edinburgh! The meals were fantastic and the atmosphere excellent.

I stayed in the Mary Queen of Scots room the evening before the wedding, as it is the largest room (besides the Bridal Suite) as it has a separate living room and bedroom. This allowed the bridesmaids, page boys and ushers to get ready in the room too and to be entertained during the morning! My parents stayed in this room on the night of the Wedding.

I also arranged the Falconery for entertainment during the wedding photos - and I must say it was worth every penny - a delight for young and old and everyone got to handle the birds!

There were a few hiccups, such as the organiser wanted the photos to be taken inside - just in case it rained - as it is in Scotland! We insisted on photos being taken outside and it was blazing sunshine - no rain! So they had to quickly re-organise for the drinks etc to be served outside.

Felt that she had not really listened to our wishes on this issue and went ahead with what she felt she wanted to do. The only other mix up was the table plan that I had completed for the seating arrangements. I completed it correctly but they still managed to mix up a couple of tables. I wanted the bridesmaids, page boy and ushers to be seated together in front of the top table - as they were all children, so we would not have to keep getting up and down. Instead they swapped them with another table and they ended up away from the top table - which was not really fair on the children as they were on their own and people had to keep getting up to them.

The group that ended up in front of the top table were a group of friends - which made it seem like we favoured them to put them there. This is the only major gripe I had on the day. As the bride I did not have time to check that they had put the table seating correctly before the wedding.

Other than the few initial hiccups - which no wedding is without. The day was absolutely perfect - guests that were not staying there overnight - we had trouble getting rid of at the end of the evening. The children that had stayed for the weekend did not want to leave and there was many a tear!

The venue is pricey but we saved money by paying corkage on the drinks that we had bought ourselves. Despite the corkage charge, you will bet a better quality wine/champagne than they serve with their drinks packages. We had Veuve Clicquot for our champagne - our favourite! My husband chose his own menu for the wedding breakfast and it was cooked to perfection!

Overall, it was a very memorable weekend for all that experienced it and I felt very at home there. Other guests that were not involved in the Wedding were invited to join us in the evening - these were mainly American and they really enjoyed the ceilidh!

If I had to choose again - I would definately choose Dalhousie Castle for our Wedding as it was truly magical!

In response to the review 'Very Disappointing' from N. Ireland - my husband and I are also from Northern Ireland and recently got married in Dalhousie Castle - we had a fantastic day. We visited the castle once before booking and twice in the run up to the day. The wedding co-ordinators were always extremely helpful and accommodating, patiently answering all my questions and running through the event endless times in the weeks coming up to our big day and also during our stay. Our party consisted of 10 family members and we all stayed in the hotel for two nights, eating the first evening in the Orangery and then having our wedding breakfast in the Dungeon restaurant. The food in the Organery was very good but the meal in the Dungeon was out of this world - possibly the best meal I have ever had (a comment made by all our family!) The service from all the staff especially the Duty Manager on the day and during our whole stay was excellent - we had one minor hiccup with the night porter who was quite rude but apart from that we were absolutely over the moon with our wedding and have fantastic memories.

There was a wedding the day before ours and the day after but it did not in any way take away from ours. We felt so special especially as we were piped through the castle and with the other guests congratulating us.

My husband and I stayed here for one night on our honeymoon and it was not what we thought it would be. I think it was just too dull for us to stay there. It is just outside of Edinburgh and there was nothing to do. The grounds were very pretty though. The hotel is next too some woods and a small stream. If you enjoy just walking out in nature you would enjoy this place

We stayed in a theme room and it was very pretty with a nice large bathroom. It wasn't that much different from a hotel though. I really did like the room but the walls were so thin! We didn't get any sleep all night. There was a wedding being held there and we could hear the guests going in and out of their rooms down the hall. Every time a door closed our wall shook. In the room next to us we could hear the guests talking and watching TV all night. Plus our room overlooked the parking area. This is covered in gravel and all night, as cars left we could hear the gravel crunching very loudly. And we were on the 3rd floor.

As for the rest of the castle, it was quiet when we walked around. It wasn't very interesting. This is the kind of place to go if you just want to hide out in your room and stare at the view outside. Nothing exciting.