This is quite a long review and relevant only if you intend to book a wedding or civil ceremony at this venue, but I would urge anyone considering this to read on.
PLEASE do not try to book a wedding or civil ceremony at this hotel, because I can assure you it will only add to the stress that you will no doubt be going through at the time.
My partner and I visited the hotel to view the facilities and discuss rates etc. to have a civil ceremony, meal and reception next year. The rooms, food and drinks menu were perfect for us - if a bit expensive for what was offered. The hotel only offer "wedding packages" for parties of 40 or more for dinner, excluding children, so as we were booking dinner for 30 guests (reception for around 50), we were unable to benefit from these.
The gentleman we spoke to recommended that we hire one room (cost £100) to have the dinner and reception in, and a further room (cost £100) to have the ceremony in - perfect, in our opinion. Especially when the alternative was to have the ceremony in front of the dinner tables which would be set for the evening meal, something we all agreed would not be nice at all.
We then went back to meet with the general manager the next night to confirm dates, costs, food and drink packages etc. The manager then told that the cost of hiring a second room would actually be between £300 and £500 (not the £100 originally quoted) and they could not let us hire the larger of the two rooms for the whole day, because there were not enough guests coming to the ceremony. He said the only thing we could to was have the ceremony in front of the dinner tables which would be set for the evening meal - which his colleague had previously advised against.
I then suggested that we simply hire the small room, and provide our guests with drinks in between the ceremony and the dinner, then in between the dinner and the reception, while the hotel staff set up/clear out the room. He then mumbled something about this being a lot of work, and having to hire agency staff - which I offered to pay for. He then advised he'd have to discuss it with a colleague and get back to me..... seven days later, and despite leaving several messages, I'm still waiting.
We have now found an alternative venue, where the service so far has been absolutely impeccable. We don't hold out much hope of the Bothwell Bridge getting back in touch with us. I'm glad I found out how bad their service is BEFORE going ahead and paying them lots of money - money that they apparently don't need if they can afford to treat their clients in such a terrible manner.