Cork wedding venues honoured in national awards

FERNHILL House Hotel in Clonakilty has scooped three awards from popular wedding venue platform, SaveMyDay.ie.

Named Best Country House Hotel, Best Family Run Hotel, and Best Winter Wedding Venue, the four-star hotel, which has been run by three generations of the O’Neill family, continues to be a firm favourite among those looking to say, I Do!

In 2022, the hotel was selected for inclusion in the prestigious Blue Book collection of historic and characterful hotel properties, received a Gold Medal Catering Award for Best Wedding Venue, and was ranked as Ireland’s fifth Best Hotel in Ireland by Tripadvisor.

The O’Neills consistently put their best foot forward year after year, and the cascade of awards and achieve-ments in recent times recognises the commitment of the family and staff to keep Fernhill House Hotel a favourite among so many.

Michael O’Neill Jnr is the fourth-generation proprietor of the venue, and together with his two brothers, mother and father, prove that the family-run award is nothing short of authentic.

I asked Michael what these three awards from SaveMyDay.ie mean to his family, and the team at the hotel.

“We’re thrilled with the awards; it’s really capped off a great few years for us so we’re delighted,” says Michael.

“It’s deeply honouring. Your wedding day is the best day of your life,” he says. 

You’re inviting all your friends and family, and you want something special for that. That’s what we try and create at Fernhill. It’s the personal touch and everyone really cares.

“The awards for Best Country House Hotel and Family Run Hotel go hand in hand because that’s our overall ethos - to create a really special venue. Country houses are special places because they have that bit of history.”

At Fernhill, there’s no time to rest on their laurels, and there is much energy and enthusiasm fuelling ideas and ways to keep improving and raising the bar. It’s a strategy that works for their guests, and for their staff as well.

“We live and work in it ourselves,” says Michael. “My parents, me and my two brothers are there, and we have a fantastic team here every day. There’s never been a wedding we’ve hosted without one of our family there.

“We’re always seeing things we want to improve because we love Fernhill. My great-grandfather bought it, and my grandmother and grandfather opened it as a hotel in 1967. When it’s your family’s name above the door, you want to make sure everything is perfect, so rather than taking money out of the business, we put the money back in, keep reinvesting and coming up with new ideas.

It’s a great ethos here and we just want to get better and better.

During the Covid lockdown, while many hotels were shuttered and worrying about the future, the O’Neills and their team rolled up their sleeves and set about using the rare opportunity of a long pause to shake up every detail.

“We turned everything upside down and went through every square inch of the place and we’re seeing the results now.”

Michael says that in the hotel business, every detail matters - from the interiors to the décor to the customer service to the food. Is that Fernhill House Hotel’s secret?

“Totally,” Michael says. “We developed the brand, refined it during Covid, and really stuck to that. Now we feel it’s really coming together.

“Our overall guiding principle is that everything is inspired by our garden: the fresh food, all the fresh floral displays and avoiding anything fake, our décor is themed to it.

The garden has come out of the land and the land is West Cork, so West Cork is a big inspiration for everything. 

"It marries everything together (pardon the pun!), and gives us a focus. It makes it more special for our guests, and they can really savour what West Cork is all about.”

The gardens of Fernhill House Hotel are widely regarded as among the finest hotel gardens in Ireland. Designed by Mary Reynolds, a Chelsea Flower Show award-winning garden designer and one of the best in the world, they blend form, function, beauty and biodiversity.

There are myriad places for spectacular wedding photo opportunities, but also the kitchen garden provides fresh vegetables for use in the restaurant, fresh flowers and foliage from the garden is used around the hotel, there are fruit trees and sculptures and a mindful approach to creating habitats for the essential workers in any garden – pollinators.

Fernhill House Hotel has been hosting couples’ special days for nearly 60 years, but, says Michael, it’s still a buzz when they are chosen to play such an important role.

“It’s absolutely massive,” says Michael. “We love seeing them, it’s such an honour and there really is magic in the air when it happens. We see the nerves beforehand and how happy they are when they meet at the top of the altar. To us, it’s like it’s happening in our house! Everyone’s so happy, and the job satisfaction is through the roof!”

Commenting on wedding trends for 2024, founder of SaveMyDay.ie, Shell Holden says venues that can do everything are coming out on top for couples.

We are seeing the continued rise in popularity of all-in-one wedding venues, where couples can host both their ceremony and reception all in the same venue. 

"Self-contained wedding venues are preferred by some as they can allow for better flow of the wedding day where the ceremony can seamlessly flow into a drink’s reception or pre-dinner entertainment and speeches, avoiding a gap between ceremony and reception. Venues that offer private and exclusive hire are also increasingly in demand, allowing newlyweds to be at ease with their own guests and allow them to create their own personalised celebrations.”

West Cork’s Camus Farm was also selected to receive SaveMyDay.ie’s Best Sustainable Wedding Venue.

Set in 30 acres with panoramic views over Clonakilty Bay, Camus Farm puts sustainability, biodiversity and animal welfare at the heart of everything it does. 

As an organic farm, they offer a truly authentic farm-to-fork experience for couples and their wedding guests, with much of the wedding menu’s produce being grown or reared on the farm.

Ideal for eco-minded to-be-weds seeking a relaxed and romantic festival vibe for their celebration, Camus Farm has a ceremonial circle, award-winning licensed restaurant and covered barn with stage for exclusive weddings.