The Wedding Of Wendy Marie Flynn and Christon Lorn Hill

Welcome to the Wedding Site of

Wendy Marie Flynn and Christon Lorn Hill

Last Updated 03/10/2005

TRAVEL/HOTELS

Places to Stay the Night of the Wedding
In order to make our wedding reception the best it can be, we really, really want everybody to stay at the Tinakilly House where our reception is being held. If we can fill this place then we can pretty much run the joint!   As a resident of the House, you can help us keep the party going well into the night and not have to worry about getting back to another hotel after maybe having a few too many. The non-residents unfortunately have to depart at 1 am but if you are staying there, we plan to keep going into the wee hours of the morning! In addition, we will enjoy your company at breakfast the next morning, another benefit of being a resident Tinakilly House is a beautiful Inn and the rooms are absolutely gorgeous decorated in the old Irish style. We currently have a bulk of the rooms reserved for the night of June 17th so if we get enough people staying at the House then it means we pretty much have the place to ourselves! The price list is as follows:

Superior seaview room with king bed                                         �119 per person sharing per night

Original 4 Poster suite with garden view                                      �119 per person sharing per night

Superior seaview rooms with double & single bed                   �119 per person sharing per night

Standard deluxe rooms with garden view                                     �104 per person sharing per night

The prices include a gourmet full Irish breakfast and tax. The rooms are intended for two adults to share so that means most of the rooms will be either �208 or �238 per night. If there is just you, then there is a �50 supplement onto the price which means that the price of the room will be either �154 or �169. For three people sharing, the House only allows use of the Superior seaview room with double and single bed at a total price of �288 for the three. As of Oct. 15, 2004, the House is available the nights of June 12-17 but has very limited space on the nights of the 11th and the 18th so if you plan to make Tinakilly your home while you are visiting Ireland, then please let us know as soon as possible.
Please book through our coordinator, Tara Fay of Xena Productions. She can be contacted either by email: [email protected] or by phone +353 1 269 8405.
We guarantee you will enjoy your stay at Tinakilly!
Places to Stay While Near Bray
Our coordinator has enlightened us to a very nice hotel in an excellent location! Bewley's Hotel at Leopardstown is located about 5 miles southwest of Dublin City Center. It is right off the newly constructed M50 which is the direct highway from the airport (it saves you from having to navigate those Dublin streets!). Also near by is the Luas which is a tram that goes right down into Dublin City Center. And the best part is that it is relatively inexpensive with rates between �70-90.
If you are interested in staying near Bray, we have found some reasonably priced, nice and close Bed and Breakfast's in Bray.

Contact

Catherine Kennedy

Kay Kelly

Anne Duffy

Christina Smith

Address

Woodville, Ballywaltrim Lane , Ballywaltrim,

The Old Rectory, Herbert Road ,

Moytura, Herbert Rd.

Rathlin House, Killarney Road ,

City/County

Bray, County Wicklow

Bray, County Wicklow

Bray, County Wicklow

Bray, County Wicklow

Tel / Fax

+353.1.286.3103

+353.1.286.7515

+353.1.282.9827

+353.1.286.2655

E-Mail

[email protected]

N/A

[email protected]

N/A

Capacity

5 Bedrooms all En suite

4 Bedrooms all En suite

4 Bedrooms all En suite

4 Bedrooms all En suite

Picture Woodville Old Rectory Moytura Rathlin House

The photos are courtesy of Wendy's dad, Brian. He recommends the Old Rectory and Moytura as they are just around the block from their house and are also quite nice. If we hear more about the prices, we shall let you know! But the others are only a short distance further and also quite nice.
In addition, here are some other places to stay near Bray:
HOTELS NEAR BRAY
We have included the distances they are from Brian and Marie's house, the airport and the wedding reception site, Tinakilly House. We have also included a few prices and will continue to update the table with prices as we receive them. In addition, we have tried to give a rating to it with 5 being the highest and 1 being the lowest. We will also update this as much as possible. Also as we start to see where a majority of our guests are staying, we will also update this here.
Unfortunately, for the Bed and Breakfasts, we have not come across a website which makes it easy to reserve and book We will continue to look but for now it looks as if it is best to call. Generally a B&B will be in the range of �30 per person per night. If you come across a good price, please let us know and we will post it!
Places to Stay While Touring Ireland
There is no better place than Ireland during June! We hope that you will take full advantage of the chance to tour this beautiful country. In the sightseeing section, we will put some of our favorite spots. But in looking for a place to stay while doing some touring, it is also kind of difficult to find hotels and B&B's. Probably the best place to go is Ireland's version of the Yellow Pages:
The Golden Pages
Just type in the city or county you wish to find a hotel/B&B and it will give you a listing. Some of the more touristic spots have web pages which makes it easier. In addition, if you are staying in Dublin, Belfast, Galway, Cork, or jetting over to England, then you will find these sites helpful:

Orbitz
Hotels.com
Travelocity
Expedia
Central Reservations (This is an Irish site but somewhat hard to use)
Flights to Ireland
The nearest airport to our wedding is Dublin Airport in Ireland (DUB).   We tried to get a package deal for flights but it turned out to be more expensive than if we went online to get it individually. We told this to the agents and they gave us a lame excuse that they their policy is to charge 80% of the max fare for booking a group so far in advance. So that is out of the question! Anyway, basically there is no non-stop flight to Dublin from Washington, DC. The best and most tolerable flight was the Aer Lingus flight which stopped in Shannon, Ireland and was a direct flight (meaning you don't have to change planes). But Aer Lingus has recently decided to go low budget and has removed this flight. They are supposed to be bringing it back in May but that is kind of risky.
Flights generally run between $400-700 per person and are anywhere from 7 to 11 hr total travel time. Flights to Ireland, aside from a few very expensive exceptions, depart at in the evening (4-8 pm) and arrive in the morning (7 am - 1 pm). Flights back to the US generally leave in the morning (8 am - 12 pm) and arrive in the afternoon (3-7 pm). Ireland is 5 hr ahead of Washington.
For more information and suggestions on flights please go here.
UPDATE: As of today, Jan. 6, 2005, the best price we have found is $587 for departing on the Sunday or Monday before our wedding and staying through the weekend. I am adding a spot on the main page with a listing of the best price we come across and where to find it. There is a chance it may go lower especially with the possibility of a fare war so you may want to hold off...but it is kind of risky...just so you know, we have not bought our tickets as of yet.

Transportation within Ireland

How best for you get around in Ireland is dependent on how long you plan to stay in Ireland and where you plan to go. If you are just planning to go to our wedding and that it, then it may be best to use taxis, shuttles and public transportation. If you are planning to travel around and see a bit of Ireland, then renting a car is definitely the way to go. Either way promises to be a challenge as taxis in Ireland are in short supply, the public transportation (buses, subway, trains) has questionable dependability, and the roads in and around Dublin require ESP to navigate! However, we will always be a phone call away to try to help you in any situation but we are confident you should be able to handle it! In addition, we will be trying to coordinate car rides and pools amongst our guests so please keep checking back here for updates.

Here is a synopsis of each mode:

TAXI: As stated above, taxis are in short supply so that of course means that they are expensive. A taxi from the airport will run between �70-100 each way to the Bray area. A taxi from Bray to the Tinakilly House will run about �30-50 each way. And a taxi from Bray to Dublin city center will run about �40-70. For the most part, the taxi drivers are friendly, helpful, and honest so it is a dependable method of transport...if you can find one!
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: The public transportation in Ireland consists of the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) in Dublin, the buses, and the trains. If you have patience, these modes can be effective. Unfortunately, the DART does not connect to the airport or the train station so you will either need to take a bus or a cab. For a day trip into Dublin, the DART is probably the best method to use since it is fairly cheap and parking downtown is murderous. For getting to the other parts of Ireland such as Belfast, Galway, and Cork, the train is also very effective and inexpensive. However, as most of the sights to see such as the Cliffs of Moher, the ring of Kerry, and the Giant Bridge are quite far away from the train stops then the train is not advisable unless it goes to your final destination.
TOUR BUS/MOTORCOACH: For traveling around downtown to all of the sights, Dublin offers a very good tour bus system. For about �20, you can get a day pass to hop on and off the frequently scheduled double decker buses which go to all of Dublin's major attractions such as the Guiness Hops Store, Trinity College, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and Dublin Castle. For traveling out west, there are tour motorcoaches which operate on various schedules to tour the sights of Ireland. It is a very funny sight to see this huge bus navigate the extremely narrow roads but they manage! We will post some of the better motorcoach tours in our Sightseeing section.
RENTAL CAR: Okay for those of you who are scared of driving on the other side of the road...GET OVER IT! After about a minute it will seem pretty natural as you pretty much will just be following the car in front of you. You really only temporarily forget when you come to a circle (and feel weird to go left!) and when you take a right (the same as a left in the US) into a parking lot and go for the closest lane...but the friendly Irish drivers will surely remind you of your mistake! Most of the circles are geared to lead you to the left so just heed the signs and you will be fine. Also remember that the LEFT lane is the slow lane but this won't be an issue too much as Ireland has very few roads with more than 1 lane!
Renting a car in Ireland is surprisingly cheap. Your American driver's license and passport are pretty much all the verification you need.   Remember that the default car is a standard/manual transmission so be sure to specify automatic unless you want o experience shifting gears with your left hand (the clutch is still on the left). Gasoline is about �1.10 per liter which is about $5.50 per gallon. Fortunately, most of the cars get at least 30 miles or more to the gallon and being that Ireland is small, a trip to see the Cliffs of Moher, ring of Kerry, and the Giant Bridge will be about 500 miles will run about $100 in gasoline. Another new things with the rental cars is that all of them now include unlimited mileage. Below is a listing of the rental car companies located at Dublin airport. If you want their brochures, Wendy's parents have graciously gathered a few so we can send them out to you if you want.

Compact Car Cost

Van Cost

Place Per Day Per Week Per Day Per Week

National/Alamo �      50 �       350 �      120 �       800

Irish Car Rentals �      35 �       200 �       65 �       400

Budget �      35 �       200 N/A N/A

Hertz �      55 �       300 N/A N/A

Avis �      35 �       200 �      140 �       820

Europcar �      35 �       200 N/A N/A

Navigating the roads of Ireland is probably the biggest challenge of renting a car. They aren't very liberal with sign posting . Just pay attention to all the signs that are there and you will be fine. We have put a few maps in our Maps/Direction section and there are of course driving directions to our wedding sites.
Miscellaneous Travel Tips
This information has moved to its own page here.