Rory tees up a week at Ashford for his wedding
Luxury Mayo venue will cost our top golfer €250,000... even before the beef or salmon
RORY MCILROY looks set to fork out nearly €250,000 on the venue alone for his upcoming wedding to fiancée Erica Stoll. And the Irish Mail on Sunday can also reveal that his old friend Harry Diamond will perform best man duties.
As we revealed last June, Rory and Erica settled on Ashford Castle in Cong, Co. Mayo, as their wedding venue. The hotel is now fully booked out for four days from next Wednesday, as guests begin to descend on the west coast.
Ashford Castle’s rustic Hideaway Cottage is booked from today for a week – it is here that the bride and groom are expected to stay. The cottage costs €3,500 a night, meaning it would be almost €25,000 for the week
In the hotel, the Presidential suite has been booked for a week and costs €4,000,
Sources say they chose Ashford for its privacy
which is €28,000 for the week. All of the other 80 rooms at the hotel have been block-booked from Wednesday.
These rooms are available for between €595 and €2,150 a night. Even allowing for a wedding discount, four nights at a conservative €600 a night for that many rooms is just shy of €200,000 – which could mean the total bill for the wedding will reach almost a quarter of a million euros. And Rory – who is understood to be very generous with family and friends – could be footing the bill for all of the 82 rooms for his big day.
Among those guests will be best man Harry Diamond, a childhood friend of Rory. Harry is the son of a millionaire publican and landlord and runs a number of nightclubs in Northern Ireland. He is a permanent fixture at Rory’s side and regularly travels the world to accompany him on the tour schedule.
Rory and Erica have remained very low-key since they started dating three years ago. Sources have said that’s why they chose Ashford Castle, as they like the ‘privacy’ – but it also holds special memories for them.
A source told the MoS that, despite having his choice of exotic locations around the world, the couple ‘really fell in love’ with Ashford Castle.
Rory and Erica are frequent visitors to Ashford and have spent New Year’s Eve at the five-star hotel for the past three years. In fact, it was in 2014 that they were first pictured together during a stay at the resort.
The couple, who had been dating for just a few months, flew into Ireland for the festive period. After a few days in Dublin’s Westbury Hotel they then went to Mayo where they quietly rang in the New Year. They also took a helicopter ride around the county and did some sightseeing during their stay.
New York native Erica is flying in her family and friends for the big day, while Rory will have a large guest list of famous faces from the world of sport and celebrity.
After the wedding the newlyweds will fly by private jet to take a two-week honeymoon as the golfer has a break in his tour schedule.