Hello Ankara peeps,

I am in search of a reception venue in Ankara town for April 08. I am a yabancı living in Istanbul. My guy will be there over Bayram while I head to Aus and I am compiling a list of places he should visit and report back to me on. My current list is minimal and the quality is fairly average, so far.

Now I am sure some of you will mention the Hilton and Sheraton, but unfortunately, they are not really in the budget as we will be performing a reception in Aus too later on. So, I would be very interested to hear of any of your own Ankara wedding reception experiences or of any place you can suggest to me whether it be restaurant, reception venue or hotel such as Dedemen, Bilkent or other. At the present time we are looking at an invite list of 120 or so. However, we are interested in any type/size venue as ultimately I'm sure his family want the whole 300 there!

Oh and, forget the 'düğün salons', they are not an option.

Many thanks in advance!

Foreignfistik

is your husband-to-be Turkish? If so and if he has some military relations then the value for money option is always the ordu evi. Alternatively I have been to a wedding at the Bilkent Hotel (disclaimer I work in the business school at Bilkent) and it was really good although booking it now would probably be necessary for the April date you mention.

Off top of my head I'd suggest he looks at the Gordion Hotel, just off Tunali (disclaimer: I know the manager). They have a covered rooftop bar/dining area with views and I went to a fun drunken reception there in the summer. Not sure it'd cope with 300 though...

I have a friend who was married at Beyaz Ev which is located on Hacettepe's Beytepe campus (beside Bilkent). I wasn't there, but it was quite a nice venue judging by the pictures and opinions of those who attended.

http://www.beyazev.hacettepe.edu.tr

Seggiest, Spine & Lori,

Such quick responses! Thanks heaps for the heads up! The Beyaz Ev looks nice and does the Gordon. I will add those to the list. Seggiest-yes, husband-to-be is Turkish, not sure about military relations, but will be checking with him on that one.

If anyone else has any suggestions, would love to hear them!

Thanks again.