«Liepu Laipas» Guest House in Ogre Municipality Becomes a Popular Wedding Venue

The «Liepu Laipas» guest house in Tīnūži parish, Ogre municipality, is one of the places where wedding ceremonies are most often held outside the registry office premises. Couples say their vows on the bank of the Mazā Jugla river, and owner Kaspars Silkāns says weddings make up about 80 percent of all events held there.

From a thicket to a wedding venue

Kaspars's father Andris bought the property 23 years ago. At that time the grounds were overgrown, but over the years they were tidied, landscaped and built up, with the family doing much of the work itself. During the pandemic Kaspars offered to take over running the place. For the past five years he has shaped it according to his own vision: combining old and new, and giving the glazed banquet hall a sense of space and a link with the landscape. The name also changed, drawn from the lime trees, the Mazā Jugla and the footbridge over the Lēģeris stream.

Figures and format

The venue hosts 40–50 weddings a year and about 200 over the past five years. By the owner's estimate, in roughly 60 percent of cases the ceremony also takes place on site. Ceremonies are led by a pastor or a registry office official, while some couples complete the legal formalities beforehand and hold a symbolic ceremony. In summer the standard format is a three-day wedding: the couple arrives the day before, and the morning after is left for breakfast.

Most couples are aged 25–35. In about 15–20 percent of weddings, one of the partners has a connection abroad. Bookings already exist for August 2028, and summer 2027 is filling up fast. The banquet hall can seat 80–90 guests.

The owner's view

Kaspars sees the venue as suited to family-oriented, calm weddings rather than loud parties. He and his wife Ilze, who handles social media and marketing, married at the Ogre registry office in 2022. If he could do it again, he says, he would hold the ceremony by the big oak. The house has a team of four, and outside the wedding season it also hosts corporate events, birthdays, retreats and yoga classes.