Free bar

mmikailian

vickyw wrote: »

£6 corkage I wish! Our venue is charging £10 per bottle!!!! It still works out cheaper with Tesco 3 for £10 plus the corkage than their house wine.

This is with Holiday Inn some people have stated their Holiday inn was charging £10 for wine why not haggle? they can only say no?

Dinah93

I've never been to a wedding with a free bar - and I've been to a fair few weddings! We're serving a drink on arrival, 2 glasses of wine with the meal, and a glass of champagne for the toast, but the evening guests are on their own! We have 180 people, around 75 of which are my H2Bs Irish family who drink like its going out of fashion, they could bankrupt us! I really don't think you should feel pressured to have a free bar.

Icey77

When my sister got married the reception was held in a local football club hall so the drinks weren't too expensive to start with but to avoid some people taking the mickey my Dad arranged the following:

1 voucher for each guest for a pint/spirit measure + mixer/wine etc = Eg have a drink on us to celebrate our daughters marriage.

After that he had soft drinks free bar basis but all other drinks were on a cash basis.

I think there was only one person who muttered about it and he was very quickly told to shut up by his missus and the groom.

[Deleted User]

We had a free bar, but it was put on by our caterer, so rather than 'a bar' there was a table, and behind it the caterers staff providing drinks. So, no corkage, no unexpected bill at the end - it was included in our 'per person' price

Bride2be24

vickyw wrote: »

£6 corkage I wish! Our venue is charging £10 per bottle!!!! It still works out cheaper with Tesco 3 for £10 plus the corkage than their house wine.

I can say the same, corkage for bottle of wine was also £10 at my venue & £20 for champers....ridiculous!!!!!

faerie_girl

We are having an informal garden party with upto 14 guests. So we will be providing alcohol but most of our guest won't drink much anyway. Think it'll mainly be cups of tea lol.
I am glad i read this thread though as the 3 for £10 at Tesco is a good deal. Does anyone know if this is on all the time or just a limited period every now and again? Should i start stocking up now or will it be safe to wait closer to August? Keeping wine in the house is very danerous indeed lol!

Alyssa_C_2

I am shocked and appalled that your mum has said you should have a free bar:eek:. Some very very rich people (or if daddy is paying) have a free bar. I have NEVER been to a wedding with a free bar. These people have paid to feed me and given me a welcome drink generally (which I didn't expect them to do, though it was very nice ) and I don't want my newly married friends to start their lives in debt just to get me a few drinks!
We are giving our lot 3 free drinks during the day and then everyone will have one free drink on arrival for the evening. After that, they had better get their wallets out! :rotfl:

Owain_Moneysaver

I was quite surprised the first time I went to a wedding and there was a cash bar! But I would only expect soft drinks and a couple of bottles of table wines on the table, not spirits or pints. Usually at ceilidhs it's kia-ora and if anyone wants anything stronger they can top it up with a hip flask.

£10k for 80 people. What are you having, the ballroom at Claridge's with dancing girls? If you mum is accustomed to providing a lavish spread for guests then can you economise on the venue, and arrange your own catering and get booze sale-or-return from Tesco?

vickyw

mmikailian wrote: »

This is with Holiday Inn some people have stated their Holiday inn was charging £10 for wine why not haggle? they can only say no?

Yeah it's a Ramada Plaza. Think we will try to haggle we hate the thougt of spending £300 on corkage when we can't afford to go on honeymoon. If we can't get the price down they are going to invoice us a few days after for the number of bottles so we could always dispute it!:beer:

sarah_elton

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

£10k for 80 people. What are you having, the ballroom at Claridge's with dancing girls?

£10k for 80 people doesn't go as far as you think...

H2B has been married before, and at his first wedding they had a free bar. They had 50-60 guests, the majority of whom were older or driving, and the bar bill still came to £3k. I think if we had one it'd easily run to £5-8k so no, no free bar for us and our budget is similar to yours.

We're providing arrival drink, reception drink, and wine with dinner. So buying everyone 3 or 4 drinks - after that they're on their own. Water will be freely available all night.