Welcome drink

bubble96

were not having a welcome drink - just thought id put the other side of it. i dont think with weddings there is a real standard anymore - yes its included in lots of packages, but i dont expect one when i go to a wedding. Basicly we arent providing drink - not with the meal either, as its a hugely overpriced expense, and i am adamant that i dont want my guests drunk by 6 oclock, i love and trust all my friends and family, but when its there for free it gets drunk! we could afford to provide one drink, so decided to do a toast drink. You do what is within your budget, and whatever suits you - i dont think anyone will think its terrible if you dont

binkyboo_2

I am paying corkage at my venue and providing my own bottles, for us this works out cheaper than using the hotel bottles and we have been able to have our favourite wine etc.

I wanted to have my favourite m&s bucks fizz for a welcome drink as it is great value at around £2.50 a bottle but the corkage for anything sparkling is £9.50! When I have my next meeting with the venue I will be trying to negotiate this as i can understand paying a premium to open a bottle of champagne but not something with only about 4 % alcohol in it!

I think we have decided to have speeches before the meal so am going to incorporate this with the welcome drink so hopefully that will mean we need half as many bottles. Then we are providing half a bottle of wine per person at the meal. If anyone wants anything more or different then they can buy their own.

sexymouse

We aren't having welcome drinks either as the venue wanted to charge a fortune for this, and we are having an afternoon tea reception, so not really appropriate. We're also not having toasts or speeches, but then this is a reception 2 weeks after we get married as we're getting married abroad.

missknixon

We have opted for the basic drinks package that our venue offers! We are only having 37 guests in the day and 6 of them are young children. It is mainly just family but they can purchase whatever else they like! We get one drink on arrival (well after the ceremony), one glass of wine with the meal and one glass of sparkling with the toast. We also only pay for the ones which are drunk - so if people are not drinking - as long as they tell the bar they will be given a soft drink and the cost for that will be charged to us! As it is mainly family at the day do we didn't want the MiL and others getting carried away so they have agreed to having the bar 'closed' until the meal! I don't want people drunk during the ceremony which is at 2pm!

RainbowDrops

binkyboo wrote: »

I wanted to have my favourite m&s bucks fizz for a welcome drink as it is great value at around £2.50 a bottle but the corkage for anything sparkling is £9.50! When I have my next meeting with the venue I will be trying to negotiate this as i can understand paying a premium to open a bottle of champagne but not something with only about 4 % alcohol in it!

The increased corkage may also include having champagne flutes instead of normal wine glasses (they need a bit more care in cleaning & polishing).
But you could negotiate by asking for normal wine glasses?

binkyboo_2

RainbowDrops wrote: »

The increased corkage may also include having champagne flutes instead of normal wine glasses (they need a bit more care in cleaning & polishing).
But you could negotiate by asking for normal wine glasses?

Thanks for that info I will check this as it is £2 a bottle more than wine for anything sparkling. I know I should be greatful that our corkage rate is lower than in other venues but i still begrudge having to pay it! Would much rather pay a lower corkage fee per guest than per bottle which I am going to suggest at our next meeting but I'm fairly sure they won't agree to it!

floss2

Binkyboo, how much is their own Bucks Fizz?

We're having Bucks Fizz & OJ for non-drinkers - part of our deal with the hotel, and keeps everyone occupied for half an hour or so of mingling

binkyboo_2

floss2 wrote: »

Binkyboo, how much is their own Bucks Fizz?

We're having Bucks Fizz & OJ for non-drinkers - part of our deal with the hotel, and keeps everyone occupied for half an hour or so of mingling

It's £4 a glass! so thats over £200 for 50 glasses and a couple of jugs of oj for non drinkers

I can do the same 50 glasses for just over £100 including corkage at £9.50 a bottle by using the M&S bottled bucks fizz

For my meal i have spent £70 on 30 bottles of wine and anticipate using 25 so corkage for that amount will be £187.50

If i do go for a toast drink then it would be £95 corkage again for 10 bottles and them probably £50-£100 on some fizz.

This way we have got exactly the type of wine we want, we have already tasted it and know it is good and is cheaper than £15 a bottle of wine or £30 a bottle of champagne that the venue offer.

fly_dragon_fly

i went to a wedding recently when you got a toast drink and that was it but then they had a tiny cupcake for their dessert too so hey

i am having a winter pimms toast drink hehe and the hall a bottle per person two jugs of squash and a jug of water on the table and then the toast drink.

i went to a wedding last year where everyone got a bottle of wine each by the end of the meal the tables still had 4 or 5 bottles left, i was a likle bit drunk by the end of the night haha x

missknixon

we are having a drinks package of 3 glasses of wine, they start at £8.60 for 3 glasses. One for the arrival, one with meal and one with the toast. We did not think that was to expensive. We not paying for the children so about £300 for the drinks package