Reception drinks for your guests?

HB81

We're still debating what to do - we get one glass of wine arrival drink, one glass of wine with meal and a glass of sparkling wine for toast included in our set package, but we were thinking of adding some extra drinks but not decided whether to bother or what/how much yet!
-H x

**dancingbutterfly**

hiya shellsuit,

at the mo we're just having glass of bubbly on arrival, 1 bottle of red and 1 bottle of white on the table, and 1 glass of bubbly each for the toast.

The people that are doing our bar (we're not paying for that either, the guests will have to buy their own unfortunatly!) offer a service where you get a glass of bubbly on arrival, 2 glasses of wine with the meal, glass of bubbly for toasts and wter jugs with ice and lemon and infinate refills for £8 per person. I think thats quite a good offer really but it would cost us £668 for all of our guests! our budget is only £3000!

We're planning on waiting for the offers in supermarkets to crop up, like buy 6 bottles of wine get one free, buy 6 bottles get 10% off etc. Then buy our cava,wine ourselves then get our caterers to serve the cava on arrival and toasts for us. My mil2b works for wedding caterers (result!) and they'll do it for very small charge she's told me.

hth

minerva_windsong

One of my sisters had Bucks Fizz and orange juice on arrival, then half a bottle of wine with the meal (red or white), jugs of water on the tables and a glass of sparkling wine with the toast. Other sister had the same but with mulled wine/warm Ribena or apple juice for the arrival drink, as she had a winter wedding.

There was a bar after the meal and for anyone who didn't want wine, but my dad insisted that he would pay for it - it's the only thing he refused to compromise on about my sisters' weddings, both the existence of the free bar and his paying for it.

sarah_elton

We had:

Reception/welcome drink - 2 drinks per head, mixture of sparkling wine, beer and orange juice waitress served. It turned out to be a really hot day so the beer went down well!

With meal - red and white wine, gave the venue permission to serve up to 35 bottles in total. They ended up using 32. (we had around 70 adults) Jugs of iced water were also provided (again, appreciated on a hot day!)

After the meal people were on their own at the bar. By that point they'd had 2 drinks plus wine with dinner on us so that was enough. No one objected. All weddings I've been to have been the same - reception drinks and wine with the meal provided then you pay at the bar after that.

shellsuit

Ahh thanks guys, you're all super!!

The only reason I asked is because we had our last meeting with the venue last night.

We'd already arranged to have Bucks Fizz as a welcome drink (only because we're getting them half price because of the mucking about the did when we first booked) but their bottles of wine start from £17.95 a bottle!

I googled the wine last night and it can be bought in cases which works out at £5.50 a bottle!

They won't allow corkage and we really can't justify them charging us over triple the price it costs them.

We're eating in one of the restaurants in the hotel and it has it's own bar so it's no problem for people to get their own, I just thought we should provide a drink with the meal.

If we can do a deal with them, then that would be super, but I was looking for some ideas from you all to see what you were doing.

We're getting married at 11.30am and eating at 2, so that was another thing, we don't want everyone hammered before the evening party starts lol!

malamay

Our venue won't allow corkage either, which doesn't seem fair with the many decent wine/bubbly offers others are able to pick up!

We can do a glass of wine for a welcome drink, with another glass for dinner, and sparkling wine for the toast for £12 or with two glasses at dinner for £13.50. I'm tempted to go with the extra glass, as the value seems a bit better. But then how many people would drink two glasses with dinner plus a glass of fizz?

And then the bridezilla in me wants to price cocktails in our wedding colours (blue/purple) for the welcome drink. I'd personally much prefer that to wine! :rotfl:

bubbles0169

shell can you ask to have glasses per person instead of bottles and see what they charge for that, thats why i specifically asked for glasses as i new the mark up would be huge
if they charge an obscene amount for that i would consider not having any provided so the guests have to pay(apart from the welcome drink and the toast)

4nnabella

We've got a drinks package that is £11 per head which includes:

Drinks reception: something fizzy (probably a prosecco), winter pimms and juice
Meal: red, white & rose wine
Toast: the same fizz we'll have at drinks reception.

All drinks within package is unlimited and they'll keep pouring until the end of the meal. After that it's a pay bar.

betti911

I'm getting married next year (April)

Did you have a welcome drink and if so what was/is it? We're having sparkling wine as a welcome drink- choice between white and rose

Did you have a drink with the meal and what was/is it? Red and white wine (half bottle each)

Toast- baron d'Arignac demi sec

That's a total cost of £15.80 per person (62 guests= £980:eek:) Oh well suppose you only do it once.

MrOrganised

Because we're having the ceremony at the same venue as the reception we're not offering 'arrival' drinks. We're going to have the speeches before the meal, so for the toast we're using Martini Asti which is as nice as champagne (a little on the sweet side but no great after taste) far nicer than Cava and only £7 a bottle.... however with the venue mark up its £18! lol but still a excellent cheaper option. As for the meal they'll have whats left from the toast and then they can help their selves at the bar. We'd decided to send the money on the meal instead of the drinks which i know from our family do's they probably wont like anyway.