Do I cater alcohol in full for all guests or a percentage?

binkyboo_2

Currently I have budgeted corkage for 50 adults however since this point a few extra adults have been invited so now stands at 56 adults.

Should I add extra alcohol on so there is enough for every adult or should I stick with my original budget, hope there are a few non drinkers and we won't run out or should I change my budget to accommodate the extra?

At the moment the corkage bill will be around £400 it will cost around an extra £50 for the 6 additional guests.

Also I have budgeted nothing at present for non alcoholic drinks. Is it rude to provide alcohol but not soft drinks when we have around 15 children attending?

chelbel1981

When you say corkage what do you mean - So many glasses per person or you are taking your own wine?

tamarto

binkyboo wrote: »

Also I have budgeted nothing at present for non alcoholic drinks. Is it rude to provide alcohol but not soft drinks when we have around 15 children attending?

Yes i think it is, especially as it is likely some adults wont drink.

annie-c

Also, what do you mean by 'cater in full'? Will you be paying for all the drinks or will there be a pay bar as well?

It is usual at weddings I have been to to provide a drink on arrival, a glass or two of wine with lunch, and some sort of champagne or fizz for the toast. If you are having a formal waitress service then you can either ask the staff to serve the wine (and limit intake that way) or put a couple of bottles on each table.

I think it is quite usual to provide soft drinks, not just for children, but also for all the drivers who will be attending. The venue should also provide lots of iced water too.

I have been to quite lavish dos where the bar is all paid for, I have been to dos where there is no bar at all and when the provided alcohol is gone it's gone, but more commonly to weddings where a few drinks are provided but there is also a bar for guests to buy their own. My experience is that where there is an open bar. lots of guests will prefer to buy their own choice of drinks and so less table wine is consumed than actually bought.

talulahbeige_2

What are you expecting the children to drink if you don't provide them with non alcoholic?

You know your guests, are there any no drinkers? Are they likely to drive?

LEJC

i would give a non alcoholic option too afterall you do have children attending and they will require a drink....

shellsuit

If you mean wine for the tables, what about some jugs of juice or iced water for the none drinkers?

You have just reminded me actually that I need to phone the venue to ask them for some jugs of water, eeek!

binkyboo_2

sorry if i wasn't clear, my brain is a bit fuzzy in the mornings! We are paying corkage per bottle of wine/champagne that we provide I have budgeted for 10 bottles for the drinks reception. 25 bottles for the wedding breakfast and 10 bottles for the toast. this gives 1 drink per person each for the drinks reception 2 for the meal and 1 for a toast for 50 people. What I was really asking was should I leave it at this and hope the non drinkers make up for the extra guests invited or should I get additional bottles and pay extra in corkage?
As for soft drinks I can have jugs of squash but the prices are ridiculous and any other soft drinks would just be priced by the glass which we can't afford on top of everything else. Perhaps I can just get enough jugs for the kids to have a drink each at the reception and the meal and then get jugs of water free of charge. I just assumed if anyone wanted different to what we had catered for then they would buy their own?

annie-c

I think what you have ordered is plenty, as long as there is an open bar you will find that lots of people will want to buy their own choice of drink with the meal.

Personally, I think that if you need to cut costs I would order slightly less alcohol and definitely provide some soft drinks.

If the catering staff are serving the fizz for the toast then they usually get 10 glasses out of 1 bottle as you usually only get about 1/2 to 3/4 of a small champagne flute per person and it is unusual to get refills for the toast.

It is also very common for the reception drink to be a mixed drink like Pimms with lemonade or wine with spritzer in, so you could possibly cut costs there and have a couple of bottles of posh-but-cheap non alcoholic fizz, or orange juice for the non drinkers.

binkyboo_2

annie-c wrote: »

I think what you have ordered is plenty, as long as there is an open bar you will find that lots of people will want to buy their own choice of drink with the meal.

Personally, I think that if you need to cut costs I would order slightly less alcohol and definitely provide some soft drinks.

If the catering staff are serving the fizz for the toast then they usually get 10 glasses out of 1 bottle as you usually only get about 1/2 to 3/4 of a small champagne flute per person and it is unusual to get refills for the toast.

It is also very common for the reception drink to be a mixed drink like Pimms with lemonade or wine with spritzer in, so you could possibly cut costs there and have a couple of bottles of posh-but-cheap non alcoholic fizz, or orange juice for the non drinkers.

I have planned for 5 glasses of fizz per bottle and 4 glasses of wine per bottle so maybe i have underestimated this slightly going off what you have said so that should mean I should be ok. I will speak to the venue about trying to do a better deal on soft drinks i think.

horsechestnut

As a non-drinker it can become quite embarrassing to have to ask for (and often purchase) soft drinks at a wedding. Some people might be on medication and don't wish to draw attention to themselves: they might be driving or they may just be thirsty!
At my daughter's wedding I provided bottles of non-alcoholic grape juice, jugs of Orange juice and jugs of water.
Several times during the day people commented on this and thanked me for my consideration; they also commented just how embarrassing it was to have to ask especially for a soft drink.
I would leave the wine as you originally planed (we had wine unopened at the end, thanks to good management by the hotel!) and provide a soft drink together with jugs of water at the table.