Wedding Idea...?

geordie_ben

Me and a few mates have been talking over this idea

At a marquee wedding instead of a normal bar the couple buy loads and loads of drink, lager, cider, wine etc and instead of people buying drinks from a bar they just have and honesty box instead, suggesting for each drink a 'donation' of £1

Take a can and drop a quid in..

Thoughts?

maman

I suppose it would work if the alternative is having a proper bar at proper prices.

I'm not sure where you'd stand on licensing laws though. Don't you need a licence if you want to sell booze even at cut price?

I suppose you can't afford to just let people help themselves.

browneyedbazzi

maman wrote: »

I suppose it would work if the alternative is having a proper bar at proper prices.

I'm not sure where you'd stand on licensing laws though. Don't you need a licence if you want to sell booze even at cut price?

I suppose you can't afford to just let people help themselves.

If you're selling alcohol then yes you need a licence (or a temporary event notice). The only time you don't need a licence is if you are genuinely giving it away without any form of payment or consideration. An honour box system is still accepting payment for the alcohol so you would (in my opinion) need authorisation.

A Temporary Event Notice is quite easy to get and only costs £21 (there are strict time limits though so you need to make sure you submit the notice in good time).

geordie_ben

Hmmm, good points

I reckon there'd be ways around it tho

browneyedbazzi

geordie_ben wrote: »

Hmmm, good points

I reckon there'd be ways around it tho

Given the high penalties for selling alcohol without the proper authorisation, it'd be well worth paying the £21 and doing it all above board.

duchy

Why not just have a free bar ? Supermarket beer and wine can be dirt cheap.

There's honestly no legal way around it ....but I suppose getting raided on your wedding day would be a memory to hand down to your grandchildren !

Where would this marquee be though? If you don't own the land it's on the owner might not be too happy with your plan. Not sure if you could get sued by the owner for damages if you did get raided especially if they got fined too.

The event licence is cheap enough so not sure why you want to evade it.

I know it's Friday night .....and maybe this discussion was you and your mates in the pub tonight.....but does the bride have a view on this "scheme" ?

browneyedbazzi

Quite right duchy, if the land owner knowingly allowed you to operate a bar in the way described without a licence they would be committing an offence as well and could be prosecuted.

The maximum penalty is six months prison and/or £20k fine (for each offence)

ska_lover

Geordie Ben, there seems to be some OTT scaremongering going on, on this thread, and suggestions of why don't you just have a free bar.

I think, if you make it clear (just for the stress heads) that they are suggested donations, it is different from SELLING booze. It is a private function, not in a pub. In my mind no different from having the reception at home and doing the same. The chances of you getting 'raided by the police' I would estimate at zilch.

Most people could not afford to fund a free bar these days (as we can't) we are getting married in 6 weeks. Some folk take advantage of a free bar in a big way and drinking more than they would have done otherwise, and a load of completely w@nkered people at your big day so to be honest, even if I could afford a free bar, I wouldn't have one.

I went to a wedding last year where there was a free bar, and was appauled by the state an awful lot of guests got into - the younger relatives were falling over, passing out, arguing, being sick etc. They really went for it. The bride said afterwards that it did put a massive dampner on her day as by half way through the event, a good proportion of her guests were completely sh1tfaced.It caused a massive falling out within the family.

browneyedbazzi

ska lover - you're right, it's unlikely that a private wedding party will be 'raided' for having an unlicensed bar because the police/licensing authority are unlikely to know about it. But if they are called out and attend for another reason (ie there's a fight or something is stolen or neighbours report a noise problem etc) and they find the bar set up in the way described then you could get into serious bother. For the sake of £21 and 10 minutes to fill out a form, it's worth covering yourself and doing it legally.

Accepting payment for alcohol in any form is a sale, it doesn't matter if you call the payment a 'donation' or not.

(I know you can't verify who people are on a forum like this, but I am a qualified licensing practitioner and have worked in licensing enforcement for a number of years)

Bluegreen143

I'm doing something similar (but getting a license!) in that we're charging £2 or so a drink and the profits are getting donated to the charity I work for.

Rather than an honesty box, our caterer is giving us two bartenders to serve and take money. They are really accommodating caterers as most would charge corkage etc if you bought your own booze and expected them to serve it (as they lose a lot of money this way), because it's going to charity ours are only charging us the bartenders' hourly rates. They did say they have worked weddings where the honesty box was used but it can get a bit chaotic as some people always rip the *rse out of it!

It's still super cheap drinks for people compared to most wedding prices with the bonus that I get to make a wee donation too

Gloomendoom

ska_lover wrote: »

Geordie Ben, there seems to be some OTT scaremongering going on, on this thread, and suggestions of why don't you just have a free bar.

We had a free bar. We made it affordable by buying all the booze ourselves beforehand.

Beer, commercial cider and soft drinks were supermarket special offers. The wine and bubbly were bought cheap in France. My wife's uncle donated a barrel of home brewed cider (12.5%)

We made it clear that if guests wanted spirits, they brought them with them. Buckets full of tea were available for the alcohol drinkers.