Our Secrets to buying Wedding Wine
Secrets to buying Wedding Wine for your Irish Wedding Reception
Following on from last weeks post on organising an Irish marque wedding I decided to have a look at the idea of buying your own wedding wine for your Irish wedding reception. I decided to detail a few secrets that I have learnt when organising weddings and hopefully it will give you a heads start and help you save a little money.
How much do you buy
Arrivals – If you would love a sparkling wine on arrivals then for 150 – 10 bottles of sparkly would definitely do the job. You have to remember that not everyone will take a drink and allot of people do prefer to purchase their own drink of choice also.
Main Reception – This is always a hard one to calculate I would recommended to divide the amount of guests attending your wedding by 2.15 for example if you are having 150 guests divide it by 2.15 and add on an additional 5 for good luck and you should purchase 75 bottles of wine. I think that this would definitely cover your reception.
The Toast – Toasts can be awful expensive averaging €5 per guest if you decide to buy a drink from the bar, you could be looking at a thousand euro before you know it. An alternative would be to do a sparkling wine toast. You can get on average 7 champagne flutes per bottle. A toast for 150 people could be covered by 22 bottles of sparkly which would be more acceptable.
Time of year – From my experience of attending and organising Irish weddings the time of year definitely effects how much red and white wine is consumed. Summer weddings will have more people drinking white and maybe Rosé wine with the winter and Autumn months increasing red wine consumption – For the Summer months I would offer all three, 40% Red, 40% White and 20% Rosé and for the Winter and Autumn months 50% Red and White.
The dreaded corkage fee – Sometimes corkage fees make it impossible for Irish brides and grooms to purchase their own wine but that may not be the case in every private venue so check with your wedding co-ordinator first before doing anything
How much to spend – From my experience €8-14 will usually get you a very acceptable bottle of wine in Ireland and with discount and bulk buying you maybe able to reduce the price per bottle on negotiations. Do not forget to shop around though as there are usually bargains to be had especially if you are getting married in a quieter time of year for example January or February, free delivery to your venue maybe offered also. Here are some Irish vendors online that I came across
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