Bulk Wine Buying - Wedding

budhabob

Hi all,

Our wedding is next year, and the venue does not charge corkage fees, so we're looking at options for buying wine for the wedding. There should be circa 180 guests, so going above the average minimum requirements, We would be looking to pick up about 120 bottles, there or there abouts.

Does anyone have any suggestions for suppliers with reasonable prices in Ireland, or alternatives outside of Ireland?

Thanks in advance

Rob

P.S. did a quick search of the forum but didnt turn up anything, apologies if theres a similar thread.

collie0708

Tesco have some great half price wines and at the moment you get 25% off if you buy 6 bottles or more... Saw this in my local store in rathfarnham today.

budhabob

collie0708 wrote: »

Tesco have some great half price wines and at the moment you get 25% off if you buy 6 bottles or more... Saw this in my local store in rathfarnham today.

Haha, saw that on bargain alerts alright, thats what made me think to pop in here. Was considering starting to stock up a few bottles alright

Ciarrai76

go to your local off-licence & ask them what offers they have. Many will do a sale & return on any unopened bottles, so if you don't use it all you an return to them after the wedding. You may also get quantity discounts. Nothing beats speaking to someone directly who can advise you on what type of wine, offers, how much you'll need etc.

dmcdermo

Get the ferry to calais, wine is far cheaper in france and what you dont use you keep/give as gifts to guests. Pick up 4 or 5 different styles of French wines in Tesco, decide what you like, then make a weekend of sailing over. There are websites for wine merchants in calais or roscoff so you can decide in advance what you want to try, can get sparkling wine/ champers as well at a fraction of Irish prices.If you want 120 bottles the ferry will only add about 2.50 per bottle to the price and a €5 bottle of wine in France is far better than a €10 bottle in tesco.:)

slowharry

Wines direct in mullingar supply Irish restaurants and hotels and you can buy direct from them. they sell popular brands like 'four sisters' that generally don't make it to the off licence shelves. Used them for our wedding and I make regular return trips to stock up the cellar at home.

http://www.winesdirect.ie/

muckety

While the wine trip to France would be cheaper, if you don't know what you are buying you could end up with a lot of muck. I'd also recommend wines direct (link above) - I buy from them regularly and they have better value than the supermarkets - good range of drinkable wines at or under a tenner...

dmcdermo

If you dont know what you are buying you are more likely to buy muck in Ireland than in France, as I suggested try a few here first. You get to taste what youre buying (non-driver of course!!).

GoingForIt

i bought wine from this crowd before www.curiouswines.ie, bought in bulk and was able to haggle.......i would recommed them

Layinghen

Agree with the idea of going to your local off licence. They can be a great source of advice and should be able to give you a deal. It also may be worth talking to the manager of the wine section of the supermarket as sometimes it can be possible to get further discounts for bulk buys. Not sure if there is a Superquin near you but they normally have very knowledgeable staff in their wine section (so too do some of the bigger Supervalues) and they too should be able to advise and offer competitive terms.

Ipso

Do you know any lorry drivers who do trips to the continent? I've heard of them bringing wine back in bulk.

the beer revolu

Ipso wrote: »

Do you know any lorry drivers who do trips to the continent? I've heard of them bringing wine back in bulk.

Otherwise known as smuggling.
I'd be careful going down that route.

giftgrub

When we got married back in 07, the venue, Renvyle House in Galway, wasnt offering corkage.

However they did say we could bring our own champagne for after the church/pre-dinner, they didnt charge corkage and laid waiting staff, cassis etc.

Now we went up north and picked up a load of Prosecco from Sainsburys, I cant remember the price, but it was pretty good value, although i dont know if thats the case these days.

Another friend did the Tesco thing, got a discount and clubcard points too!!

shofukan

Wine is one thing you're better not skimping on for the big day.
The best thing for you is to drop into a wine shop - the staff are there to give you any help you need! I work in a shop which is very much geared towards large sales like this, and I take pride in sending people away with wines that they and their guests are going to enjoy.

RATM

I thought head to France too and even make a small holiday of it, just you and the wife to be.

Or alternatively the north would also be a good bet, cheaper to get there too. You could test wines now at home over the coming months and over time select a red and a white you like Then keep an eye on Sainburys, Asda, Tesco's websites and wait for one of them with your wines in stock to announce a wine sale.

poitinstill

i did the france trip for my wedding.. used this place about 500yrds from the boat. pop in every time im in france since.

http://www.winebeersupermarket.com/

they have people there who speak good english who can advise. you will not come back with muck and can get a handy holiday..there are other places minutes from there too. and i hear the same thing applies to calais or cherbourg

Horse1920

People might scoff - but after a lot of looking, haggling and tasting - we went with Super Valu , got a really nice red Rioja and a sauv blanc for 4:25 a bottle with sale or return - also watched out for the deals on procecco and hammered them for a deal on it all together - they delivered it to hotel 3 days before which was a gift - the off licence Mgr couldn't have been better