wine help!!

emzibob

Hi All, I'm recently engaged and planning the big day but were on a budget. So looking at going down an all inclusive hotel package route, however most of these deals don't include wine with the meal but include a champagne toast and punch reception...is this acceptable to people? or will i be forever known as the wedding without free wine?? Most of our friends don't drink wine so i think its only the aunties and uncles who will be looking for it so we were thinking of just buying a drink for everyone to toast as it is working out less than bringing in wine and paying corkage or buying from the hotel. opinions please!!!

Is it acceptable to not have wine on the table??

Thanks for your help!

xalot

It's your wedding so do whatever you are happy with.

However, for me, the meal is the most important part of attending a wedding and wine goes hand in hand with that. I would rather cut back on things like flowers and hire cars etc. before I cut back on the food and booze budget.

emzibob

hmm maybe we could put a couple of bottles on each table or is not giving enough wine worse than not giving any wine?? .....this whole budgeting thing is trickier than it looks!!

A2LUE42

General rule of thumb for wine would be Glass and two top ups, or almost 1/2 bottle per person. But if you do Glass one with starter, top up one during main course and top up two for the toast, you then don't need the 'Champagne toast', so that may offset the costs somewhat. It is extremely unlikely that the hotel is giving you Champagne for the toast and is probably sparkling wine, either way you should check the exact 'Champagne' they have included.

xalot

You could have the wait staff fill the glasses just before/when the meal is being served and not leave the bottles on the table but refill until the designated amount of bottles are gone, people will drink less if they are not sure if there is more coming!

emzibob

A2LUE42 wrote: »

General rule of thumb for wine would be Glass and two top ups, or almost 1/2 bottle per person. But if you do Glass one with starter, top up one during main course and top up two for the toast, you then don't need the 'Champagne toast', so that may offset the costs somewhat. It is extremely unlikely that the hotel is giving you Champagne for the toast and is probably sparkling wine, either way you should check the exact 'Champagne' they have included.

Thanks hadn't thought of that your probably right and it isn't champagne at all!

emzibob

xalot wrote: »

You could have the wait staff fill the glasses just before/when the meal is being served and not leave the bottles on the table but refill until the designated amount of bottles are gone, people will drink less if they are not sure if there is more coming!

that is a very good idea that I hadn't thought of!! Thanks Zalot

kkcatlou

Not enough wine is one of the greatest wedding sins and things that gets compained about most (believe me, I was at the receiving end for my sister's wedding...she still doesn't know about it, but the hotel were extremely stingy, and it is the one thing to do this day, people still comment on!).

I'd say bite the bullet and fork out for it. After "what was the food like?", "were the band any good?", next question is "was there enough to drink?".

Milly33

It is all up to ye.. I suppose I would be like mmm where is my glass of wine but then I drink it. But if there was none it would not wrekc the day. Think the idea maybe of just having one bottle of red and white per table might be a good idea (if you are just doing the one try and push the hotel for free corkage or for a better price on their own wine)..

I wouldn't even give people a choice of drinks for the toast just give them all champers or sparkling wine and leave it at that - especially if the hotel are throwing this in for free.

Sligo1

IMO toast drinks are a waste. Get the waiters/waitresses to too up the glasses with the wine for the toast and for those who aren't drinking wine they can get their own drink from the bar. I don't drink wine at all... And id have no problem ordering and paying for my own drink (vodka redbull please!).

We had unlimited wine at our wedding and often received comments on how great it was to have the wine flowing so freely.

D3PO

kkcatlou wrote: »

Not enough wine is one of the greatest wedding sins

but the hotel were extremely stingy, and it is the one thing to do this day, people still comment on!).

In fairness it wouldnt have been the hotel being stingy. They will pour out whats agreed on / paid for. Would have been your sister who was the stingy one tbh.

Arbiter of Good Taste

Definitely go with the wine. I was at a wedding where there was no wine at the table and to be honest it's the only thing that stands out about the wedding 7 years later.

emzibob

Thanks guys I think the consensus is we deffo need wine then haha i'll go back to the hotels on the corkage I think and leave the toast as the "champagne" (sparkling wine) toast.

Milly33

Good idea.... Best of luck with it "Going to the Chapel and Your

kkcatlou

D3PO wrote: »

In fairness it wouldnt have been the hotel being stingy. They will pour out whats agreed on / paid for. Would have been your sister who was the stingy one tbh.

Actually no, there was a half bottle per person included in her package, and after talking to a lot of the guests, there was no way most of them got that. Most only got one glass. We argued with the staff afterwards and asked to see the empty bottles, but they wouldn't allow us. I've heard of this happening more than once in this particular hotel! I'd be more wary of packages that include wine as a result, so I'd say bite the bullet and buy your own, and insist if it isn't all poured, the open bottles are left open for afterwards.

D3PO

kkcatlou wrote: »

Actually no, there was a half bottle per person included in her package, and after talking to a lot of the guests, there was no way most of them got that. Most only got one glass. We argued with the staff afterwards and asked to see the empty bottles, but they wouldn't allow us. I've heard of this happening more than once in this particular hotel! I'd be more wary of packages that include wine as a result, so I'd say bite the bullet and buy your own, and insist if it isn't all poured, the open bottles are left open for afterwards.

Off topic but if I were your sister Id have refused flat out to settle my bill with the hotel until it got sorted. Anyway OP defo go with wine and cut some other frills including the toast drink if necessary to balance the budget.

kkcatlou

D3PO wrote: »

Off topic but if I were your sister Id have refused flat out to settle my bill with the hotel until it got sorted. Anyway OP defo go with wine and cut some other frills including the toast drink if necessary to balance the budget.

I know, but we never told my sister or her husband! No need to cause them stress! It did annoy me though, and they still don't have a clue. There was obviously plenty at the top table!

Toots

A friend of mine got married about 10 years ago and the hotel was a very fancy hotel, but was well known to charge through the nose for everything. They had booked 150 (I think) bottles of wine and the deal was that there was going to be a glass and two top ups for everyone and any wine that wasn't used would be refunded.

Now as we all know, the hotels have an absolutely massive markup on wine, but this hotel didn't give the option of bringing in your own, so there wasn't any choice. The next day they were settling up and were told that all the bottles had been used, but they didn't mind cos they'd budgeted for it. About a week later one of the aunties was on the phone to her mum and mentioned how it was such a nice touch that they were given a bottle of wine to take home with them. The banquet manager told the waitresses to give out the remaining bottles to guests as they left.

Sligo1

Toots wrote: »

A friend of mine got married about 10 years ago and the hotel was a very fancy hotel, but was well known to charge through the nose for everything. They had booked 150 (I think) bottles of wine and the deal was that there was going to be a glass and two top ups for everyone and any wine that wasn't used would be refunded.

Now as we all know, the hotels have an absolutely massive markup on wine, but this hotel didn't give the option of bringing in your own, so there wasn't any choice. The next day they were settling up and were told that all the bottles had been used, but they didn't mind cos they'd budgeted for it. About a week later one of the aunties was on the phone to her mum and mentioned how it was such a nice touch that they were given a bottle of wine to take home with them. The banquet manager told the waitresses to give out the remaining bottles to guests as they left.

OMG!!! Did the couple say anything to the hotel??!

Toots

Sligo1 wrote: »

OMG!!! Did the couple say anything to the hotel??!

They went back and complained about it but it didn't get anywhere, the hotel categorically denied that it happened. They didn't know exactly how many bottles were handed out and they weren't going to go ringing all the guests asking them if they were given one, so they let it go, but it left a bad taste in their mouths.

The crappy thing was a few months later she was talking to a colleague whose sister had gotten married there not long after her and apparently something similar happened there, and from what the colleague heard the hotel had a reputation for it happening. :eek:

Sligo1

Omg toots... That's scandalous!!

emzibob

:eek: shocking behaviour toots!!! will definitely be checking that the amount of wine we pay for is used or refunded!

pwurple

I was at a wedding at the weekend which was fantastic, loads of food and wine, very generous. However the hotel didn't chill the white wine. No idea why not, but warm white wine was just not great. Loads of it left on tables as people changed to red for top-ups.

Check they chill the white wine before serving it.

lazygal

This is where you need to get things in writing, even the smallest details. We supplied our own wine and delivered it to the venue. All correspondence with the venue was done by email, and I kept printouts of everything in case there were any issues. I made sure the bubbly and white went into the fridges for wine and the red was stored at room temperature. On the day the bar manager touched base with us a couple of times to check about the pouring and bar tab (had a free bar) and we were happy to be kept in the loop but a member of the bridal party could also check on things. I don't blame the couple if the wine pours are stingy as most venues - I know this from planning my own day - have at least a couple of glasses in most packages. More than likely its inattentive or lazy managers and staff who don't serve the drinks rather than a stingy couple.

Toots

The horrible thing is that this happened in a very well known, respected Dublin hotel (a fairly posh one too). I remember for my own wedding we booked something like 40 bottles of red and 40 bottles of white, but that if all the white was gone and there was still plenty of red then they'd swap and vice versa. Our guests got a half bottle each and the morning after we were refunded for the bottles that weren't used when we checked out the following morning.

summer_chic

We have a package which includes half a bottle per person - I assumed the wine would be on the table ie a table of 8 would have 4 bottles of wine on it ? That's what happened at the last wedding I was at ..

Toots

summer_chic wrote: »

We have a package which includes half a bottle per person - I assumed the wine would be on the table ie a table of 8 would have 4 bottles of wine on it ? That's what happened at the last wedding I was at ..

Depends on the hotel. Sometimes it's better to have the waiting staff pour as needed, in case you're sitting on a table with some lush who polishes off two bottles on their own!

A2LUE42

summer_chic wrote: »

We have a package which includes half a bottle per person - I assumed the wine would be on the table ie a table of 8 would have 4 bottles of wine on it ? That's what happened at the last wedding I was at ..

Don't assume anything. Ask the hotel and confirm it.

summer_chic

A2LUE42 wrote: »

Don't assume anything. Ask the hotel and confirm it.

That's probably the best advice I've been given so far !!

Will half a bottle per person be enough though, or should I increase it ?

Toots

Half a bottle per person should be plenty. In my experience that's what the vast majority of hotels recommend.

Milly33

God some nastiness going on with the hotels, jes I would be very annoyed if that happened..Very dishonest of hotels to do this to people...Id have them on the blacklist..