drinks package or not?? is it rude??

I don't necessarily think it's rude not to include drinks but it is taken now to be the "norm" that drinks are included.

Could the waiting staff do table service for drinks? Though then I suppose it's quite hard to keep tabs on who's paying for what. Maybe have a sign that says "please purchase your dirnk from the bar prior to dinner" or something. As for the toast drink, if you're happy for people to toast you with whatever they have in their glass then it should be fine.

Do the canapes come included in the drinks package? If not, then do you need them?

I have to say that £38.50 sounds a pretty good rate for what is included.

When I got married the drinks package was £13 a head as we had 100 people this would have cost £1300. We decided to look at paying corkage which would give us more drinks for people. We bought 120 bottles of sparkly stuff which worked out at £3 (on offer at Sainsburys BOGOF plus 5% discount due to volume), we then paid about £6 a bottle for corkage. We then got some proper pink champagne for the toast as well. It lasted all day long and if people didnt want it there was a bar. In fact we took about 12 bottles home. We had an early wedding started at receiption by 12.30 so it did last well.

If you want to save money maybe you could price this up so you provide a glass of something with the meal or just for the toast.

I did go to a wedding at a golf club, they just gave you a glass of bucks fizz on arrival, had the speeches first and that was all you got, I didn't think anything bad about it. But for me I wanted to provide as much as possible.

The canapes come as part of the package.. we were leaning that way as we're stopping off for photographs on the way from the church to the recpetion and didnt want people walking around aimlessly.. I think I'll check with the venue.. i also need to check about table dec's etc.. if they are still provided without having the wedding pacakge if you see what I mean?

We didnt have the drinks package when I got married (almost 6 years ago)

We got some wine & bubbly which was too good a bargain to miss out on & even got the hotel down on their corkage fees from £5 per bottle to £3 per bottle.

We saved an absolute fortune on all sorts of stuff & managed to get our whole wedding, inc 2 weeks in Florida for our honeymoon for around about £3500

I am a bit of a bargain queen though & friends are always asking me to do their negotiating for them..lol

If you do decide that you can ditch their drinks package & supply your own booze, it may be worth your while asking them if they will give you a little discount on the corkage fees.

hth

Debbie

x

I think most people will assume that there is some wine provided on the table for drinking during the meal. I wouldn't be worried about not providing anything after that, but I guess a welcome drink, wine with the meal and maybe something for the toasts is the norm.

We're having 1 drink for the drinks reception, and then 1-2 drinks with the meal (bottles of wine on tables). After that there's a bar for people to buy drinks themselves. We were going to have a 'drink of choice' for the toasts but I don't really want people getting up and down during the meal, so we're not doing that anymore. The toasting drink will just be whatever drink everyone has at the time ?

Tbh i would kind of expect a drink at a wedding breakfast. definitely something for the toast, and would probably think it slightly weird if there were no drinks with the meal. just being honest, sorry! also it would be awkward to have to get up to buy drinks during meal. during evening is fine, but earlier on i think 1 or 2 glasses of wine with the meal, and a drink for the toast, is kind of the norm?

i think the package is pretty decently priced... though i'm from london so i guess my view might be warped!!

x

That's the problem, it's become expected now by people. Though doesn't necessarily mean you have to.

Woul it work out cheaper to offer people a couple of drinks free to have with the meal?

We're lucky in that our corkage charge is per person not per bottle. Some venues can charge aout £15 per bottle for corkage!

Thats what I thought! I thought tbh I'd get shot down about suggesting cost saving because H2B's friend is.. I'd never heard of or considered NOT supplying drinks of some sort for the meal.. for the evening they're on their own but the meal thought it wasnt really possible to not provide anything.

Major risk is if we dont do drinks (they are going to the wedding.. see if it doesnt really work and they change their mind ) leaving people thinking we're rude or that it was a shambles.

I think for this reason we'll keep it as it is.. the guy was I think trying to tease me about not having seat covers but I told him providing drinks was more important than the covers ? so had prioritised them

We are not having a drinks package as we can't afford to pay for our whole wedding party to get drunk!!. We are going to supply champagne for the toasts for everyone but after that everyone will be buying their own. At the last two weddings I went to they had the same deal one drink per guest paid for then pay for your own, so if you can't afford it I wouldn't feel obliged to. And i'm sure no one will think anything of it, after all they are coming to the wedding to share your special day not to have a free slap up lunch and bar laid on.

Thanks what are you doing during the meal? will people be getting up and going to the bar?

We can sort of afford it its just if we cut back on drinks we could invite more people if you see what I mean? as its cheaper per head.