The Bar

We had our wedding in a marquee in the garden so we were able to provide our own alcohol for the guests.  We opted to offer the guests sparkling white wine, white wine, red wine and beer.  We bought our alcohol from Majestic Wine Warehouse . They were great, we put our order through online and the alcohol was delivered within the week.  Brilliant service!  They also offer a sale and return policy so should you have alcohol leftover after the wedding then they will buy it back from you.  We did have some left over, but chose to keep it and enjoy it with friends throughout the year.  The other place that has good deals is Wine Rack they also offer 3 for 2 deals which is great if you’re buying in bulk.

We bought our water, both still and sparkling, from Tesco and again they offered delivery when we ordered online.  A great service and it takes the hassle out of going to the supermarket as no doubt you will have lots to do in the run up to the wedding.  Other friends of mine have bought their water and alcohol from Sainsburys and they recommend that too.  The great thing if you buy things from Tesco and Sainsburys is that you get tesco points/nectar points which makes it a lot cheaper!

If you have time, it is easy to make elderflower cordial and we used this for our soft drink as it is so refreshing.  All we needed to do was pay for the other ingredients for the cordial (the flowers are free as they bloom in May/June each year and can be found on virtually every country lane!)

In terms of what you should buy for your guests (and this all depends on your friends drinking habits), we used the following to calculate what to buy:

½ bottle wine per person (though we got more in just in case)

½ bottle sparkling wine per person (again we got more just in case)

1 litre of water per person

Some soft drinks for those who aren’t drinking alcohol.

Top Tips For The Bar:

1. Buy the drinks from a supermarket as they tend to have great deals on wine and they all deliver straight to your door. Works out cheaper than a trip to France and you never have to leave your house!
2. Since you are buying in bulk then negotiate with the suppliers as they will most likely offer you a discount.
3. Tesco and Majestic wine will also loan you wine glasses and champagne glasses (for a small deposit).  Though you do have to return them clean, this will save you lots of money if you are planning on hiring glasses.
4. Testing the Drinks – when choosing what bubbly to serve, why not buy a selection of those in the right price range and test them with friends. Makes for a fun night and you are more likely to find something most people will like.
5. If you are buying wedding wine/drinks for your wedding, get it on a sale or return alcohol basis, and then you can send back any you don’t get through!