Open Bar

September 30th, 2006 @ 12:18 pm by Mrs. Apple

My FI and I have decided to have an open bar (only beer & wine), and we’re going with Chateau Ste Michelle for our wine selection. We decided against including liquor in the open bar because most of our guests don’t drink hard liquor or mixed drinks. Ninety nine percent of his family doesn’t drink and about 99% of my family does drink - wine.

It was a little hard to accept that our venue/caterer does not give us the option of bringing in our own liquor. My family has been in the liquor/beer/wine business for over 20 years, and we know exactly how much there margins are. We could be spending half on the price of wine if we brought it in ourselves. I cringe everytime I look at our wine budget.

So we’re working around their price sheet and we’ve budgeted for Chateau Ste Michelle Merlot as the house wine for the night. Some of our guests are high dollar / top counter wine connoisseurs, so we will also be offering an extra case of premium wine for them just in case they’re not satisfied with our house wine. They’re called our “VIP” guests’ list for our bartender to check from.

We’re also skipping on champagne since I think it’s a waste of money for us. What will we toast with? Well we will be toasting to a long, successful & happy marriage while sipping on Chateau Ste Michelle Merlot wine. I don’t think it’s neccessary since most people don’t finish the whole champagne bottle anyways. If you were to calculate 20 tables each with one bottle of champagne, that could run over $500. We’d rather spend the money on the extra bottles of wine that will actually be used.

Tags: alcohol, new-york |

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10 Responses to “Open Bar”

Guest

Becky H

Too bad you can’t bring it in!! I live miles away from Chateau St. Michelle and it’s SO much cheaper to get around here.
See…Seattle’s great…

9/30/06 @ 1:25 pm (reply)

Guest

weddingwishes

how is your bartender going to differentiate from the VIP guests? arent you worried that once your other guests get wind of it, they’ll be offended?

9/30/06 @ 1:53 pm (reply)

Guest

miss apple

Well we were planning to give our bartender either names or table numbers of the guests who we think would like to drink the select wines. Most of our guests are close family and friends so I don’t think (hope) they won’t get offended if they’re not on the list. It’s really just an option for our guests who drink more frequently.

9/30/06 @ 2:34 pm (reply)

Guest

Miss Daisy

although i’m not a huge oenophile, i would be very offended if i found out that my tablemate or someone next to me at the bar was getting an “upgrade” on wine. i think your logic makes sense, but i definitely think you are running the risk of making people feel “less than.” people will definitely realize what’s going on and may be offended despite your best hopes.

9/30/06 @ 5:02 pm (reply)

Guest

lindsay

our venue doesn’t allow outside liquor. we’re facing the same predicament as well. :o(

9/30/06 @ 6:26 pm (reply)

Guest

kate

I also would recommend not having a VIP list. What if you had both types of wine and then when someone asked for wine the bartender says, “Is the house wine okay?” If the person says no then they’ll be offered the other option. Most people who don’t really care will just say sure to the house wine.

Personally, champagne is my favorite thing to drink at a wedding but I’d be fine if the couple didn’t offer it.

9/30/06 @ 8:52 pm (reply)

Guest

miss apple

I definitely understand your point of view when you say that some people will get insulted or offended by not given the option for the other choice wine. Honestly, I haven’t even discussed it with them to see if they would like the extra choices, I thought it would just be a nice addition. After reading everyone’s comments, I guess it does seem a little insensitive. I might just eliminate the whole idea of it. We will definitely think about it…

thanks for your comments. -)

9/30/06 @ 11:19 pm (reply)

Guest

Tristan

I’d take wine over champagne anyday.

10/2/06 @ 10:07 am (reply)

Guest

katiey

I love CsM! Good choice!

10/3/06 @ 12:59 pm (reply)

10.

Guest

Kathy

hey girl…that really sucks that you can’t use your own alcohol. but it’s okay, as long as there’s some sort of alcohol it’s all good! you know me and your MOH be buzzing either way. your bud…kat

10/3/06 @ 9:39 pm (reply)