where to get alcohol and what to get?

anne.azano

Hi girls, our venue (the north beach clubhouse in narragansett) allows us to bring our own alcohol.  Any ideas where we should purchase it from?  Any liquor stores that will let you return anything unused?

Also, what should we get?  Our siggy drinks our cosmos (my favorite) and gin and tonics (his favorite).  We also want to serve beer, wine (a red option and a white) and champagne.  It's going to be hot (august wedding), so what beers and wine do you think are likely to please everyone and not totally break the budget? 

RoyalOrient

Our venue gives us the option of bringing our own liquor too. If we do go this route, we are going to New Hampshire to the whole sale liquor stores there to buy in bulk. Champagne, beer and cognac plus premium hard liquor for mix drinks. We are not purchasing wine since it doesn't really pair well with Southeast asian cuisine. I'd really consider what kind of food is being served and polling the guests' taste. A signature cocktail sounds great! And I don't know of any liquor store that has a return policy on unused alcoholic beverages. I figure we will drink what is left over a period of time.

Our beer selection include: Miller Light, Corona, Heiniken
In limited quantities: Sam Adams Black Lager, Newcastle and Blue Moon Honey

My MOH is a bar tender so much of the hard liquor selection will be in her hands.

amylydia23

I am not much help for where to go but for beer, I would go with Bud Light or Coors Light basically something cheap and easy, and maybe offer Corona and Sam Adams Summer Ale in limited quantities.  It add a little bit of a summer feel since your wedding is in August.  As for wine, do you just want to keep it as one red and one white option?  I would go for a cheaper brand that isnt complete crap like Barefoot or Yellowtail. 

anne.azano

Thanks girls... we're definitely going with sam adams, since I'm from the boston/ri area... and probably shiraz for our red wine since he's from australia.   That's a good idea to go up to new hampshire!  Thanks!

jcorvese

ya def. go to New hampshire since you donthave the tax. just over the border you hit those two big stores.

or if you know anyone (like a family member) in the military you can go to the naval base. no tax and cheap. my friend spent $700 (2 yrs ago there) and had tons left over. They did a signature drink, wine and beer all night.

one thing in barefoot to keep in mind, a lot of people ar allergic. im not sure why, but i know at least  5 people that are.

Sharpbride

When my MOH got married last June, her venue required her to purchase her own alcohol. She got it at Haxton's. There are a bunch of them in RI. They can tell you what to get--your caterer should be able to help you out as well. They will let you return whatever you don't open. She also mentioned something like they can deliver to you if you run out, but I am not sure about that. GL!

anne.azano

So, haxtons will let you return?  I may just cop the tax and go with them.. there is one right around the corner from our house.  and it would be a lot easier than driving to new hampshire!  Thanks everyone!

jlsimon56

Also, either Martha Stewart or Real Simple Weddings has a list of how much of each type of alcohol to buy.  I forget where I saw the list, but it was pretty thorough. 

We had our caterer do it in the end b/c I didn't want to do anything else.  :-)  We chose two reds, two whites, and all locally brewed beer (we just had open beer and wine, no hard alcohol).  There was some leftover, but I don't know what happens to it.  We paid $14pp for the over-21s, they also let us not include our recovering AAers in our final count, which was nice.  That also included sodas and waters, plus all the glasses and straws, etc. 

i2012do

jlsimon, who was your caterer?
thats very cheap for open bar/ beer wine

im getting quotes at 16 pp and then an additional 2 $ an hour

Jdolce

Anne, are you going with Amalfi Catering? I think we've talked about them before, but I can't remember if you ended up going with them or not.

If so, Alyson has a list of several liquor stores that will let you return unused liquor. Although, I suspect Haxton's will be the least expensive option.

anne.azano

Jdolce, I am going with amalfi catering... and alyson is gone!!!   I'm so sad.  Jim has been nice and I'm sure it'll all be fine, but half the reason I went with them was because I liked her so much.  

jlsimon56

I used Atomic Catering.  :-)  They own Grille on Main, Post Office Cafe, Pinellis Deli, Twist on Angell and Twist in Warwick.  Food was delicious,  Very reasonable pricing.  I think it ended up being $80pp with open beer/wine the whole night and fancy hot apps. 

Jdolce

Anne - get out of here! I had no idea Alyson left. I absolutely loved her. I'm really upset to hear that she is not there anymore as she was a large part of the reason why we went with them in the first place.

RoyalOrient

Here is a good average estimate calculator for alcohol consumption

http://www.whitlockinn.com/brochures/alcohol_estimates.pdf

anne.azano

royalorient, thanks for that!  I know Jdolce.  It sucks to suddenly have to work with someone else with 1 month to go!  There's absolutely nothing wrong with Jim, he's been very helpful and easy to work with.. he's just not alyson!  My FI was joking that I should marry her and not him, she was that good!

catemeg

RoyalOrient, those numbers seem low.  I've gone through far more beer/wine with far fewer people at different events.  For a light to moderate drinking crowd, that might work, but I'd be afraid of running out.

Try this one instead:
http://www.realsimple.com/holidays-entertaining/weddings/wedding-wine-liquor-calculator-00000000008314/index.html

Jdolce

Anne, did Jim contact you and let you know that Alyson left?

I haven't heard from anyone there, but I'm also about 8 months out or so. After you posted about Alyson, I ran like a lunatic to my file of papers to make sure I had the contract with the VInn.

This was the first freak out that I had about our wedding. I just liked her so much and was just excited to have her there!

On the flip side, I booked Sam C today..,so things kind of balanced out.

anne.azano

Jdolce, so you haven't had your wedding yet?  and they haven't contacted you?  

Here's what happened with me... I had written alyson several emails that she didn't respond to, and finally I wrote her a "wtf?" email, and around that time my mom contacted me and told me that Jim had contacted her... they had my parents' phone number on file since I live in australia.  I was pretty upset that alyson didn't tell me (apparently she wasn't allowed to contact us, in case she'd steal us over to her new catering company or some other nonsense), but since then, Jim has been very on the ball about everything.  He's met with my mother several times, has been prompt about emailing me and very apologetic and reassuring about making it all work.  He is completely honoring our contract as well.  There were a few things that he tried to talk me out of (smores... and he has a point, I know they're messy, but really don't care since it's a casual beachy wedding).   But, when I insisted, he said he'd make it work.  So, don't panic, I think it'll all be ok.   He used to manage alyson, so he's not new, and he should know what he's doing. 

Jdolce

Anne,

Thanks for the information. I just sent Alyson an email yesterday, and haven't heard back (which, as you know is really unlike her as she is so on the ball).

Our wedding isn't until April of next year. I'm the contact person on the contract, so I'm a little nervous that I haven't heard from anyone.

Would you mind sending me Jim's email or phone number? Feel free to send it to my regular email at jdolce@gmail.com. I just looked through all my contact information, and I don't have anything for him and all of my contact information is for Alyson. Thanks!

anne.azano

Jdolce, just sent jim's email to your email address.  Don't worry too much, it'll be fine!  In a month, I can let you know how my wedding went too.  

i2012do

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_rhode-island_alcohol?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:122Discussion:a7d92664-286c-4030-bf3e-8011df3ec779Post:1c2c6a03-9f43-4b0e-a8e3-63a06beccd2f">Re: where to get alcohol and what to get?</a>:
[QUOTE]I used Atomic Catering.  :-)  They own Grille on Main, Post Office Cafe, Pinellis Deli, Twist on Angell and Twist in Warwick.  Food was delicious,  Very reasonable pricing.  I think it ended up being $80pp with open beer/wine the whole night and fancy hot apps. 
Posted by jlsimon56[/QUOTE]

oh good! I talked to Bruce (?? cant remembner if that is his name) he was nice. They seem great.
Morins for what I want told me it would be about 130pp

So I want to get a similar quote from Atomic----

btw. my friend used them for her wedding and everyone raved about the good- -esp the Mashed potatoe bar!!