Wine at tables for the receptions.

Copic34

My fiance and i are not big drinkers. We hardly drink if ever. I was going to have a bottle of red and white at every table but the total came to 700.00, and for somthing that the groom and i dont  like i feel like thats abit much.

I asked if the servers could just go around and server the guests a maxamum of 2  glasses each. The chef said the problem with that is the server might forget who has already had 2 glasses. Also we would be charged per glass.

I still want to supply the guests with a drink to toast and eat dinner with but im not sure what other options there are. I am having a closed bar so i guess if they want wine that badly they can just go get a glass from the bar but i think its bad taste for the guests to pay for their dinner drink.

Does any one have any ideas on what i can do?

More info: My fiance and i dont like wine at all, the taste and smell are verry off putting for us. we do drink mixed drinks though, which is why i said we dont drink, if ever. I dont want the guests to miss out on it even though my fiance and i dont like it.

acwm

I'm not sure if your venue will let you do this, but some venues will allow you to bring in your own bottles of wine for a corkage fee. I think your best bet is the bottles on the table, but if your venue will allow you to supply the bottles yourself for a corkage fee (usually a few dollars per bottle), then maybe you could buy wine by the case to stay within your budget and save some money there. 

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

How many people would the wine be for? Because I'm thinking you aren't going to do much better than $700. Alcohol is just expensive.

mccartys

I'd suggest to break down the math. If you have 50 guests, that will be approximately 100 glasses of wine. And at an approximate 5 oz serving, that is 500oz.

A wine bottle is approximately 5 glasses/25oz total. If my math is correct 500/25 is 20, so you'd need about 20 bottles, and maybe could go up to 25 or 30 for good measure if it is in the budget.

So ask your caterer to cap you at 20-30 bottles. Once you're out, you're out.

unplainjane

if you can't have wine on the table. and if 2 glasses a person is an issue to keep track of why not just give one glass of wine at the beginning of dinner and stop at that. i personally don't think it's the best situation as people will be expecting more wine but at least you've given them one drink.

jessicabessica

I think it would be nice to provide wine during dinner, either on tables or poured by servers.  If it's poured by servers, each bottle may last longer, since people tend to be a little more generous when pouring for themselves.  

What I really don't understand about your post is why your venue is charging you by the glass for poured wine versus by the bottle for wine on tables.  Either way, you're consuming wine by the bottle.  I know it's hard to try to negotiate once you've committed to the venue, but I would push them here as to why they would charge you by glass for poured wine service.  

Copic34

Im thinking i might just give every one a "one free drink " ticket. that way they can use it for dinner or wine.