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Knowing what kinds of beer/wine to buy

hordolhordol member
100 Love Its 100 Comments First Answer First Anniversary
in Wedding Reception Forum
Hello knotties. :) I still have about 3 months until my wedding but I'm starting to think more seriously about the details now, such as what kind of alcohol to provide! We are doing beer and wine because the venue does not allow liquor. I want to provide a decent selection, but not an overselection and risk running out of things and having too much of another. We plan to include some wine coolers/mikes/smirnoff ice for people that aren't a fan of beer or wine--it's as close as we can get to the mixed drinks for them. ;)

I'm thinking 5 different beers, 4 wines (2 reds, 2 whites), and mikes and wine coolers.

Beer: Bud Light, Miller Lite, Summit E.P.A., Leinenkugel's (sp?) Berry Weiss, and Blue Moon

Wine: Pino Grigio and Reisling for white, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir. Thinking about including white zin.

Other Beverages: Soda, Mike's Hard Lemonade, Smirnoff Ice, and Bartles & Jaymes (not sure flavors yet)

Is that too much variety? We are having 160 or so people. Also, as far as the drink calculators go, which ones have you found the most accurate? I have tried a few and they seem to be way different from each other. Did you find in your experience that the evite party one is the most accurate? I see that recommended the most often but that also gave me the highest estimate for how much alcohol we would need, almost doubling other calculators. I know I can return unused alcohol, so I would rather err on the side of caution, but still! Recommending 200 some beers on one calculator and then 400 some on the evite is quite the difference!

One last question: The toast. Do you think I should provide champagne? I was planning on not doing it because I've read so many things saying that most of the champagne gets poured down the drain because people will just toast with what they are already drinking. It's been about 2 years since I was last at a wedding, and they didn't do a sit down dinner so I'm not sure when the toasting even happens. Can someone advise me in this area? Will it make sense for people to toast with whatever is in their glass or will people be waiting for champagne?

Sorry for the rambling and thanks in advance for the help!
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Re: Knowing what kinds of beer/wine to buy

  • CnSinLOVECnSinLOVE member
    100 Comments First Anniversary 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    I have been having this same issue trying to choose or wines and beers. We also don't mind over ordering, we'll just keep it and end up drinking it lol! We are going to offer 4 beers, Bud light and Sam Adams are the only ones we have decided on, but another will be a fruity beer and the other probably a wheat to give people the variety. I love Leinenkeugels and would be so happy to be offered that at a wedding!! With the wines we actually spoke to the wine expert at a local liquor store and they were extremely helpful, you might consider doing that as well. We have a lot of wine drinkers so we are offering 6 options. For reds we are doing a Malbec, which is very bold, a red blend, pretty middle of the road, and a Pinot Noir, which is a little fruitier and more mild. I think you could easily replace the Malbec and red blend and just offer a Cabernet or Merlot, but I would definitely do the Pinot Noir to go with that. For the whites we are offering Chardonnay, typically pretty dry and buttery, Pinot Grigio, light and mildly fruity, and a Moscato, very sweet. Riesling would also work for you're sweet wine. We are not doing a champagne toast, but are still going to order a few bottles for anyone who may want it. I know some people really look forward to having champagne at a wedding! Good luck and hopefully I've helped!!
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  • hordolhordol member
    100 Love Its 100 Comments First Answer First Anniversary
    Thank you SOOO much!! This is the exact kind of feedback I was looking for! I'm a beer girl so I don't know much about wines. The reason I had two light beers on there was because of something I read about needing to offer more light beer than regular beer (I hate light beer myself, but actually many of my friends and family enjoy it and there is the ever ongoing debate between the bud and miller fans...I'll just offer one, though, because I do agree that they are very similar.) We are buying our alcohol from Costco.

    So if I do this instead, does this look better?

    Beer: Miller light, Summit EPA (or maybe Summit Saga? That's an IPA--Summit is my fiance and I's favorite) and Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss (wheat). I do think we will have a lot of beer drinkers, so I might add fat tire to this--or should I do something seasonal like Berry Weiss or Summer Shandy?

    Wine: Chardonnay, Reisling, Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Champagne

    Other: Soda, Mike's Hard Lemonade (regular flavor), Smirnoff Ice (regular flavor), and maybe the Strawberry Daquari and Margarita flavors from Bartles and Jaymes
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  • CnSinLOVECnSinLOVE member
    100 Comments First Anniversary 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    That looks good to me!! I would add something seasonal though, especially if you think you will have a lot of beer drinkers! I know in the summer I only drink the yummy seasonal beers when I go for bet because I love them and only get them for such a short time!!
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  • talee1989talee1989 member
    Fourth Anniversary First Comment
    question for you that is not a answer to your post.. how do you plan on keeping all the cold? we are providing about the same options but have an ongoing debate on how we are to keep all cold and ready to serve. are you going to have it open for people to help themselves?
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  • hordolhordol member
    100 Love Its 100 Comments First Answer First Anniversary
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_reception-ideas_knowing-what-kinds-of-beerwine-to-buy?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:5Discussion:da58d127-ac46-426f-b0d0-4e9dc30426e6Post:6bf0d76b-6667-4517-b812-4adf09434311">Re: Knowing what kinds of beer/wine to buy</a>:
    [QUOTE]question for you that is not a answer to your post.. how do you plan on keeping all the cold? we are providing about the same options but have an ongoing debate on how we are to keep all cold and ready to serve. are you going to have it open for people to help themselves?
    Posted by talee1989[/QUOTE]

    <div>We are using the refrigerators in the kitchen to keep it cold and one of the servers from the catering is going to serve it<span style="color:#333333;font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;" class="Apple-style-span">. Our venue doesn't allow self-serve</span><span style="color:#333333;font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;" class="Apple-style-span">. The server is just going to keep the beers in bussing trays and go back to the kitchen to replenish as needed</span><span style="color:#333333;font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;" class="Apple-style-span">. We are thinking about doing self-serve for the soda, though</span><span style="color:#333333;font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;" class="Apple-style-span">. For that we will probably just have beverage tubs with ice</span><span style="color:#333333;font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;" class="Apple-style-span">.</span></div>
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