Cheapest place to bulk buy booze?

[sidekickdmr]

Hello!

We are planning our wedding for next year and what with not having it at a "traditional" venue we are doing it all DIY.

So we are having to buy and supply all of the drink.

This isnt until next year, but just thought I would ask well in advance to get some rough costing ideas.

We are going to need something like

240 bottles of wine (mix of red and white)

600 bottles of beers

480 bottles of Ciders

Would I be best hiring a van and doing a france booze cruise?

Mail order online?

Makro?

Open to suggestions!

Thanks

[woody2846]

The wine is cheaper in France however from my experience there isn't much difference in Beer and Cider. My mate done a similar thing earlier this year and bought Red, White Bellini and Prosecco from Aldi. Then bought the beer and cider when there were decent offers on in the supermarket- he was getting 24 bottles of bud for a £10 from Tesco.

[spikey78]

I was doing the same thing this time last year for about 120 people at our wedding.. we got loads of stuff on Tesco clubcard vouchers, waited for the offers on lager at Waitrose, got some wine when I had to go to France unexpectedly with work.
I also got two big kegs of 'proper' beer from the local brewery which went down very well, and some Jagermeister for jager bombs was also very popular!
That's a lot of cider by the way- I bought 60 bottles of Cidre and only two got drunk and I'm now lumbered with the rest.

[Liszt]

Just done this myself.
Wine and champagne we bought direct from producers in France. €10 a bottle of good red instead of £25 here.

Beer we went with casks from local breweries

Cocktails we made with stuff from Booker.

How many people have you got coming? That seems a lot of booze

[skilly1]

You must have a round 400 guests for that lot !

[Yell_M3]

Just hammer sainsbury's or the like when they've got a 25% off per 6 bottles offer, which is quite often.

[sidekickdmr]

Re: The Cider, me and my friends all drink cider over beer, so dont think thats excessive on the cider front.

This is based around 120 guests for the whole day, bottle of wine each at dinner time (about 3pm)

Bottle of wine each for after dinner.

5 beers a person

4 Ciders a person

Some people wont be drinking, others will polish off 20+ bottles.

Prehaps stick with the same volume of beer and cider but down the Wine order to 120, as people will be on beer, wine or cider and unlikely all 3.

On top of this we have a cocktail company providing 3 cocktails per person (360)

[woody2846]

Are you doing a formal sit down meal?

[skilly1]

I think you have overestimated what you will drink. I guess there are 60 females included - no way they will drink 2 bottles of wine, 5 beers, 3 cocktails and 4 ciders each !

More like 1 bottle wine and 3 cocktails.

ETA - if you buy locally you can return any unused booze.

[sidekickdmr]

skilly1 said:

I think you have overestimated what you will drink. I guess there are 60 females included - no way they will drink 2 bottles of wine, 5 beers, 3 cocktails and 4 ciders each !

More like 1 bottle wine and 3 cocktails.

ETA - if you buy locally you can return any unused booze.

Ive downed the wine quota too 120 bottles

So thats 1 bottle wine, 5 beers, 4 ciders and 3 cocktails each from 3PM till midnight.

The wine will be gone by the end of the sit down meal I imagine.

Some wont be drinking at all, others could probally polish off double that.

So thats probally about right.

And like you said, un-used could be returned if purchased locally

[sidekickdmr]

We managed to polish off ALL of this beer and 2 bottles of jäger between 6 of us in 24 hours last month

[Bill]

Desperados? Christ!

Wine from France, beer/cider from Makro when on offer IMO. You are way over catering though so make sure you like everything you get.

[spikey78]

I can't help thinking you're over doing it a bit! We didn't have anywhere near that amount and still had loads left over.. no-one really drank wine after dinner (well certainly not a bottle each!) We had a fair bit of lager left over too-probs 90 bottles or more, and fizzy too.
Whilst me and my mates like a drink, and my wife's friends don't hold back either there will be some that barely touch it (aunties and uncles, drivers, and other assorted weirdos!)
I know you don't want to run out-nor did we-but we got it totally wrong and we didn't have as much as you.
Mind you we spent the summer getting hammered 'for free'!

[sidekickdmr]

Bill said:

Desperados? Christ!

Wine from France, beer/cider from Makro when on offer IMO. You are way over catering though so make sure you like everything you get.

Id rather go over and have spare/take some back than run dry.

Dont forget we (Friends, about 80 of the 120 people going) are mostly pre-kids, non pregnant, not remotely sensible and like a good party, im sure there wont be much left

Iis it worth doing a road trip to france purely for 120 bottles of wine?

What kind of savings can I expect?

(None of us are really "wino's" so would probally be looking at a "ok" £8 a bottle wine in the UK, no point spending £20 a bottle)

[Bill]

Wine is probably 1/2 to 2/3 UK supermarket offer prices, although Makro do run drinkable half price case offers that are probably on a par. We go regularly on holiday so stocking up is a no brainer but once you factor in fuel, ferry and time for a special trip it may well not be worth it.

[NormalWisdom]

sidekickdmr said:

Iis it worth doing a road trip to france purely for 120 bottles of wine?

(None of us are really "wino's" so would probally be looking at a "ok" £8 a bottle wine in the UK, no point spending £20 a bottle)

I notice you are in my neck of the woods.

If I am buying 120 bottles of wine I would do the trip to France. A £20 is £10 in France and an £8 would be about £5 in France. Minimum saving on 120 bottles is £360 - Day trip to France inc Petrol from Woko is about £90 so a net saving of £270 with a trip to France into the bargain.

ETA

If you're looking for "Real" cider, there are a few places in Berkshire that supply

◦Lambourn Valley Cider, The Malt House, Great Shefford, RG17 7ED, 01488 648441
◦Valley Vineyards, Stanlake Park, Twyford RG10 0BN 0118 9340176
◦Salthill Cider, Slough 01753 823918
◦Ciderniks, Kintbury, Hungerford Tel: [phone]
◦Wyatt’s Cider, Cold Ash, Thatcham Tel: [phone]
◦Tutts Clump Cider, Bradfield, Reading Tel: [phone]

Edited by NormalWisdom on Wednesday 8th October 15:35

[remkingston]

You're not buying anything you wouldn't drink yourselves so go for it!

[sidekickdmr]

NormalWisdom said:

If you're looking for "Real" cider, there are a few places in Berkshire that supply

?Lambourn Valley Cider, The Malt House, Great Shefford, RG17 7ED, 01488 648441
?Valley Vineyards, Stanlake Park, Twyford RG10 0BN 0118 9340176
?Salthill Cider, Slough 01753 823918
?Ciderniks, Kintbury, Hungerford Tel: [phone]
?Wyatt’s Cider, Cold Ash, Thatcham Tel: [phone]
?Tutts Clump Cider, Bradfield, Reading Tel: [phone]

Edited by NormalWisdom on Wednesday 8th October 15:35

Great, cheers for that!

Yes we would be after "proper" cider, and if it was local that would be even better!

May even try and get a couple of kegs of decent cider and do that insted of bottles.

[Trustmeimadoctor]

what about sparkling for when the photos are getting done

[jep]

sidekickdmr said:

Great, cheers for that!

Yes we would be after "proper" cider, and if it was local that would be even better!

May even try and get a couple of kegs of decent cider and do that insted of bottles.

If you want to broaden your horizons, then head a bit further west toward Hereford and Leominster.
Dunkertons organic cider do theirs to your taste and of you take your own container, then it's just over a pound a pint. A couple of brewing barrels and you could be quids in even with the extra mileage...