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Emma's Wedding Diary: Drinks

Dad says that if we keep the wine flowing, the guests will be happy. I agree, but we still need to have an idea of what we need in terms of wedding drinks so we can budget.

One easy way to do this may be to go for a wedding drinks package that lots of venues offer. We would pay a fee per head and that would get an allowance of drinks for key things like welcoming drinks and champagne for toasts and even an allowance for wine during the meal could be included (usually half a bottle per person apparently).

We're not too worried about choosing the most expensive wine for the meal, as long as it is good quality, and that could help cut costs a bit when it comes to the champagne. There are some very acceptable Cava's out there that would do the job just as well.

Several people have recommended that we have twice as much white wine than red wine available as people seem a lot less fussy about which wine goes with which type of meat (something that only my Dad moans about!). Whilst it's tempting to go on a booze cruise and get lots of cheaper wine for the day, it may well not save any money at all as lots of venues and caterers charge a corkage fee per bottle.

We need to remember to have soft drinks available during the day for the drivers and the children too. A non-alcoholic punch will be nice to have as an option with the welcoming drinks.

The bar is something to look at too. I don't think we can stretch to a free bar for the whole night, so we may arrange for everyone to have one free drink to get the party started. At a wedding I went to last year they had little tokens that were handed out to the evening reception guests as they arrived for this. It was a nice way to welcome people and on the token was a message from the bride's parents to have a fun night. The other (and probably easier) option is for us to put an amount of money behind the bar and then have guests pay for their own afterwards. I think that's fine as long as they're warned with the invite information so they know to bring their own money.