Wedding Drinks: How to keep your guests refreshed

Hello my beautiful friends!

You are looking for your dream wedding venue in Dubai, however be aware of the fact that alcohol is only allowed in licensed venues. If you plan on having alcohol at your event you need to be aware of the cost of buying it as it’s all imported.

Below are a few of the most cost effective options that Your Day, Our Time advise our couples on:

Corkage

Corkage is a charge made by a restaurant or hotel for serving alcohol that has been brought in by a customer. Venues allow you to buy your alcohol from licenced shops such as MMI (Dubai), High Spirits (Abu Dhabi) or Duty Free. You then pay a fee for the number of bottles consumed the night of the wedding. The charge varies between each hotel. They start from about 250 AED for a bottle of wine to 650 AED for a 1litre spirit bottle.

Money Behind The Bar

Couples sometime put money behind the bar and once that is finished then people will pay for their own alcohol. This allows you to budget how much you want to put towards alcohol.

Alcohol During Dinner

Couples place a number of bottles of wine on each table (4/5 per table of 10) and that will be your total alcohol responsibility towards your guests. This wine, and sometimes beer is offered during dinner after which guests can choose to buy their own alcohol.

Open Bar

Couples who have an unlimited budget can opt for an open bar, however be aware you can end up with a large bill at the end if it is not monitored. This is typically a job delegated to the wedding planner on the day of the wedding.

Drinks Packages

Venues in the Dubai offer couples drinks packages e.g. a deluxe drinks package would include soft drinks, juice, red and white wine, beer, and house spirits. Couples then pay for this package per hour per person e.g. 1 hour 155 AED per person, 2 hours 270 AED per person, 3 hours 350 AED, 4 hours 395 AED. So for example 4 hours of the deluxe package for 80 people would be 31,600 AED. This can sometimes work out more expensive as everyone has to have the same drinks package so if not everyone is drinking, as is the case for some Nigerian weddings then you are paying for alcohol not being consumed.

Types of bubbles you opt for

Rather than serving champagne you could always opt for Prosecco. Prosecco Spumante is also known as sparkling wine, so very similar to Champagne however it is significantly cheaper. The main difference apart from cost is the taste, with Prosecco having a more fruity/flower aroma. A good entry level Prosecco will cost 275 AED per bottle, whereas a good entry level champagne like Moet will cost roughly 780 AED per bottle. To compare the two check here.

Custom Cocktails

The final cost effective and fun option (especially for a young crowd) would be to buy bottles of spirits that can be used to make signature cocktails. These drinks can then be used throughout the evening. If you choose cocktails that only require one spirit you can equally save money while still offering a selection of drinks that almost everyone will like. An example is Mojito so rather than paying 75 AED per cocktail, you can pay 750 AED a bottle (which should make about 17 Mojitos for a 750 ml bottle). Drinks that require single alcohol (and juice/syrups which the venue should have) are:

• Caiprinha (Cachaca)
• Amaretto Sour (Amaretto)
• Champagne cocktails e.g. Bellini (Prosecco)
• Screwdriver (Vodka)
• Cuba Libre (Rum)
• Strawberry Daiquiri (Rum)

• Mojito (Bacardi Rum)

With the cocktails you could create custom menu cards for the bar with your signature drinks like those found on here on Etsy from seller WeddingSundaeStudio.

Check out this link for a list of fun wedding cocktail names

F x