No, I’d imagine not. I can’t imagine trying to pick a chick up at a bar drinking a glass of wine, but maybe that’s just the bars I go to around here.
As for the OP, a couple of my friends have gotten married recently. The general rule seems to have been beer, wine, vodka, gin, whiskey, and rum with appropriate mixers. And champagne for toasts and such. Although, I know for a fact the wedding I’m going to in August is going to be adding jaeger, rumpleminz, and tequila to the mix - and plenty of it, but that’s more because those are things we tend to drink anyway.
It really just depends on how much you want to spend.
Definitely have some non-alcoholic to offer: juice, soda, and sparkling water are good. Remember the basic rule: For any number of reasons, a guest may refuse your offer of alcohol. The reason doesn’t have to be explained to anyone, including you.
You must be hanging with the wrong women then - when I had the opportunity to go to London, I drank cask ale until my back teeth floated. That’s something that’s not easy to come by here in the U.S. so I made sure I got my fill (and fill it was too - I got full long before I got drunk) ;).
owlstretchingtime’s idea about consulting a British supermarket sounds good, Cat, they would probably have some good suggestions about what and how much to buy, and how to save some money too.
You’re a Bint, then? Gimme a shout the next time you’re over here…
By the way, people from Hartlepool are usually considered to be congenitally retarded: the technical term is MONKEYHANGER, after an unfortunate (and most probably apocryphal) incident during the Napoleonic Wars.
Hmm. This is tricky.
You know that 8 pints of Guinness is alcohol poisoning to a French person, alcoholism to an American and an average Saturday night to an Irishman, right?
As long as you have:
Wine
Beer (I’d say Stout and Lager)
Champagne
Gin
Vodka
Whisky
Rum
and possibly something like Tequila or Sambuca for people who like to do shots
plus all your mixers
Tonic Water
Ginger Ale
Coca Cola
Orange Juice
Lemonade
Tomato Juice
Bitter Lemon
and some non-alcoholic things like Schloer, Amé or Aqua Libra
You’ll be fine.
Perhaps a bottle of Angostura Bitters and some sugar cubes too…it’s a wedding, someone will want pink champagne at some point (well, they would in my family).
Estimate each person having 1 drink per 30 mins of the reception.
OR at a minimum
1 aperitif
1 glass of wine for each course
1 glass of champagne for toasting
2 drinks per hour of the remainder of the reception.
We’re having a cash bar at our reception, although sherry before dinner, champagne for the toasts and bowls of a seriously alcoholic punch (my dad’s recipe-God help us) will be provided free.
Catering for 150 Irish people with only 5 known non-drinkers would bankrupt us (and isn’t the done thing here, so we’re off scot-free etiquette wise!). Our reception will be from 4pm-1am so we’re expecting people to be pretty drunk by the time they leave.
Had a thought-what about Pimm’s before dinner?
It feels vaguely sophisicated and reminiscent of Polo and Ascot and such, but is basically punch plus salad, and can stretch quite far.