Cocktail Hour - What booze to choose?

[jnale]

Does anyone know how much champagne costs per person?

I want to have at least something for people to drink during the cocktail hour, but I don't think I want to pay for a full bar for just that one hour. I'd rather wait until the reception to have the full bar.

Let me ask your opinions...which do you like better:

1. Offer only champagne and shirley temples for the cocktail hour and a full bar for the reception.

2. Offer full bar for both cocktail hour and reception.

3. Offer champagne, shirley temples, and water/soda package (just in case people don't want champagne or shirley temples) for cocktail hour and full bar for reception.

4. Give them nothing to drink for cocktail hour and full bar for reception.

Ideas & suggestions welcome!

 

[IndyBride]

I'm pretty sure you pay for champagne by the bottle which starts around $40 per bottle if I'm correct. And they pour five glasses of champagne per bottle. Are you looking for least expensive? For me I am doing full bar for prereception and reception.

 

[PrincessBride07]

I would compare the cost of having a full bar and only doing champagne and shirley temples.

Personally I would choose #3 from your list.

 

[sungela]

I think the champagne price depends on your selection. If you bring your own, you have to pay whatever Disney would charge for tip, and a $15 corkage fee. We're doing that, because the wine we love (Rosa Regale) is usually $16 per bottle, and Disney charges $58.

Depending on the time of your reception, you might be better off having an open bar that extends from the cocktail hour to one hour before the end of the reception. That's common at weddings to stem drunk driving problems, so I don't think most people will complain.

You could also nix the extra shirley temples because the bartenders can probably make them from the regular soda package (although you should ask!).

 

[Skylarr29]

Are you having a Billed on consumption bar? If not perhaps you can just boc for the cocktail hour. Depending on the time of your cocktail hour perhaps you can come up with some sort of punchy kind of drink that can be made a head of time.. I believe I have heard of some girls doing this and then they are charged by the gallon??

 

[figmentcookie]

FYI for a DFTW, for one bottle of the "Fairy Tale Cuvee," it is $76.68 (tax included). I think the other poster was right when they said it has enough champagne for 5 people.

Personally, I would stick with just champagne. I know people (at least in my family) feel sick to their stomach and get headaches if they start mixing hard alcohol and champagne. That's just my preference.

 

[cryssi]

I don't remember the cost, but we had champagne punch and non-alcoholic punch at our pre. I'm sure we picked it for the price, though. We had no bar.

 

[jnale]

I'm pretty sure you pay for champagne by the bottle which starts around $40 per bottle if I'm correct. And they pour five glasses of champagne per bottle. Are you looking for least expensive? For me I am doing full bar for prereception and reception.

Yes - I'm looking for a least expensive option. I was going to do a full bar for prereception and reception but I just got my BEO (which I'll post soon) and I'm being charged 2 different prices for the bar; 1 for pre-reception and 1 for reception. It just looks like a lot.

I would compare the cost of having a full bar and only doing champagne and shirley temples.

Personally I would choose #3 from your list.

Thanks!

I think the champagne price depends on your selection. If you bring your own, you have to pay whatever Disney would charge for tip, and a $15 corkage fee. We're doing that, because the wine we love (Rosa Regale) is usually $16 per bottle, and Disney charges $58.

Depending on the time of your reception, you might be better off having an open bar that extends from the cocktail hour to one hour before the end of the reception. That's common at weddings to stem drunk driving problems, so I don't think most people will complain.

You could also nix the extra shirley temples because the bartenders can probably make them from the regular soda package (although you should ask!).

Wow $16 versus $58! I don't blame you!

That's a good point for the shirley tmeples - thanks!

Are you having a Billed on consumption bar? If not perhaps you can just boc for the cocktail hour. Depending on the time of your cocktail hour perhaps you can come up with some sort of punchy kind of drink that can be made a head of time.. I believe I have heard of some girls doing this and then they are charged by the gallon??

No I'm planning on having a full unlimited bar. That is a good idea to do BOC for the cocktail hour though because really...how many drinks can 1 person drink in 1 hour?! The punchy drink sounds good too - I'll ask about this. Thanks.

FYI for a DFTW, for one bottle of the "Fairy Tale Cuvee," it is $76.68 (tax included). I think the other poster was right when they said it has enough champagne for 5 people.

Personally, I would stick with just champagne. I know people (at least in my family) feel sick to their stomach and get headaches if they start mixing hard alcohol and champagne. That's just my preference.

Ok - thanks for the pricing. That's a good point - I don't want to make people sick!

I don't remember the cost, but we had champagne punch and non-alcoholic punch at our pre. I'm sure we picked it for the price, though. We had no bar.

Ok - thanks. I'll ask about the pricing.

 

[calismic]

I just had to post because I was so excited someone else shared my taste of Rosa Regale. It is sooooooooooooooooo good!

 

[wendy46001]

I'm looking for a least expensive option. I was going to do a full bar for prereception and reception but I just got my BEO (which I'll post soon) and I'm being charged 2 different prices for the bar; 1 for pre-reception and 1 for reception. It just looks like a lot.

Talk with your planner about options

This is one of disneys sometimes (aka totally depending on your planner)
in the past you could pay for five hours of open bar instead of having two different billings...

now for my disclaimer **this is one of the areas that disney hates when you say well some people did this**...So just ask for option, like moving your bar times to overlap both events…

 

[jnale]

Talk with your planner about options

This is one of disneys sometimes (aka totally depending on your planner)
in the past you could pay for five hours of open bar instead of having two different billings...

now for my disclaimer **this is one of the areas that disney hates when you say well some people did this**...So just ask for option, like moving your bar times to overlap both events…

Thanks for the advice and thanks for the disclaimer too!

 

[lpizzuro123]

We are not sure what we are doing yet - we have our planning session later this month but we just received our first BEO and we had looked into a champagne punch and they quoted us a charge of $75.00 per gallon. As of now we have about 50 people coming to our wedding. I think alot depends on what time everything is. Our ceremony is 9:00am in Epcot and our pre-reception starts at at 10:00 in ADH. I don't think people will want an open bar that early in the morning. We are going to have just the soda, water, juice and coffee and tea at our pre-reception and not start serving other stuff until the reception.

Linda

 

[jnale]

We are not sure what we are doing yet - we have our planning session later this month but we just received our first BEO and we had looked into a champagne punch and they quoted us a charge of $75.00 per gallon. As of now we have about 50 people coming to our wedding. I think alot depends on what time everything is. Our ceremony is 9:00am in Epcot and our pre-reception starts at at 10:00 in ADH. I don't think people will want an open bar that early in the morning. We are going to have just the soda, water, juice and coffee and tea at our pre-reception and not start serving other stuff until the reception.

Linda

The champagne punch sounds pretty good - and seems reasonable by the gallon too.

I see what you mean on your times...although it's always 12:00 somewhere!

Good idea for the pre-recption.