Buying wine for wedding

ETJC_DUB

Hi,

My fiancee and I are planning to buy in the wine for our wedding.

We were planning to go north of the border and buy it there but were wondering if there were any better options down south that anyone might know of.

We're looking to buy around 150 bottles.

The local O'Brien's have indicated that they would give around a 13% discount on that size of order so we were wondering if anyone knows of any other places where we could do better (north or south).

Thanks in advance.

Regards,

ETJC_DUB

r0nanf

I'm a wine importer myself, and I can certainly understand the reasoning for shopping over the border. Undoubtedly you will get a good deal on the face of it (reasons are many, but lower VAT and excise etc play a big part).

However you do have to look at petrol/transport costs depending on where in Ireland you live, and see if they offset the potential savings. Also a supermarket will not generally offer "sale or return", whereas an independent retailer has more flexibility in that regard.

The area of discounting is a contentious one for me - ultimately nobody gives a discount that they can't afford. I guess you have to look at the price that you pay for the product that you get, and decide which has the best quality:price ratio. Whether you get no discount or a 20% discount it is irrelevant as an advertised "20% off product" is more than likely still making the retailer their full margin.

Are you being charged corkage by your wedding venue? If you are interested in discussing further you can PM me, I'd rather not break the rules!

cuddlycavies

I think the short answer is no. 12 cases of wine is going to give you clout up north. And that's clout off seriously lower prices already. You will get champagne for £12 less discount and great deals on red and white. You'd be mad not to.
http://www.tesco.com/wine/zone/default.aspx?name=specialoffers

Go to Banbridge. Extra 20 mins drive and no queues,

thebiglad

cuddlycavies wrote: »

I think the short answer is no. 12 cases of wine is going to give you clout up north. And that's clout off seriously lower prices already. You will get champagne for £12 less discount and great deals on red and white. You'd be mad not to.
http://www.tesco.com/wine/zone/default.aspx?name=specialoffers

Go to Banbridge. Extra 20 mins drive and no queues,

Normally with the offers in large supermarkets there is a quota - so you will either have to make multiple trips to the checkout or take a bus load of friends - also make sure that they have enough stock in red & white to serve your needs.

Not sure of the weight of 150 bottles of wine so hope you have an estate car or good suspension - presume someone here will say 150 bottles is nothing, I carried xxx in my ford fiesta no problem!

For my wedding I used a whole sale wine retailer (as per earlier poster) got a good discount deal whereby we could return all unopened bottles for a full refund and they delivered the wine directly to the hotel for us.

There is a wine warehouse on Naas Road too - new to the Tile shop and car showrooms.

Don't forget Lidl & Aldi too - they do have some good wines.

deRanged

You could be looking at 1.5kg for a single bottle of wine. 150 times that is 225kg. A car will easily take that. I've done that a few times.

Check the corkage with the hotel, and check delivery terms - i.e. when can you deliver and when must you take away the (any) unopened bottles. Don't forget to factor the drop off and collecting into the wedding arrangements.

I would recommend taking the time to call some local indie vendors and see what they can do for you. They might have something that really appeals, and it'll only cost you the price of the phone call.
You may find that having them look after all the delivery and removal is worth it to you.

corkage

There's a company called Burgundy direct in blackrock run by a guy called Conor Richardson, who has suppplied wines for friends of mine over the years at various weddings, he will deliver the wines to the venue and take back any wines you don't use. He has some wines from the south of France which offer very good value.