Organising a wedding is a costly enough affair without paying over the odds for corkage, writes Mary Dowey
I've pretty much ordered my daughter to run away and get married when the time comes. Weddings ... oh, the knife-edge decisions about who to invite, the months of organisation, the monstrous expense. I wouldn't be able for the shenanigans with florists, make-up artists and manicurists, never mind the quest for rose petal confetti instead of the paper stuff. And I'll tell you what: there's no way I could stomach forking out grossly inflated sums for all the vital vino.
If you have ever baulked at the price of restaurant wines, a wedding will increase your discomfort to the power of 100. (Or however many guests there are.) Yes, there are some delightful wedding venues offering respectable wines at respectable prices. I'm thinking, for instance, of Brook Lodge in Co Wicklow, with an exceptional selection of organic house wines - six at 21 and 24 at 25; or Ballymaloe House in Co Cork, where Guigal's delicious white and red Côtes du Rhône cost 25 - less than twice their normal retail price. But they are vastly outnumbered by hotels selling banal bottles at rip-off rates.
"A lot of these places are wedding factories," says Paddy Keogh of Wines Direct. "They are run by people whose main interest is to fill bedrooms. They have no real interest in wine, apart from making a fat margin." I absolutely agree.
So what do you do? "More and more couples are supplying the wine themselves and paying corkage," says leading Dublin wedding organiser Tara Fay. "This year people seem to be worrying more about making the right choices, though. There's a lot of anxiety about what the guests will think."
If I were footing the bill, the anxiety would be mainly about arithmetic. There's no point in going through all the hassle of buying in your own wines unless the sums work out right. Let's say the venue you fancy sells a passable house wine (retail price 8.99) at 24. You want something a bit better, so you're willing to pay 11.99. But corkage in this place is €15. (I'm not joking - have a look at some of the greedy rates in the list below.) Your DIY exercise ends up costing you nearly 3 more per bottle than that OK house wine.
Is it worth the struggle? I think I'd be looking for corkage of 10 at the most, and perhaps contemplating a quick car ferry trip to France with a few pals as well (allowance 120 bottles per person), to make the effort pay off. But it could - handsomely. Here are some tips for a smooth bring-your-own experience.
Trial and no error. Try at least half a dozen wines with a few key people before you make your choice. Eliminate prejudice by setting up a little blind tasting - covering the bottles with socks or foil so that nobody can see what's what, then numbering them. Ask everybody to write down their comments beside each number, with a score out of 10, then see which wines emerge as favourites. I've heard of one couple who sat up half the night in a Calais hotel, going through this procedure before making their bulk purchase. Full marks!
Buy plenty. One bottle per head may sound a lot, but it will free you of the awful anxiety of running out. Besides, some wine is usually needed for callers before and after the wedding, so it won't go to waste. Slightly more red than white is usually required.
Best use of bubbly. Champagne or sparkling wine makes far more impact served at the beginning of the reception than for the toast - by which stage most guests are well dug into white or red. Fizz gets things off to a giddy and glamorous start.
Negotiate! I've come across several couples who cut corkage rates by half through tough talking. And several more who persuaded hotels with a firm anti-bring-your-own stance to agree to corkage.
Count the corks. Explain in advance that you will nominate somebody to do this at the end of the wedding and take the balance of unopened bottles away. It's the easiest way to keep track of the amount of wine consumed.