Finding the perfect wines for a wedding or party can and should be an enjoyable experience. The Wine Society is able to offer personal and experienced advice, whatever the occasion or budget. This guide covers the services offered by The Society, as well as advice on how to find the right amounts of the right wines for your special event. The Society's experienced and knowledgeable Wine Advisers are on hand to help you: from helping to choose the perfect sparkling wine or Champagne to serve as a toast to picking party wines that will suit a specific menu. We can also assist with quantities and arrange delivery to your chosen venue – everything to make your wine selection for your wedding day or special event as enjoyable and easy as possible. Simply contact The Society's Wine Advisers on 01438 741177, via our online enquiry form or visit the Cellar Showroom in Stevenage and we'll be pleased to help. If your menu is finalised, The Society's Food & Wine Matcher is a useful place to look: simply select your course and price range, and it will bring up a variety of bottles that will complement what you will be eating.

The team at our Cellar Showroom in Stevenage is experienced in helping members select wines for weddings or other large functions. To help members find the perfect wines, the Showroom offers tastings on site with an experienced member of staff. For more information and advice on which wines can be tasted, please e-mail the Showroom team. Members may borrow trays of glasses from The Showroom for parties and large gatherings at no charge.More information on glass hire Orders of large quantities of wine for weddings and other celebrations may be made on a sale or return basis.More information on sale or return Delivery to any one address in the UK is free for: We aim to deliver within four working days. Delivery can be to your home or the venue for your event.More information on delivery options The average guest will consume about one to two drinks per hour, though it is advisable to order slightly more than you think you will need for the sake of caution. For large orders, The Society is able to accommodate a sale or return policy.

To work out how much wine you may need, bear in mind the following numbers: The exception to the rule is Vintage Port, which throws a sediment, meaning that some of the volume will be lost. This varies, but a safe assumption is that one 75cl bottle will yield eight measures.wine on tap ny Every party is different, but if working to a typical scenario of an aperitif hour followed by sit-down meal, we recommend working to the following quantities:best wine recipe ever 'A good wedding wine (or party wine) should combine usability (crowd pleasing), authenticity (reflect its style precisely) and value.' time to buy wine in vaPierre Mansour (Society buyer)the best wine in nz

Once you have worked out how much wine and how many wines you will need, the enjoyable process of selecting the wines themselves can begin. We find that preferences for red and white wines tend to be fairly even, and normally advise working on a ratio of 60% red and 40% white. best red wine quotesThe weather may also determine what people will drink more of. buy wine online in japanIf the event is in summer for instance, it may be worth working to a 50-50 ratio.best white wine for dinner party Champagne of course is the traditional choice, particularly for toasts, and The Society stocks an excellent range covering a wide variety of prices. best red wine from spain

There are several delicious alternatives, such as Crémant de Loire, not to mention English sparkling wine.. Ideally, a white wine for an event should be crisp, refreshing and in most cases unoaked. For this reason, a popular choice is sauvignon blanc: many Chilean examples provide excellent value and a good New Zealand sauvignon offers an easy going and citric style, which is very popular.buy wine worldwide shipping The Society's range also includes a great deal of White Burgundy that can serve as a crowd pleasing and stylish white. A dry riesling can be an excellent choice, providing crisp refreshment and versatility when standing up to food. Pinot grigio represents the safest Italian option to many, but there are many delicious wines from lesser-known grapes that do the job at least as well, such as fiano. It is essential that the red be soft and smooth, without too much acidity or tannin intruding on the wine's fruitier flavours.

Chilean merlot ticks all the boxes, while classic choices include Beaujolais, Rioja or young-drinking Claret. The Society stocks a good range of well-priced examples of each, including our popular own-label bottlings. At the more full-bodied end of the scale, Australian shiraz and Argentine malbec are particularly popular now, while many Languedoc-Roussillon reds provide fantastic quality for the money. We hope that you find the above useful. If you require more information or advice, Member Services' experienced team of Wine Advisers are here to help. They can also arrange delivery to your chosen venue - everything to make your wine selection for your Wedding Day or special event as enjoyable and easy as possible. Contact them on 01438 741177 or via our online enquiry form.Featured Rehearsal Dinner Venue | Buca di Beppo is perfect for rehearsal dinners and features authentic Italian cuisine available in an array of banquet and bar packages to suit any budget and taste.

Buca gets to the heart of fresh Italian cooking with family-style dishes, meant to be shared by everyone at the table. Their unique and festive dining rooms and attentive staff will keep the celebration energetic and fun. Buca di Beppo—Now that's Amoré! Visit their website for more information... Your reception is shaping up to be the glittering, exceedingly chic event that you've always wanted, and there's little doubt your guests will be talking about it for years to come. But all the cool kids know the rehearsal dinner is where the real party starts. Though the pre-wedding bash is a long-established tradition, remember that it really only has one prerequisite: it follows the wedding rehearsal. Instead of making it an extension of the wedding, consider the rehearsal dinner a chance to host an event that's fresh and unexpected. Think about it: rehearsal dinners include a high concentration of people you love who have gathered in your honor; there's no posing for photographers every few moments;

and your hair won't be piled in some extremely shellacked-but-breathtaking up-do you've never worn before (and will likely never wear again). So why not relax and, er, let your hair down? With very little effort, you can assemble a pre-wedding event that provides some much-needed calm before the busy storm of your wedding weekend. Weddings have a way of ballooning into family reunions, so put the focus back on you and your fiancé at the rehearsal dinner by adding a few creative, personal touches. You can start by sharing your own love story with the group. Choose a location or incident that was meaningful to your courtship—like that romantic bistro he took you on your first date—then share the memory with your guests as they dine. Or present a slideshow with your favorite snapshots and music. Another option is to ask all your guests in advance (by invitation or email) to be the evening's entertainment. Choose an emcee to host the event (like your brother or almost-father-in-law), and have those who are comfortable performing (or who just love you enough to ignore their stage fright) “sign up” with the emcee prior to the dinner.

You may be amazed at the talent in the room as friends and family read touching or outrageous poems that they've written about the bride and groom, play music and sing, and deliver heartfelt toasts. Incorporating interactive entertainment into your evening breaks the ice for guests who've never met before. How about kicking off the wedding weekend with a more sophisticated version of “game night?” Event coordinator Tosca Clark of Tosca Productions says, “Karaoke or murder mysteries give guests a chance to interact with each other.” Wedding designer Joyce Scardina Becker of Events of Distinction and author of Countdown To Your Perfect Wedding suggests a scavenger hunt where the last stop is the pre-wedding dinner site. The newest rehearsal dinner twist is brought to you by Team Building With Taste out of Atlanta and Dallas. Originally conceived as a culinary challenge to foster corporate team-building, TBWT has adapted the concept for the wedding rehearsal dinner. The wedding party meets up at the company’s professional kitchen for a fun and informative timed cook-off between the two families.

Or mix the teams up with friends and family for both sides of the wedding aisle, and you’ll really accelerate the getting-to-know-you part of the night! Afterwards, the winner is announced, and everyone dines on the creations. This kind of friendly competition (pie fights optional) is sure to include plenty of laughs, and memorable stories to be shared for years. As the star of the wedding weekend, you can re-direct the spotlight for one evening by dedicating the rehearsal dinner to the man in your life. Choose a more casual venue like The Pyramid Alehouse and organize a beer tasting. Or honor your sweetie's love of outdoor eating by having a no-frills cookout at a place like Catalina Island's Descanso Beach Club. Pay homage to him by setting the dinner at a locale that reflects his interests—like San Francisco's Farallon for aquatic enthusiasts—you get the idea. Another way to make the groom the center of attention is by serving a groom's cake that reflects his personality.

Susan Morgan of Elegant Cheese Cakes can create incredibly realistic-but-edible cigar boxes, tackle boxes, and even a recliner complete with video game system—all out of imported Belgian chocolate! “I had a client who was a diehard Giants fan marrying a diehard Raiders fan,” she remembers, “so we made a helmet cake with both team colors to serve at the pre-wedding dinner.” The rehearsal dinner can double as a way to bond with your fiancé's parents and make them feel included. It's also a great opportunity to focus their energy on something besides your wedding invitation list! As an added bonus, putting someone else in charge will take the pressure off you to make the event great. And even if your tastes aren't exactly meshing, there are ways to strike a compromise. Event designer Alex Alexander of Alex Events recalls a couple who just couldn't agree with the groom's parents on a venue for their pre-wedding dinner. “The parents had dinner at a more formal restaurant with their friends, and the bride and groom dined at a more casual place with the wedding party.

Then they all met up after the meal at a local bar and had cocktails to toast the occasion. If you can't manage (or afford!) to honor both you and your groom's family customs on the big day, here's your chance to show how two worlds really can become one. Serve food from both backgrounds, or play traditional music from both cultures. Get everyone to join in by teaching a time-honored dance or song, invite a belly dancer or hire a Mehndi artist to decorate your guests. Of course, as Tosca Clark points out, parts of the USA can be like a whole other country: if your groom's family hails from the South, for example, an outdoor barbecue complete with checkered tablecloths and line dancing can produce a grand ol' time! In your fantasy wedding reception, your guests enjoy a five-star, seven-course culinary extravaganza paired with pricey wines. But, alas, given your budget reality (not to mention your picky teenage cousins!), you've opted for a three-star, three-course repast for the main event instead.

Hence the beauty of the rehearsal dinner: with its much smaller guest list, it offers the perfect opportunity to explore a more refined, more exciting menu. So go ahead and reserve the private dining room at that always-packed restaurant where you can never seem to get a table on a Friday night. “Your rehearsal dinner is the one wedding event where you can sit back and really enjoy your guests along with a superb meal,” says Alex Alexander. Opportunities to release your inner foodie abound: If sushi's your passion, serve a gorgeous array of Japanese delicacies accompanied by a glittering Hollywood cityscape at Yamashiro. Or reserve the Jazz Room at Montrio Bistro in Monterey, and bask in award-winning, European-inspired California cuisine while seated beneath a fantastical mobile of a bi-plane! Alex Alexander suggests that providing transportation from the rehearsal location or the hotel where many of your out-of-town guests are staying to the rehearsal dinner site is an effective way to start the party right.