Champagne flows like a river, glasses crash against granite. Today the wedding is taking place, having fun and making noise. And someone must prepare, buy and distribute this river of champagne. Moreover, each stage of the wedding ceremony has its own requirements for the main festive drink - champagne. It is not surprising that so many questions arise when preparing for a wedding related to sparkling wine. The resource has collected all the information about wedding champagne: its quantity and quality, traditions and rituals, decorations and terms of consumption.
Wedding champagne: what to consider when choosing alcohol
There is no doubt that a wedding requires a lot of champagne. But you still have to calculate exactly how much alcohol you need to buy. Otherwise, guests will quickly switch to drinking stronger drinks or will have to urgently purchase what is available in the nearest supermarket, rather than treat their friends to a high-quality aromatic drink.
But there is no need to spend extra money when preparing for a wedding. Therefore, before we go shopping, let’s try to figure out what to choose and how much.
When calculating alcohol, be sure to take into account the number of guests and the time of the banquet.
Perhaps these are the main factors that will have to be taken into account in the future. But it’s also worth making adjustments for quantity:
- non-drinkers, light drinkers, lovers of a good walk - this can only be done by knowing the alcoholic preferences of the guests;
- youth - it is young people who drink more at such holidays;
- women - ladies prefer light alcohol.
The wedding season also influences the choice of alcohol. During a sultry summer celebration, many times more cold champagne is consumed than at winter weddings.
You can learn about the history of champagne in the article: Happy Birthday, champagne: the most interesting facts about the sparkling drink.
Choice of alcohol for a wedding
In order not to go wrong with the types of wedding alcohol, you need to know the tastes of the invited guests. It is impossible to take into account everyone's individual preferences, but drinks can also be selected based on gender. So, women love light sweet options - maiden wine, cider, champagne. Men will be pleased to see vodka, cognac and other strong drinks on the festive table.
When shopping for your wedding feast, pay attention to the following types of alcohol:
- Champagne . Most people associate foamy champagne with the holiday. Choosing champagne for a wedding will prevent guests from getting too drunk; it maintains ease of communication. However, champagne has a side effect - in large doses it leads to headaches.
What alcohol to choose for a wedding
- Vodka. Drinks with a high alcohol content are only appropriate at a wedding reception when all formalities have been completed. Vodka is usually offered to the male half of the table. Where to buy wedding vodka? In any store selling these products. However, if alcohol is needed in large quantities, it would not be a bad idea to negotiate directly with wholesale suppliers, this way you can save a lot.
- Wine. It is better to purchase several types of wine, since most women have different tastes in this matter. When choosing which wine to choose for a wedding, it is better to focus on the drinks in the assortment.
- Non-standard drinks: cider, tequila, martini, cognac. Elite alcohol like 40-year-old cognac will cost a pretty penny, so it is inappropriate to put it on the table only if one of the guests drinks this drink exclusively. Which cognac is better to buy directly depends on the amount of your budget. Otherwise, you can get by with standard vodka.
When buying alcohol for a holiday, you need to take into account the number of guests and their preferences.
It is better to serve light drinks in front of the newlyweds, because they are the main heroes of the occasion and must remain sober throughout the evening.
Separately, it is necessary to say about the design of wedding bottles . To make the drinks look solemn, you can decorate them with special wedding-themed stickers. Such stickers are sold in wedding and souvenir shops; you can ask suppliers to design the bottles.
Champagne at a wedding: selection and design
Wedding champagne bottles: how many should there be?
During a wedding, champagne is given the TOP place among other alcoholic drinks. Definitely, there will be vodka, wine, and possibly exotic cocktails on the tables. But the wedding begins with sparkling wine.
They are served to those present during the ransom, congratulated the newlyweds immediately after the painting, and poured into glasses during a walk. And the crowning place on the tables will be taken by a pair of bottles, popularly called “bulls”.
How much champagne do you need for a wedding? Let's start with simple calculations.
A standard bottle of sparkling wine contains 750 ml of liquid. This is approximately 5 full glasses.
Next, you need to figure out where the champagne will be needed, and how many guests will drink it in each case.
Approximate calculations would look like this:
- at the bride's ransom, a glass is poured for each person present;
- immediately after the painting, the registry office will need champagne, one glass per guest;
- For a walk, take sparkling wine at the rate of 3 - 4 glasses.
If it is planned that during all these stages there will be the same number of guests, then it turns out that each of them will need 1 bottle of wine.
But often only the closest ones are present at the ransom, or some of the guests refuse to take a long walk together, immediately after the registry office going to the banquet venue. In this case, you will have to take into account the specifics of holding your own wedding when calculating.
Additionally, take 2 - 3 bottles. Be sure to stock up on alcohol for “gratitude.”
Young people often give bottles to drivers and other personnel involved in the celebration. And don’t forget to put a bottle of chilled sparkling wine in the newlyweds’ car. It is unknown how long the crossing will take, or whether there will be traffic jams along the way.
In total, you will need approximately 35 – 38 bottles of champagne for 30 guests.
But champagne should also be on banquet tables. The standard rate is a bottle of champagne for 3 people. But you can use the table if you know the preferences of the guests.
Table 1. Amount of champagne per person
| 1 man, l | 1 woman, l | 1 teenager, l | |
| Light drinkers | 0,5 | 0,3 | – |
| Moderate drinkers | 0,7 | 0,5 | 0,2 |
| Heavy drinkers | 1,0 | 1,0 | 0,5 |
Note: the table shows data for a banquet lasting 6 hours.
And don't forget about champagne for the newlyweds. Usually newlyweds drink champagne at their wedding. But you will need a couple more bottles, as integral and inviolable attributes of the ceremony.
For what snacks to complement champagne, read the material “What and how to drink champagne: rules and ideas.”
It turns out that for a wedding with a 6-hour banquet with 30 guests, taking into account the decorations and walks, you will need approximately 49 - 57 bottles of champagne.
But if you decide to surprise your guests with a pyramid of champagne, agree on an additional number of bottles with the organizer of such a show, or count the number of glasses in such a slide, and adjust the calculations of champagne for the banquet.
The champagne fountains also look original.
But in this case, the additional volume of sparkling wine will be measured in tens of liters.
Assortment of sparkling wines
Today, large supermarkets and specialized wine boutiques can offer their customers a huge selection of sparkling wines in a wide variety of flavors and a wide price range. To buy real premium champagne, you no longer have to fly to France.
Elite champagne wines
Real premium champagne, made in the province of Champagne according to traditional French recipes, is available for sale in a small number of recognizable names that are well known to real connoisseurs of elite drinks: Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame (Madame Clicquot), MoЁt&Shandon (Moe Chandon), DomPerignon (Dom Perignon) ), GH Mumm (Mumm de Cremant), Pol Roger (Paul Roger), Louis Roederer (Louis Roederer), Taittinger (Tetengzhe) - wealthy newlyweds choose these exquisite drinks, the cost of which in Russian stores is measured in more than one thousand rubles.
Imported sparkling wines
If your goal is not to impress guests with the scale of the wedding celebration and demonstrate the high social status of the new family, you can choose high-quality foreign-made sparkling wines as a worthy decoration for the wedding table. Martini Asti, Lambrusco, La Gioiosa, Dr. Demuth and other brands of European champagne have excellent taste at an affordable price of up to a thousand rubles per bottle.
Russian sparkling wines
The most economical newlyweds choose Russian-made wedding champagne. Premium “Lev Golitsyn” and “Abrau Durso” or budget “Sovetskoye” - the good traditions of Russian wineries and the familiar taste of the pearl drink are not spoiled by the low cost of domestic champagne. Therefore, it is not necessary to chase the status and prestige of imported drinks - Russian wines will harmoniously fit into the festive setting of the wedding feast.
Champagne at the registry office
The beautiful tradition of congratulating the newlyweds immediately after the painting is accompanied by kisses, wishes of happiness and love, sprinkling with coins, wheat, flower petals, and giving bouquets. And you can't do without champagne.
Stop. Here the question arises: is it possible to drink champagne in the registry office? By the way, the question is quite pressing. Since after the adoption of the law banning drinking alcohol in public places, this became simply impossible.
Many registry offices have refused to provide buffet halls and special rooms.
It is also prohibited to open a sparkling drink in the areas adjacent to the building of the Wedding Palace.
Since a lot of controversy arose around this problem, the heads of the registry offices began to look for a way out of this situation. Therefore, options appeared.
In institutions that have received an official license, they offer buffet rooms or specially designated rooms for rent. Most often, this service is paid, and for the standard 15 minutes provided you will have to pay a decent amount.
But you shouldn’t count on the opportunity to congratulate the newlyweds with champagne in the lobby or at the exit from the registry office. These places fall under the prohibited law and you can start the wedding not with pleasant congratulations and emotions, but with a real fine.
To maintain tradition and avoid trouble, some newlyweds offer their guests non-alcoholic champagne.
But how solemn this approach will be is difficult to say.
When do they open the champagne from the wedding?
Everyone understands that after a wedding they begin to drink champagne in large quantities. Nobody doubts this. Of course, you can buy an alcoholic drink with a reserve, but this can hit your wallet hard.
Besides, why spend so much money if a wedding is already a fairly expensive event. In this case, it’s worth calculating in advance where and to whom you need the drink.
Two bottles of champagne at a wedding: why?
Consider how much there will be at your celebration:
- people who don't drink at all;
- children;
- women;
- youth.
As a rule, it is the fair half of humanity and young people who love the fizzy drink the most. In addition to the guests present, pay attention to when the wedding ceremony is taking place.
If it’s summer, then the number of bottles you drink can be safely increased. But strong strong drinks are much more suitable for winter .
For ransom
Currently, not all weddings have such a part as ransom. Many try to stick to a more European version. Therefore, in this case, alcohol is not needed for ransom.
Another option is to ask the toastmaster or bridesmaids whether the competitions involve drinking alcoholic beverages. If not, then take alcohol with you depending on the number of guests coming.
Since this is only the beginning of the event, you should count 1 bottle for 3-4 adults. After the ransom at the bride's house, friends of the bride and groom open the first bottle of champagne. As a rule, 1-2 glasses are enough for everyone. This will be enough, because there is a whole day ahead.
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At the registry office
After the registry office employee officially registers the married couple, everyone goes to a special room where the young spouses are congratulated. There is champagne and sweets on the table.
The drink is calculated using the formula 1-2 glasses per person . There is not much time at the registry office. They give you no more than 20 minutes for everything, so there’s no point in taking more alcohol, since guests won’t be able to drink it in such a short period of time.
For a walk
According to tradition, young people go for a walk after the registry office. At this time, the married couple is participating in a photo shoot, and the young guests are walking, laughing and enjoying the good weather.
More time is allocated for walking in the park, so the amount of alcohol gradually increases. It should be enough for 4-5 glasses for each friend present.
However, even here, you shouldn’t overdo it, since the sun can make everyone tired very quickly, and a banquet party awaits you, with competitions, prizes and alcohol. Therefore, everyone must get to her sober.
For the celebration
Champagne for a wedding - two bottles.
At the most festive banquet, champagne literally flows like a river. If this is the main drink for guests, then you should count on 2 bottles for each person present. It also happens that sparkling wine is purchased only for the beginning of the celebration.
In this case, 2-3 bottles will be enough for 5-6 people . And then strong alcoholic drinks such as vodka or cognac can be used.
For thanks
A special drink that the newlyweds give during the celebration. In this case, they thank not the guests, but the people participating in the celebration. This could be a driver, registry office employees, or an administrator in a restaurant.
The newlyweds themselves should present the champagne, asking that people drink to their future happy family life. In this situation, you will need 5-6 alcoholic drinks.
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Tradition with wedding champagne glasses
It’s better to go for a walk and congratulate the young family on their birth. Here you can observe another beautiful tradition of breaking wedding glasses.
If disposable cups are usually prepared for all guests, then glass wedding cups are required for the newlyweds.
This is not the couple that will show off next to the champagne on the banquet table. And simple glass ones or with minimal decoration, since their fate is already predetermined.
According to wedding traditions, such champagne glasses will simply need to be broken.
Today it is quite difficult to say what this beautiful symbolic ritual is connected with.
Maybe with the custom of Jewish weddings, where since ancient times the groom broke a glass wrapped in a napkin for good luck. Or maybe from the traditions of Russian officers who smashed glasses after toasts.
Most likely, the roots of such a ritual go back to the Middle Ages, when it was believed that the sound of breaking glass drove away evil forces from the young.
By the way, some peoples suggested that the bride break a pot in order to evaluate her innocence based on the results of this ceremony. Echoes of this custom have survived to this day.
Many people try to determine the sex of a young child's unborn child using the fragments of broken glasses. Large fragments from broken glasses promise the birth of a boy, and small ones promise a girl.
And as lawyers advise, to avoid troubles, drink glasses in nature carefully, drink a little and do not disturb the peace.
And don’t forget to collect the fragments from broken glasses and disposable cups in a prepared bag.
By the way, take as many disposable cups as possible so that guests do not have to take already used dishes with them until the next stop of the wedding procession.
Why is wedding champagne called the bride and groom?
If at all other stages it is possible to refuse rivers of champagne, reduce its volume or replace it with other drinks, then it will not be possible to exclude a couple of wedding bottles of champagne for the newlyweds from the list.
This is one of the attributes with which many interesting traditions are associated. They are decorated and tied up, a place of honor is allocated for them and they are protected from kidnapping. And, most importantly, this pair of bottles is under no circumstances opened at the wedding, since they are destined to go with the young people into their future lives.
Therefore, special attention is paid to decorating wedding champagne.
Young people try to stylize them to match the theme of the wedding or dress them up in costumes of the bride and groom, tie them tightly with ribbons or use them to write wishes.
You can get acquainted with ideas for using and decorating wedding champagne in the article “How to decorate champagne for a wedding with your own hands.”
But few people know what this tradition is connected with, why such alcohol is called “bulls” and when they drink champagne from a wedding.
Interestingly, the custom itself has undergone several significant changes and has reached our times, having changed greatly.
The ritual itself is associated with the customs of the Don Cossacks. Some sources attribute the idea to residents of southern Ukraine. There it was customary to give a bull and a cow as a wedding gift to the newlyweds. Their horns were necessarily connected with each other.
Such a gift was considered very expensive, but was both symbolic and practical in nature. First of all, the new family had the opportunity to provide themselves with food.
But besides this, they had to preserve the living creatures until the first anniversary. Only the husband and wife had livestock to live on. The happiest ones also had offspring.
Therefore, it was customary to treat guests at a calico wedding to homemade milk from their own cow. And if a baby was born in the first year, milk from your own cow was simply irreplaceable.
Clearly, such a tradition could not be preserved in its original form. Therefore, instead of bulls and cows, they began to put two bottles of alcohol on the table, which were supposed to symbolize the masculine and feminine principles.
That is, the groom's wedding champagne was originally a bottle of strong alcohol: vodka, cognac, brandy. And the bride’s bottle could contain champagne, wine, or liqueur. In fact, they chose drinks that were more popular with young people.
That’s why even today you still come across advice to pair not two bottles of champagne, but vodka and champagne or cognac with wine.
And according to ancient tradition, they were connected. And in some regions, two spoons were tied between such bottles so that young people had something to sip their happiness with.
The tradition underwent another change with the advent of fashion for stylized, themed weddings. The trends also affected the decoration of the bulls. Wedding alcohol has become more sophisticated and symbolic. And here there was simply no place for cheap or variegated alcohol.
Bottles of champagne come out onto the pedestal.
Moreover, modern newlyweds have the opportunity to choose elite varieties of real French drink.
And the decoration for such a wine should be appropriate.
In a champagne wedding, the bride is dressed in a real dress or strewn with rhinestones and sparkles. But why the groom's bottle lost its status as strong alcohol remains a mystery.
Maybe the key role was played by young people’s refusal to drink libations, or maybe it’s just that two identical bottles are easier to fit into the overall theme of the holiday.
Therefore, if desired, you can prepare “bulls” from both two bottles of champagne and assorted alcohol.
The tradition, in any case, will be respected.
Moreover, the timing of drinking wedding champagne is of great importance.
And here, as it turns out, there are also pitfalls.
Champagne pyramid for wedding
The champagne pyramid is a spectacular and original way to pour sparkling wine into glasses that will be remembered by all guests. Such a pyramid is a structure of glasses placed on top of each other, at the base of which there is a square or triangle. The shape and height of the tiers depends on the number of guests. Each glass can be decorated with a dessert cherry, exotic fruits, rose petals and so on. The shape of the pyramid resembles a mountain, which is why its other name is often mentioned - a hill of champagne. For the show to be successful, you must first take care of the stability of the structure, and therefore you should abandon the classic long glasses in favor of wine glasses with short stems and a wide neck.
The construction of the pyramid begins on a separate serving table a few hours before the arrival of the newlyweds. This is done by a bartender who has special training, and then he puts on a spectacular performance by pouring champagne. The drink, flowing like a golden waterfall, overflows the edge of the first glass and fills all tiers. For a more impressive effect, the bartender can first place dry ice cubes in the glasses - this allows a light mist to envelop the structure. The spectacle turns out to be memorable and unforgettable; it looks especially advantageous in the photo. In the case where the honorary mission is supposed to be given to young people, they need to know in advance that champagne must be poured very slowly and in a very thin stream, only in this case it will be distributed evenly in all directions. It is also recommended to conduct a rehearsal in advance.
Boutique Hotel MONA will take care of all the hassle of decorating the champagne pyramid for the wedding. We are also ready to provide several types of champagne to choose from - the newlyweds will only need to choose what they like best.
Modern traditions of wedding champagne
Unfortunately, wedding champagne does not always survive until the end of the banquet. There will always be those who wish or suffer, who will be visited even during the wedding by the idea of uncorking these particular symbolic bottles. This is another reason why they should be different from other alcohol in appearance. Still, it’s better to tie them together.
But people will definitely remember another tradition - stealing wedding bulls. Therefore, you need to be on your guard. Otherwise, both the newlyweds and their witnesses will have to try hard to buy such a symbol.
And some people are happy to put on a whole show right at the wedding, selling a bottle at auction to the bride and groom.
Don’t give in to temptation - the bride and groom should leave the wedding with these two bottles. No one would sell newly donated bulls and cows right at their own wedding. And the idea of “eating” them here would be blasphemous.
What non-alcoholic drinks to order for a wedding
The choice of non-alcoholic drinks is no less important than alcoholic ones. Sometimes newlyweds and organizers prefer sweet lemonades. However, this is the most unhealthy option, although it is the most affordable.
Juice, which is offered by manufacturers under the guise of natural, is a more suitable choice for a celebration, but it is not ideal. The optimal solution would be mineral water - carbonated and still.
For 1 person:
- 1.5 liters of water (if the wedding is in the summer, increase to 2-2.5 liters)
- 1 liter of juice (this is in addition to water)
You can serve tea with the cake. This is a universal drink that everyone drinks. It can be served cold or hot, with various flavors and additives.
The fate of wedding champagne: how to store and when to drink
The wedding has ended, and the newlyweds say goodbye to the guests so that they can be alone. They go to a hotel or home, taking with them that very wedding alcohol.
But not to drink on your wedding night, but to save until those moments when you can drink the sparkling drink according to tradition.
And the first worthy milestone is the birth of a baby or wedding anniversary.
The opening of the “bulls” is timed to coincide with these events.
As in ancient times, young people must treat their relatives with “milk” from their cow. What kind of bottle of champagne do you drink on your wedding anniversary?
Of course, a man's or a groom's. Since the calico anniversary is a milestone of perseverance and responsibility for one’s obligations.
And to a greater extent, it largely depends on the determination and courage of the spouse whether this wedding anniversary will be celebrated at all.
And a woman’s bottle symbolizes procreation and fertility. Therefore, it is always opened for the birth of the first child.
Since not all young families plan to have heirs in the first year of marriage, the bride’s bottle has to be kept indefinitely.
And here the question logically arises, what will happen to the sparkling drink by this moment.
Most types of champagne are stored for 1 - 2 years from the date of production. Therefore, if stored correctly, it will calmly wait until the anniversary. But if the drink has to be stored longer, you will have to look for ways out of their situation.
It’s better, of course, to initially buy an elite, expensive drink. Here the shelf life can vary from 2 to 25 years. 5–10 years of storage are considered standard. But the price of such alcohol is exorbitant.
Or play it safe and instead of champagne use shelf-stable alcohol for the “bulls”: wine, vodka, cognac.
Alternatively, bottles are simply replaced with fresh ones before the date. Removable jewelry will be good here. If the husband and wife are not too superstitious, but do not want to offend the feelings of parents and relatives who attach great importance to rituals, you can go this route.
Someone simply does not ask the question whether it is possible to drink expired champagne, but only for the sake of tradition opens sour wine and symbolically pretends to drink it.
But even for the best sparkling wine with a long shelf life, ideal conditions must be created.
You need to remember only three things: champagne is afraid of light, heat and vertical position. Therefore, immediately abandon the idea of displaying this beauty, in a sideboard or on a chest of drawers.
It is ideal to place the bottles in dark bags and send them to the basement, where the temperature should be from 5 to 15 degrees. And he doesn’t put it, but we put it horizontally. This way, the wedding champagne will safely live to see its time.
Alternatively, you can place the bottles in the refrigerator in a tight box.
Remember, leaving champagne in direct sunlight for 20 minutes is enough for it to spoil. And after freezing, the cork will inevitably begin to crumble.
Choose the right drinks for wedding “bulls”, check the shelf life of champagne and create the right conditions for symbolic drinks - and on traditional dates you can not only observe traditions, but also take a sip of that romantic sublimity that was present at the wedding itself.
