Choosing the right drinks for your wedding is about much more than simply calculating the number of bottles.

The wines and beverages you serve contribute to the atmosphere of your celebration, complement the meal and create memorable moments for your guests. The advice below is based on our experience and is intended to help you avoid common mistakes while making the most of your wedding budget.

 

Champagne or sparkling ?

Many couples automatically assume that Champagne is the obvious choice. In reality, an excellent Crémant often offers outstanding quality at a much more reasonable price. As a general guide, a good Champagne usually starts around €30 per bottle, while an excellent Crémant de Loire can often be found from around €15.

After the first toast, very few guests will remember whether they were drinking Champagne or Crémant. What they will remember is the joy of celebrating your wedding with you. For smaller weddings, Champagne may comfortably fit within the budget. For larger celebrations, however, choosing a high-quality Crémant can free up a significant amount of your budget—money that can often be better invested elsewhere in your wedding experience.

 

Should You Buy the Caterer’s Wine?

We generally do not recommend purchasing your wines through your caterer. Most caterers buy wine in relatively large quantities and usually work with a limited selection that changes little from year to year. Their priority is naturally to simplify logistics rather than to offer the perfect wine pairing.

The most important factor is not simply the quality of the wine, but how well it complements your menu. For example:

• A dry or lightly oaked white wine will usually pair much better with chicken than a fruity white.
• Fish is generally best accompanied by fresh white wines rather than powerful reds.
• The richer the meat, the fuller-bodied the red wine can be.

A carefully chosen wine often enhances the meal far more than simply selecting a more expensive bottle.

What Should You Serve During the Cocktail Reception?

For an outdoor cocktail reception, particularly during the warmer months, we generally recommend focusing on:

• Crémant
• White wine
• Beer

Guests usually drink very little red wine during the cocktail hour. It feels heavier in warm weather and, quite simply, red wine stains are never welcome on wedding attire.

Don’t forget to provide plenty of still and sparkling water throughout the afternoon.Homemade infused waters with lemon, mint, cucumber or seasonal berries are always appreciated on hot days, while soft drinks and fruit juices ensure that children and non-drinkers are equally well catered for.

Finally, make sure your wine selection complements your caterer’s canapés. Fresh sparkling wines and aromatic whites are often the most versatile choices.

How Much Wine Should You Plan for the wedding dinner?

Rather than thinking in bottles, we recommend estimating the number of glasses per guest first and then converting that total into bottles. A standard bottle of wine serves approximately six glasses. Only you truly know your guests. Drinking habits vary considerably depending on your family and friends, the season and even the weather. On very warm summer days, guests often drink less wine than expected. As a general guideline, we recommend:

Wedding dinner including starter, main course, cheese and wedding cake

• 3 glasses of wine per guest
• 1 glass of Crémant for the wedding cake toast

Wedding dinner including main course, cheese and wedding cake (following a generous cocktail reception)

• 2.5 glasses of wine per guest
• 1 glass of Crémant for the wedding cake toast

For the dinner itself, guests typically consume approximately:

• 60% red wine
• 40% white wine

Although, in recent years, white wine has become increasingly popular and this difference continues to narrow.

Example for a wedding dinner with 100 guests, including a starter, main course, cheese and wedding cake, we would generally recommend:

• 50 bottles of wines
  • 30 bottles of red wine
  • 20 bottles of white wine
• 17 bottles of Crémant for the wedding cake toast

As a final recommendation, always allow an additional 10 to 15% beyond your calculations.

It is far preferable to have a few unopened bottles remaining than to run out during such an important celebration. Any bottles left over can easily be enjoyed on future occasions—your wedding anniversary, the birth of a child, Christmas with your family or simply a memorable dinner with friends.

 

Discover Our Wine Cellar

One of the distinctive features of Saint Victor is that it has its own wine cellar, which we have been adding to for several years with bottles carefully selected from winemakers we particularly admire.

Our cellar mainly showcases wines from the Loire, the Cher, Burgundy, the Rhône Valley and Languedoc. You will also find Crémants de Loire, French whiskies, Armagnacs and a selection of regional spirits. There is no corkage fee for wines purchased from our cellar. A large proportion of these bottles are purchased directly from producers and then aged in our cellar before being offered to our couples.

You are, of course, free to bring your own wines. In this case, a corkage fee will apply; you will be responsible for disposing of empty bottles, and we will not be able to arrange the delivery of drinks before or during your stay.

If you would like assistance in choosing wines for your wedding, we would be delighted to introduce you to our selection and discuss the best food and wine pairings with you. We can also organise a private tasting so that you can sample several wines before making your final choice.

 

See you very soon,

Paul