Wine Question

Ask your guests if they prefer it. If they don’t, then upgrade to something else they do like. Online strangers may love something that you and your guests absolutely abhor and vice versa so those opinions really won’t matter when the strangers don’t make up the bulk of your guest list.

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The two people I asked so far said "it's free wine we don't really care" lol

View Quoted Comment Haha! This is pretty much what I was going to say- free wine is free wine! 😆 Full disclosure though, I am really not much of a wine drinker. I think I would ask yourself how many serious wine drinkers you will have attending, and will those people drink some thing else if they do not like the selection of wine? If the majority of your guests are not wine drinkers (or would be happy to choose something else to drink), then I would not sacrifice something you really want for your wedding to accommodate just a few people.

Will you have more than those 2 guests? You mentioned mother in law doesn’t like it. You need to ask more than just those two people for brands/flavors they do enjoy. It’s not really free because you are paying money toward it being served even if they are not opening their wallets. All inclusive venue or a preset group of alcohol choices are charged in some way so as a proper host, you need to serve something that will be enjoyed. If your guests don’t drink it, that is money and alcohol wasted. Offer something they do like. Even is something is free to them, it still needs to be something they like. You don’t serve beverages that people actively hate and say “this is all there is” because it makes you as a host appear that you don’t care about their comfort.


As an example, none of our guests like beer or wine at all (nearly everyone prefers hard liquor or non alcoholic beverages) but we will serve at least one option of each in case something changes their mind. But we will find something that is crowd pleasing. This is why I personally don’t agree with the statement posted everywhere that “people will drink anything that is free”. No they don’t.

I’ve never had this particular brand of wine, but I’ve never known what brands are served at any weddings I’ve attended and I’ve happily drank whatever was served to me.

View Quoted Comment I agree that it’s not worth it to give up something else to accommodate a few people’s taste on wine brands.

I think on average, people are not going to care about the brand. However, if your group of guests are big into wine, then I would ask some of those people. If most are going to be happy drinking things other than wine (like you mentioned above your two friends dont care, are most guests like that? or is there a big group that would care?) If most wouldnt care, I wouldn't spend any extra to bend to like 2-5 peoples preference for a different wine. Once youve asked a few other people, if you decide to go with the included wine I would have your spouse tell their mom that you guys are sticking with the wine. If she's that upset about it then she can front the cost change.

A personal story, my Future inlaws care a LOT about the bar and we upgraded to suit their needs (which they are paying for) Additionally, they had a specific brand they wanted of a liquor and the venue said it would be an additional charge per bottle to get it and they agreed to that. So really it depends on how strongly they care and if they will cover the cost.

Long story short, if most people wont know the difference, I would not switch it

I've never heard of this brand either, and I am a big wine drinker. However, if I got a glass and didn't like it, I'd just order something else. I wouldn't think anything of the host.

View Quoted Comment For sure. I will also say, I don’t think it’s worth your time to poll all of your guests on what wine brands they like. If you ask 20 people what brand they prefer, you are probably going to get 20 different answers. Then what are you going do? - supply 20 different brands of wine at your wedding? LOL Bottom line, you can’t please everyone. If someone does not prefer the brand of wine you are offering, they will either make do and drink it anyway, or they will select a beer, mixed drink, or non-alcoholic beverage instead. I definitely have preferred brands of liquor, but I am not going to think the bride and groom don’t care about me or my comfort simply because they didn’t choose to serve that brand. I will happily make do with whatever brand they have chosen, or I will have a water or soda instead. NBD. While I do think it is important to provide options of different types of alcohol, it is unrealistic to think you are going to be able to provide everybody’s favorite/preferred brands. I wouldn’t stress about this at all, girl!

Canyon Road wine is super common for venues to use for open bar packages because it's quite cheap and economical. This was also the type of wine that our venue offered for the lowest level open bar package. Personally, we tried it and did not like it, so we upgraded to better wine. I would say it depends if you will have a big wine drinking crowd at your wedding. That being said, free wine is free wine. If I were a guest at someone's wedding and saw Canyon Road wine being served, I wouldn't really care and would just drink something else. If budget is an issue, then I probably wouldn't worry about upgrading because there are more important things

I looked it up and it's in the <$10 level except for their premium wines. I like some brands in that range and some are trash. If you did level up, you're more likely to please the wine drinkers. But only you know if your guests care or not. Obviously your fmil cares lol. If it's only a couple hundred dollars to level up the bar package, go for it.

The idea of polling

Gah! Hit reply too soon! The idea of polling a wide number of guests on their wine brand preferences is insane.
OP, are you doing a tasting at your venue? They should be able to accommodate you trying the wine, especially if you say you are doing so because you may want to upgrade. But if you can’t afford to level up, that’s fine and the wine drinkers who care will find something else to drink.

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I agree - I only asked two of my friends that I know drink wine haha. They let me try the wine but I hate all wine so I couldn't really tell a difference. It tasted as bad as all wine normally does for me hahaha

View Quoted Comment Hahaha honestly I think you’re fine. If you’d have to give up something else in your budget and you’d prefer not to, it just doesn’t seem worth it. If your MIL continues to raise a stink, she can feel free to pay the upgrade fee. I can’t imagine snubbing my nose at the quality of wine offered to me at someone’s home for dinner, and I think a wedding is the same ballpark.

It's a cheap wine, but honestly free booze is free booze. If you have other options like liquor or beer then it should be fine.