Travelling Abroad For Alcohol?

by Leeann
(Hampshire)

I was wondering if it’s cheaper to travel to France to get the wine and beer for my wedding or get it on a 'sale or return' basis. I will have 100 guests and my venue does not charge corkage. Thank you for any help!

Answer:

Travelling to France on a booze cruise is a great idea. You can get lots of good wine and champagne at very cheap prices, although you’ll have to keep it all if you don’t drink it.

In Calais, you’ll find plenty of familiar hypermarkets including Majestic Wine, Sainsburys and Tesco. They stock the usual brands you find in their UK stores, plus plenty of other lesser known vineyards.

With most of the wine warehouses, you can see their price lists online and if you pre-order you can get even more discounts. So all you need to do is drive over and pick up your booze – really easy! If you’re not sure what to get, you can always find a bottle of what you’re looking for in the UK and try it first.

They also have their offers clearly marked so you can see exactly what you can save and sometimes you can pick up real bargains on everyday wine. For wine connoisseurs, taking the time to go around the wine merchants is worth the effort. You’ll find excellent wines at half the price you’d pay in the UK and many of them can be tasted too.

If you are thinking of going to France though, it’s worth taking into consideration your costs of getting there. Fuel is expensive at the moment and don’t forget to include your van hire cost as well. If you have to travel far, it may not be worth your while, so work out how much it will cost you carefully and offset this against any savings you might make.

Also take into consideration the effort required to go to France. Unless you live in Kent, it’s a long journey. You’ll also find incentives to entice you and Majestic offer a free ferry crossing if you buy your wine and beer with them. (I also managed to get free glass hire locally from them as well although they don’t normally allow this with booze bought from France.)

We went on a booze cruise for our wedding and we saved a lot on the cost of the drinks, but we bought far too much. Plan carefully and allow for about half a bottle of wine per person with food, a couple of glasses of fizz for the toast and perhaps an extra glass of wine for good measure. Don’t forget, not everyone will be drinking, there will also be designated drivers and those that don’t really drink much, so stock up on plenty of soft drinks and water, especially in the summer. You can find more on measurements in this article.

‘Sale or return’ is a great concept which means you buy the wine and what you don’t use you can return. This will certainly save you having loads of wine stacked up in the garage for months like we did! It ensures you only spend what you need to.

Many wine merchants will offer this service, but usually its only on ‘cases’ of wine. Even still, with 6 or 12 bottles to a case, having a half used case that you can’t return is not a major trauma! All unopened cases can be returned. If you’re using a venue with waiters and waitresses, be sure to brief them that they should only open new cases once the others are empty.

You should also be able to pick up wine in the wine merchants that’s on offer, but usually you’ll find this is end of line stock and so you may not get the quantity you want. Still, some wine merchants also offer bulk discounts and you may find you get a 5% discount on orders of over a certain amount, in addition to ‘sale or return’. You’ll also find that wine merchants offer other services as well, including free glass hire and delivery.

If you’re not sure, then work out your costs carefully and weigh up the pros and cons.

Best of luck!






P.S. Don't forget you've got limits at customs. Take evidence of your forthcoming wedding such as a wedding invitation that clearly states your name along with your passport and any other evidence you can find! Anything to prove that the booze is for 'personal use' to avoid getting it confiscated! Also, check the limits with Customs and Excise.