oregon,
did it turn? That would be a bummer!
Sometimes people who don’t know god vs not good wine accidentally give away a nice bottle of wine. Or in PG’s case maybe her DH was given a very nice bottle as a holiday /thank you gift. Would be fun to know what’s in the rack, and if its been exposed to lots of light or temperature variations… time to drink!
Friends are from Spain and love a certain taste from their area. My research and questions to wine stewards is that it has to do with the soil the grapes are grown in.
They cannot cook and cannot pick wine in our humble opinion. But we have a blast anyway.
That said, I will not drink or eat anything I do not like unless I need to be polite in the moment.
H will finish this bottle just not to throw it away. You should see what is in his mother’s fridge (dribs and drabs of old foods served over and over). His parents use to serve jug wine that was not drinkable.
" And I bought some do-hickeys to stick on the bottles that dispense exactly 1.5 ounces of liquor. No, it’s not going to stop someone from getting drunk, but might stop them from getting wasted! So if you are going to have alcohol, hire a bartender or take turns tending bar. And try to promote beer and wine over the hard liquor. That’s just my view. I’m a pretty hard-partying guy, but I see a lot of folks just taking things a bit too far."
This is the part of alcohol culture I don’t like – drinking to get drunk / wasted / whatever.
Maybe I am getting really old, but I cannot remember the last time I knew anyone who drank to get drunk. College maybe?? That was a long time ago.
“H will finish this bottle just not to throw it away.”
Well, once the bottle is opened, its not going to get better with age, just decidedly worse.
notelling, this made me laugh out loud. More cake for everyone! (But I only indulge in really good quality cake. Bad cake is not worth the calories.)
The way pizzagirl describes the “alcohol culture” seems to be more high school/college drinking. That is not my experience at all as an adult. In fact, if I have an objection, it would be sort of the opposite and my annoyance is with some of the pretentiousness regarding certain beers and wines exhibited by some of my friends. I have one friend who is “streaking” with unique beers and will not repeat a beer. It’s very annoying at social events. I see a lot more “tastings” where you sample small amounts of certain beers or wines and try hard NOT to have too much so you can enjoy them all.
There are certainly plenty of adults who are problem drinkers or full-on addicts, but that is a whole different deal and not what I would call the “alcohol culture” at all.
To pile on…I have a couple who we met because our daughters were in preschool together. They held a 3 year old’s b-day party with alcohol. And every other event I ever went to at their house. They got pretty lit up and had met at a hard partying football college and that was their thing they did together (until they both got sober). I think they were both 3rd gen alcoholics. But they are certainly the outliers.
OP back…the mother of the bride is thinking that there could be as many as 60 people in attendance (if all the relatives are invited). The private room at the non-alcohol serving venue is way too small for that (I bet 30 would be pushing it.) We do have an alternate venue that is BYOB, so that’s an idea.
I have been to many kid’s birthday parties where alcohol was served - adults in one room, entertainer(s)/host provided sitters/kids in another room.
@missypie, I for one am glad to hear that the original venue can’t accommodate the group. Time to move on, hopefully to someplace that serves alcohol!
Wow, I’m firmly in the “how sad people can’t have fun without alcohol camp”. Best of luck finding a new venue!
"Adding…I choose bottles of wine based on how much I like the label. I have no idea what it tastes like, and I don’t care…because I don’t drink it.
My husband loves a good bottle of wine, and he will often get one when we have guests…because otherwise he is drinking by himself."
Ah, but you should care. If you’re bringing someone a bottle of wine, do you really want to bring them crappy tasting wine? Ask the wine steward or your husband for a good choice.
Excuse me, but it seems like the future in-laws have doubled or more the guest list. Forget the lack of alcohol at first venue, I’d be asking for a few co-hosts. Why would OP entertain 40+ people from in-laws family, with only 20 percent less af her friends/relatives?
“Okay, back to being confused about what to do with wine offerings from guests.”
I think it really depends. If you don’t have any wine to offer the guests, I would definitely put the bottle out there in case they would like to drink some. If they say, “This is a special wine, just for you,”-don’t serve it. Perhaps you need to gauge the situation. In our case, we have friends over for casual dinners pretty often. They don’t have any great expectations (they’ve sampled my cooking before!), and everyone is just trying to be considerate and have a good time. Our friends don’t want someone to be stuck providing all the food and drink, and we would feel like mooches if we went to their houses empty handed—even if they said to bring nothing, so we all bring something. Almost everyone will bring a bottle of wine or some beer that they enjoy, sometimes with food items, and I am certain it is not a hostess gift, it’s to share the burden and expense of hosting people. Whatever they bring goes on the table, and people help themselves. But that’s our home, we aren’t having formal dinners, we just have plenty of things to attempt to please everyone.
In fact, sometimes I realize that I forgot to put out the bottle they brought, usually because it’s white and ended up in the refrigerator, and save it for the next time that they come back. I’ll make sure and say that I forgot to bring it out last time, so I saved it. Even if I don’t care for it (white wine-yuck), I’ll be certain that they see me trying some. People generally only bring things that they like, so I believe they feel kind of bad if we don’t try it, or say we like it.
I have never had a time where someone was displeased that we put their wine out to drink. But everyone seems happy when we try their favorite wine/beer and like it, and they definitely notice.
My friends all know I choose wines based on the interesting labels. They get a kick out of trying my choices…much more of a wine adventure than getting a wine that is known to be good.
And I’ve chosen some really good wines, btw.
I do occasionally read the Wine Steward ratings while I’m looking at labels. If I’m torn between two great looking labels, I will choose the higher rated bottle.
But I digress from the topic here.
I hope the OP finds a venue that is great for her rehearsal dinner…whether there is alcohol, or not. And really, I hope,the need for alcohol doesn’t drive that choice. It’s one evening.
I think the choice would be driven by the ability to accommodate a dinner for 60 people, alcohol or not. Yikes, this is some hefty “rehearsal”! Good luck, missypie.
"My friends all know I choose wines based on the interesting labels. They get a kick out of trying my choices…much more of a wine adventure than getting a wine that is known to be good.
And I’ve chosen some really good wines, btw."
You have some good friends. 
I have had people bring me wines that they raved about, that were absolutely disgusting. The one person I talked about earlier in the thread, who decided all my food was crap and had to go to the store and buy and cook food for himself…brought the most disgusting bottle of homemade wine ever. Gag! Can’t believed we raved about how wonderful it was, why were we so polite? Sometimes a nice looking label can be better than someone else’s honey wine!