“You had me at Merlot…” Let’s talk drinks at Thicket Priory
5 useful tips on what you need to know when it comes to drinks for your wedding celebrations. You can go from one end of the scale to the other with what you provide for your guests, and we must also consider that expectations are different depending upon where you come from, your families input/financial support and potentially the pressures you put on yourself to make sure your guests have the best time celebrating! We’re here to give you options and ideas to create the best plan for you.
Image by Carla Whittingham
1. Understand what your ‘base’ costs are…
Here at Thicket Priory there is a ‘Drinks Collection’ which is part of booking a wedding with us. In essence this is a day time drinks plan for ensuring that at every point there are all your guests seeking a drinks at the same time, we have it pre-planned and pre-paid. For example, a glass of Prosecco or a Cocktail for your drink reception following the ceremony, followed by wine for guests during the wedding meal, and also a glass of something sparkling as a toast drink whilst speeches take place. All the while we also talk about a plan for guests who may not drink alcohol.
Our ‘Drink Collection’ starts from £30 per person, with options to tweak, change, upgrade and build your own bespoke collection, adding your signature to the drinks you are providing.
You do have the option to provide your own ‘Drinks Collection’, based on the details above, so a drink for your reception, wine for during the meal and a drink for the toast. Often couples explore this option where they either have a bonded warehouse filled with high end wines, or they have strings to pull with suppliers to get great deals of great wines, or if they are exploring more ‘branded’ wines…and finally if you’ve a keen eye for the wine offers at Waitrose or Sainsbury’s!
Our corkage is £15 per 75cl bottle of wine, and £20 per 75cl bottle of sparkling wine.
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Amelia & James enjoyed a gorgeous Autumn Wedding. They are a great showcase for what you can do when you have some very special wines to get involved with your wedding! All thanks to Amelia’s parents and their personal wine cellar! It was great to see guests indulging in the roulette of wines!
Photography by Carla Whittingham
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Steph & Matt celebrated a Winter Wedding, choosing the in-house Thicket Priory drinks collections, with a few special wine’s to enjoy the night before, from the groom’s very own wine business!! Little plug for Matt here, Tri-cal wines! We can vouch for them being absolutely delicious!
Photography by Dan McCourt
2. Explore some of the latest trends…
From cocktail hours, champagne towers or rounds of baby Guinness served to your guests during the evening reception…we’re happy to explore your requests, but at the same time always ensuring that we can deliver professionally, to high standards and of course with an ease that keeps both your guests and our team stress free!
Issy & Miles were a Winter wedding with trends galore. Their room décor was on point so guests could be wined and dined in opulence. They had espresso martini cocktail hour and a gorgeous champagne tower in front of our sparkling Christmas tree.
Videography by Freya Film Co
Photography by Charlotte Nelson
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Charlotte & Dan married with us back in December 2022 and it’s safe to say they were ahead of the trends, smothered in style and class, they were the first to bring some of the latest trends to Thicket Priory. Espresso martini and winter cocktail hour, the spraying of the champagne (Lando Norris eat your heart out!), all brought together with the backdrop of a black-tie wedding! Just stunning!
Photography by Carla Whittingham
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Amelia & James introduced a little earlier were also on point with their ‘trending moments’, featuring a ‘pull your own pint’ for guests to be their own landlord, cocktails and an absolutely epic moment with their wedding party almost showering Carla, the photographer.
Photography by Carla Whittingham
3. Adding your ‘signature’….
Include something that your guests will instantly know it is personal to you! From favours on the tables, where you’re able to gift each guest up to 50ml spirit, often this is taken as part of a toast drink during the speeches.
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The Honeyman’s, a long standing favourite late Summer wedding, cleverly involving ‘Honey’ in their drinks, from the reception cocktails, to the honey mead with their desserts.
Photography by Carla Whittingham
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Holly & Callum bring back memories of a mid-Summer wedding, where the heavens were open pretty much for the whole weekend, but it did not dampen the spirits of this gorgeous couple and their guests! Rum favours, cocktails, and our very first full round of baby Guinness shots, which went down tremendously with all the guests! This was one lively party, I can even recall having a wild moment on the dance floor with H & C!
Photography by Carla Whittingham
4. Drinks the morning of the wedding, ‘think about the photos’.
When choosing the drinks to have whilst getting ready, always consider that there is a photographer and videographer hiding in a corner capturing these moments. Here’s a few ‘His & Hers’ moments captured during the preparations…
Amelia & James…
Issy & Miles…
Charlotte & Dan…
Johanna & Michael…
Photography by Carla Whittingham & Charlotte Nelson
5. The Gryffin Bar
The Gryffin Bar is a firm favourite space for many of our couples and guests. From the night prior atmosphere which feels like a country pub, to the lively day of celebrations, ensuring that guests can swiftly get a beverage and head back to the dancefloor. The bar provides a wide range of drinks, where we hope that everyone can find their ‘favourite tipple’, or a well chosen alternative.
The bar is located inside the building but when the weather is kind the terrace provides the perfect place to enjoy your drinks.
What you need to know about the bar:
– We accept both cash and card (tap to pay)
– Only the wedding couple and their parents are able to set-up a drinks tab, all other guests would ‘pay as they go’.
– We stock an extensive range of 0% drinks, from No-secco and Guinness, to a No-groni and a Non-alcoholic Italian Spritz. This is just to name a few…
– You are able to pre-plan a tab for during the wedding with ‘house rules’. This means your money will go further, with no top shelf drinks included, no wine by the bottle and no cocktails. Guests who want these would pay directly for them.
– Cocktail hours would need to be pre-arranged, these generally work really well between your day reception and evening reception, with the espresso martini being the firm favourite for a ‘pick-me-up’.
– Unless pre-arranged in the corkage plans for your drinks collection, guests and couples are asked not to bring any of their own alcohol to drink at Thicket Priory. We have a fully stocked, fully staffed bar for everyone to enjoy their drinks, we want the lively atmosphere to remain ‘at the party’ not in the bedrooms, and we pride ourselves on having bar prices similar to the city centre of York, rather than taking advantage of our captive audience.
Photography by Carla Whittingham
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…although we’ve talked about the cold drinks, never forgot the beautifully appointed in-house pantries that we have scattered throughout the house. As we do not provide tea and coffee facilities in all of the bedrooms, like a hotel would, these pantries are stocked with tea, coffee, ‘hippy’ teas, hot chocolate and of course some yummy treats to accompany them!
Photography by Carla Whittingham
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Johanna & Michael celebrated their nuptials in late Summer / early Autumn and the weekend was so full of colour and fun!
Johanna & Mike’s guests enjoyed making themselves at home in the Pantries, the Parlour and the Old Kitchen….
Time to sign-off the blog with a few photos just showing the buzz, excitement and joy over the wedding celebrations of Johanna & Mike. This bride knew how to enjoy herself and it was just as enjoyable to watch!
Videography by SP Wedding Film
Photography by Carla Whittingham
I hope you’ve enjoyed learning a little about ‘drinks at Thicket Priory’, any questions you might have, the team are here to answer you questions.
Reach out to us here, or if you prefer, drop us a WhatsApp 07943 960 014.
Love Anna
xXx
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FAQ’s
What is your policy on alcohol? Can we bring our own?
We provide the option of a ‘drinks collection’ or ‘corkage’ for your day time drinks. This is pre-paid and pre-paid. Outside of this, we provide a fully stocked, full staffed bar for you and your guests to enjoy during the celebrations. We do ask that guests do not bring their own alcohol to have in the bedrooms, as we are not a hotel, and there would be a corkage charge applicable should this happen.
Is there a corkage fee for bringing our own alcohol?
Yes, we have a corkage fee for providing your own ‘drinks collection’, this is £15 per 75cl bottle of wine and £20 per 75cl bottle of sparkling wine. Corkage is pre-arranged and pre-paid. We advise on the amounts you will need to bring in order to accommodate for all your guests.
Do you offer bar packages? What are the options?
Bar packages aren’t something we offer as such. We have a fully stocked, fully staffed bar for you and your guests to enjoy. If you wish to have a tab for guests where you are subsidising the bar, for example, ‘house rules apply’, this would ensure your money goes further, as guests would pay directly for items such as cocktails, top shelf spirits and wine by the bottle. Any further queries on this, the team would love to provide more details.
