When to Purchase Drinks?

We are going to check with our local liquor store about a month ahead of time and let them know what we are going to need. My cousin did this for her wedding and said they gave her a discount. We will probably actually purchase it the week of the wedding.

I would speak with the vendor you are planning to go with. They may need to order ahead of time to ensure they have enough product for you. I would imagine you place the order ahead of time but pick up within a few or so of the event.

My FH's parents are in charge of the alcohol. I am trying to get them to buy it sooner rather than later just in case the wine we like is suddenly unavailable. The issue is that since summer is coming storing all the alcohol in a cool place is tricky. You don't want your wine to turn before you serve it.

I know they have talked to a local liquor store and they are giving them a discount for a bulk buy and letting them know when the best sales are coming (it's 4th of July, btw).

View Quoted Comment

Thanks! I was thinking no later than a month ahead of time too but also wanted opinions!

View Quoted Comment

My mom kept saying holidays are coming up and we could just start collecting cases of beer until August, but I'm so worried about them going bad too before the wedding. I also don't have anywhere necessarily cool to keep them. We'll probably just plan to start an order and go from there though!

Don’t do it too early, storing beverages can be a problem (I knew someone who bought wine on sale, stored in the garage over the summer, and checked it before the wedding and it had become FOUL). We bought all of our alcohol the week before the wedding. We made one trip to pick up all the stuff that didn’t need to be cold (red wine, liquor), and everything that needed to be cold, we pre ordered for pick up, and picked it up the day before the wedding, when we had access to the venue and could bring it directly their and into their coolers/fridges. You can do this sort of pre-order at Total Wines for sure, but more local stores may do it as well. We went with a local place for convenience, and shopped their sales. We were able to order the cold stuff for pick up all online, and then simply called them up to ask that all the items be kept cold— they put everything in their walk in fridge the night before we needed it.

id say “as close to the wedding as possible” but if you must start buying in advance: be very careful with how you store things. Keep bottles out of direct sunlight, and keep everything in a temperature controlled location — direct sunlight and exposure to too much fluctuations in air temp are big contributors to booze going “off” . Check dates on things like beer before you buy it— it doesn’t all have a super long shelf life. Be sure to have a plan to make cold stuff cold before the reception. But also it can be important with beer and wine that once its cold, make sure it stays cold— moving them back and forth between refrigeration and room temperature and back can also effect the beverages

Dont let beer sit around for more than a month or 6 weeks max. Do not get refrigerated beer then let it get room temp then put it back in the fridge. A dry basement would be a great place to store beverages.
If you're planning on doing the pick up yourself I'd choose a week maybe 2 weeks ahead.

We went to a grocery store to get our alcohol and it was around a few weeks before. Try to use coupons if you're gonna do that!