I will be getting married next year and we're currently in discussions with a number of venues.
One of them has said they 'legally' can't open wine bought in France or elsewhere in the EU as there has been no duty paid on it in Ireland.
This is confusing me for a couple of reasons
Nobody else has mentioned this;
My sister did similar at her wedding (although this was in 2002);
There are plenty of articles online that reference doing this
We need to take this into account in our budgeting (and also the price venues charge for their own wines).
So, I'm hoping someone can help me by letting me know whether this is one venue making up a rule to help defend their profits, or whether this is actually not possible.
For clarification, this is about putting the car on the ferry to France, or driving up to Newry, and bringing the wine back, rather than online ordering, which I understand does require duty to be paid.
Ireland has one of the highest excise duties chargeable on any wine. The way around this is to ask the management how much they charge for corkage per bottle as I don't believe any venue will let you bring your own without a charge. In the unlikely event that the excise authorities raid the premises, I'm sure it's you who would be liable as the supplier and not the venue. Corkage and cheap wine can be expensive. Budget 1 bottle per 4 guests.