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Serving wine at wedding with no bartender?

We are having a small wedding reception (about 50 people) and due to liquor laws cannot have a bar, but we are allowed to serve some wine. We can't really have a bartender, so how do we serve the alcohol to the guests without having to designate a friend or family member to pour? We have thought of having bottles at each table, but aren't sure how to keep these cool, organize bottle openers, etc.

Public Comments

I like the idea of the wine at tables. Tie the bottle openers around the bottle necks,you can get inexpensive ones for around 5 dollars. Keep them in ice buckets. Or better yet just keep several bottles on one table in a large ice bucket or if it is a red don't ice. Have glasses and people can help themselves. Just have someone open a few in the beginning. Keep the bottle opener on the table.
I would just put a couple of bottles on each table with an opener. I'm sure your guests won't mind opening their own bottles of wine. If the bottles are chilled before hand, they should be fine on the table for a couple of hours.
I have been to a few parties where they have one bottle of red and another of white(open) at the table in champagne coolers.If it's not too hot you can also put them in carafes.
What food are you serving? Red wine would be much easier as it is served at room temperature. If you opt for a white too, then you may want to check with a party rental shop to see if they will rent table top wine buckets. That will keep the white cold. You could also hire a waiter to go table to table with red and white or see if the hall can have a server do this. **edit----I just read another response and it frightened me... Please for the love of god do not serve anything that your guests can unscrew. That is just the epitome of tacky. Boone's farm is not for weddings.
My cousin did champagne on all of the tables at her small outdoor wedding, and it worked fine. You can get buckets that aren't specifically wine buckets (even cheap galvenized pails that you can get at most garden/craft stores) and fill them with ice (or ice packs under pretty fabric to make it less messy). I would hang a wine key (opener) with ribbon from the necks of the bottles, loose enough that it can be removed without cutting, and let people serve themselves when they are ready.
Are you having a catered meal? If so, have the servers that your catering company uses serve the wine. They really should be expected to do this anyway. Keeping a couple of bottles on the tables is a great idea, but the servers can come around and periodicly fill glasses, replace empty bottle etc... If you are self catering, you should consider hiring a few servers for your event. It will help things run a lot smoother, and it will avoid the need to use your friends and family as wait staff.
most folk are white and some red,place on the table and let them help them selves and have a few cork screws on the table if you are supplying the wine get the ones that open without?Chardonnay you cant go wrong and the supermarkets have good deals on just now get some ice buckets just ask your friends and they will help?red wine there are so many and if your budget stretches get some champagne for the top table as a wee toast and surprise Cava at the supermarket and not too expensive have a great day and enjoy
You could have two 'starter' bottles of wine at the tables and a wine station, like a beverage station, where individual tables can pick up another bottle once those of on the table are empty. Keep the extra bottles in a tub with ice to keep them cooled.
I went to a wedding this past weekend and they had a champagne bottle on every table. They also had the little cups at the tables so everyone could have some for the toast, if they wanted! They also had the bottles personalized with their names, date, and a cute quote! The bottles didn't have like a cork that more expensive champagnes have, it just twisted off and had a plastic cork that was attached to the lid, so that wasn't a problem. But, about keeping them cool, the bottle we had wasn't really cool, so maybe get some smaller buckets and put ice in there...... and put the bottle in there to keep it cool, then you won't have to worry about that. but yeah, worked out great!
Make it almost a centerpiece... a small bucket of ice with some ribbon tied around it or have them personalized with your names and some flower petals around that or something and have the the wine bottles in the ice... with the bottle opener in the bucket or tied to the wine bottle . ... It could be really pretty
We are in a similar situation, in that we've decided not to hire a bartender for such a small party. We have nearly 85 guests, but only 60 or fewer drink alcohol. We are hiring 4 high school students (we checked, they can serve alcohol on private property, but we are getting parent permission anyway.) They will serve both wines and the champagne toast, among a myriad of other duties (set up, clean up). For 4 students for 4 hours each, we're spending less than $200.
ice
I attended a wedding in wine country about six weeks ago. The bartenders kept encouraging guests to take full bottles back to their tables. It took the couple close to two hours to show up to the reception because of taking photos. Can you guess what happens when bored hungry guests are being fed wine by the bottle? Only do this if you’re going to feed people right off the bat. Empty stomachs + bottles of wine = quick drunkenness As for keeping the wine cool, you can use buckets with bottles in them as centerpieces.
Put the wine bottles on the tables. To keep them cool, keep them in a cooler until it's time for the reception. Just before people sit down for dinner, put 1 or 2 opened bottles on the table (leave the cork with the bottle). Let people know that once their bottles are empty, they are more then welcome to ask for another. If they need another, you can just pull one out of the cooler for them and open it before they go back to the table. If you end up buying too many bottles of wine, you can always return any unopened bottles to the liquor store for a refund.
You just have bottles at the tables, one red, one white, already opened. We had this, in addition to a full open bar.