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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

eek I caused a 150 corkage fee last night wwyd

362 replies

alittlethyme · 18/01/2015 10:16

Was at a wedding last night. Each of the tables we're named after a spirit and they had a bottle of whatever on the table. I was a bit tipsy and didn't know many people, so cracked open some whisky without noticing that it had a label on the other side saying drinking this would be a 150 fee. I only had a few mm and screwed the lid back on tightly after I realise d the fee.

One aibu to think 150 a bottle is a stupid amount?

Two should I go back to the hotel today sober to try and get a reduction in the fee as was barely touched?

Three should I pay whatever the charge is?

OP posts:
Annbag · 18/01/2015 21:45

This reply has been withdrawn

Withdrawn at the poster's request.

borisgudanov · 18/01/2015 21:51

If the B&G ask for payment, reply:

"Your use of Grouse was inanity;
The corkage a cause for profanity.
I'm not coughing up
All that cash for one sup.
Your agreement to that was insanity."

BoomBoomsCousin · 18/01/2015 22:04

So you don't drink much. Get tipsy on a glass of champagne and thought following up with a shot of whisky on an empty stomach was a good way to wait for food? If you've had to stay with a parent you don't entirely get on with I have empathy for that impulse. No one's called you an alcoholic or said you'd start a fist fight. It's a dumb centre piece. But that doesn't mean your behaviour wasn't your responsibility.

Lweji · 18/01/2015 22:08

it's not about how wasted the OP was. She could not see the fucking note because it was at the back of the fucking bottle. Anyone sober could have done the exact same fucking thing.

And breath.

BoomBoomsCousin · 18/01/2015 22:14

Alcohol makes you more likely to miss things.

Lweji · 18/01/2015 22:22

Because normal people have X-ray vision? But lose it when drinking alcohol?

Longdistance · 18/01/2015 22:26

£150 for corkage? Bloody hell that's steep Shock and Famous Grouse

We had corkage at our wedding, and I'm sure we only paid about that much, and we had 6 bottles of wine on the table, and miniature Baileys and Glenlivit for favours.

Yanbu, the venue is for pulling a stunt like that (putting a label on the back) and the B&G for having such shit whiskey mouth wash

Floggingmolly · 18/01/2015 22:32

Op's behaviour, BoomBoom??? She didn't dance on the tables and try to get off with the grooms father; she opened a bottle of whiskey that any rational person would have assumed was there for that purpose.
Lay off her, ffs!

riverboat1 · 18/01/2015 22:35

Alcohol makes you more likely to miss things.

If the bride and groom thought this, they weren't very clever serving champagne to their guests and then sitting them all at tables with more alcohol on with potentially missable notes on the back saying it cost £150 to drink.

SallySolomon · 18/01/2015 22:35

So being tipsy at a wedding makes me a raging entitled acholic

Opening a bottle left on the table after a couple of glasses of wine or whatever doesn't make you a raging alcoholic. It makes you perfectly normal. What in the hell type of person turns every bottle round and about to make sure there's no hidden or obscure labels proclaiming a £150 price tag?!
You just wouldn't expect to see it.
Normal wedding centerpieces are flowers, floating candles, candies, whatever.
Not £150 bottles of grog you're not allowed to touch but they won't make it clear to you in the hope you open one of the bottles
Ridiculous. No-one in their right mind would think that's appropriate.

MrsDiesel · 18/01/2015 22:43

Wow silly idea from the bride and groom. I wouldn't mention it, I doubt they had to pay if you only had a couple of mm. If they asked me about it I would offer to go halves maybe.

expatinscotland · 18/01/2015 22:53

Give me a break! The OP doesn't have the money, either.

Just drop it, thyme, don't mention it.

Some people make it sound like you boil baby hamsters and eat them fur and all.

YonicSleighdriver · 18/01/2015 22:54

Fingers crossed, OP!

expatinscotland · 18/01/2015 22:55

Ignore the Temperance League infiltration, OP.

BMO · 18/01/2015 22:58

Who puts trick booze out on tables at a wedding? No way would I pay!

DomiKatetrix · 18/01/2015 23:01

Pffft, if you get pulled up on it, tell them you don't give a fuck and the idea was shit and not well thought out. They can also put the £50 gift you gave them towards it. Should've just took the bottle home when you realised Wine

BoomBoomsCousin · 19/01/2015 00:37

No fllogging she didn't dance on the tables. She opened a bottle with a £150 corkage fee. Something that no one else on any of the other ten tables seemed to think a good idea. If it was so normal and the tied on tag so impossible to spot, someone else would have had a drink too. I agree it was a daft thing for the bride and groom to put on the table, but that doesn't absolve the op of all responsibility for having opened it.

Lweji · 19/01/2015 00:40

It was not impossible to spot, but certainly difficult if you were standing in front of said bottle. I bet you'd miss it too, even without a drink.

LoisDrankMyTableDecoration · 19/01/2015 00:44

You came back op! I doubt anything will come if this, you swigged some booze, its hardly the crime of the century. Wine

BoomBoomsCousin · 19/01/2015 00:48

No one else did though Lweji, out of ten tables. So I'd happily take that bet.

PhaedraIsMyName · 19/01/2015 00:57

No one else did though Lweji, out of ten tables. So I'd happily take that bet

You were there were you? One of the hotel staff?

We don't know that. The waiting staff removed all the bottles including the one the OP opened. If they removed one opened bottle they might easily have removed other opened bottled or all 10 opened bottles.

It was a stupendously stupid idea of the bride and grooms.

Lweji · 19/01/2015 01:02

The thing is that it would be expected that at least one person would miss it. People on other tables facing the bottle just didn't happen to fancy a drink before the meal.
If you think of one person facing the bottle per table, with all the others having some view of the note, it reduces the chances to 1 in 10 people only. Not 60.

It was unfortunate, but not the OP's fault.

DecaffCoffeeAndRollupsPlease · 19/01/2015 02:18

Totally not your fault and a really silly idea. Don't feel guilty. You've already more than doubled the cash amount you were going to give. Don't mention it and just forget it of you can. I would feel sick if this had happened to me, and it's not a nice position for you to have been put in. Booze on the tables has been there for drinking at weddings I've been too. How and why could you have expected different?

StarsOfTrackAndField · 19/01/2015 03:50

I am curious as to what the other tables were called and what bottles of cheap and undrinkable alcohol were placed on them.
I am going for

Special brew table
Buckfast table
Mad dog 20/20 table
Hofmeister table
Taboo table

But if the bride and groom are dim enough to use cheap booze as table decorations and expct it to remain undrunk , they got what was coming and should foot the bill.

SoupDragon · 19/01/2015 07:07

No fllogging she didn't dance on the tables.

No, she simply made a mistake.

It doesn't seems clear whether they were actually charged anyway.

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