Bubbles at Every Budget, The Guide to Selecting Your Wedding Day Champagne

The Champagne toast is one of the most important moments of any wedding reception. Everyone loves the loud POP! of the cork and the effervescence spilling over the glass only serves to echo the joyous exuberance of the room.

As people gather to wedding toast their glasses in the air, the celebration grows. Depending on the number of wedding guests coming and the size of your champagne budget, real Champagne may not be practical. Fear not if this is the case. There is a bottle of bubbles at every price point that can be an excellent choice for your wedding day toast.  Our wine and spirits expert, Vanessa Price, has pulled some great recommendations for affordable champagne (and alternatives) at every budget. *Prices are approximated for retail pricing. Photography by Michelle McSwain 

$10 a bottle - This is an excellent opportunity to explore a lesser known bubbles region of the world. Cava, which comes from Spain, is made the same way Champagne is. It will be a fruitier and fresher style of bubbles. Cava is a high-quality wine at a bargain-basement price since it is so little known.

Segura Viudas Brut Cava is a great one to try. $15 a bottle - Prosecco has gotten a bit pricier than it used to be due to its raging popularity in the U.S. It remains an excellent value if you choose a quality producer. Because it is a sweeter style, some producers add too much sugar to mask any flaws in their wine. Better to pay a dollar or two more and get something delicious that won’t utterly destroy you in the hangover department the next day (excess sugar exacerbates a hangover’s effects).

la Marca makes an excellent Prosecco, and the bottle is a classic Tiffany blue. $25 a bottle - While you may not be quite to a champagne price point, there are some delectable selections at this threshold. California is a good option here for wines made like Champagne with high quality and not high ticket prices. A popular estate in California called Roederer Estate is owned and operated by the family of Champagne Louis Roederer. They produce these wines with the same discipline that they take in France. Consistently named the top sparkling wine of California, you can be sure this wine will be a hit. $50 a bottle - This is definitely a Champagne price point. Because there are so many options to choose from, try to experiment and find what you like.

The Brut Multvintage wine that each producer makes is their hallmark style. That means the flavor profile never changes. So if you discover you like Bollinger, which is a bigger oakier style, you will always know that this is how it will taste year after year. If you like a leaner crisper style, Pol Roger is a delicious choice. $100+ If you are one of the lucky few that has little to no limits on your budget then this is a great opportunity to share a memorable moment with your guests. The top Champagne that any house makes is called the Prestige Cuvee.

For example, Cristal is the Prestige Cuvee of Louis Roederer and Dom Perignon is the Prestige Cuvee of Möet. Choose one of these for a toast and no one will forget. For many, this may be their first time drinking something so fine and rare. About the Expert Vanessa Price is a wine expert based in New York City. She is an educator for the Wine & Spirit Education Trust and has her Level 4 Diploma Certification from WSET©.  Vanessa spends her days pouring out bubbles for Champagne Louis Roederer and her evenings consulting on wine lists throughout the city and the Hamptons. Follow Vanessa on Instagram for more.