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when you are trying to estimate the cost of doing it per drink, keep in mind that you are guessing how many drinks each person will have. at a big celebration light drinkers may drink more. also, when drinks are free, people tend to leave them around and just go back to get another rather than looking for it.....this can definitely add up!
we had open bar during cocktail hour, and then wine/beer/soda only during dinner. it actually happened by accident - you're not really allowed to split it and we originally chose wine/beer/soda b/c it was cheaper and i didn't want too many crazy drunkards. they accidently opened the full bar and they said they could keep it open until dinner, but couldn't keep it open the whole time b/c the bartender was afraid of getting in trouble w/ the head guy. so it worked out perfectly! and we didn't have to pay for the extra cost for open bar which was nice but that was b/c it was their mistake.
just don't do cash bar if you can help it - a lot of people get surprisingly offended.
Definately good point dreambml! I drink very rarely, but if the drinks are free and everyone's jolly!
Here's my huge advice (lesson learned from my sis's wedding): Make it very clear (bridezilla clear!) that the waitstaff is never to clear a partially full or full glass from a table unless requested to. You'd be surprised how many times people would get up to dance, get back and drink is gone, then go back up to the bar! It *really* added up!
An option you have is to order through BevMo. They can deliver and you save a lot of money by providing your own alcohol provided that the catering company/venue doesn't charge corkage and allows you to bring your own.
Any unused portion you can return!
You can have an open bar and a limited bar at different times of the evening as well. When taking the cost into consideration, assume worst case scenario if it were to be per drink rather than per head or yourself bringing it. It can add up.
Would anyone who had an open bar (or limited bar) mind posting how much they ended up spending, or at least an approximate range?
one idea would be to have open bar during cocktail hour and the first hour of the party. then when dinner is served, you can switch to wine being poured at the tables (choose one red and one white that are reasonable and go nicely with your menu).
then after dinner, you can either switch back to open bar or go for a consumption bar (based on the actual number of drinks ordered) since many people drink less after dinner than before and during. Most venues will work with you to pick out whatever combination will work well with your guests and budget.
I will be spending about $5000 for 140 people. open bar for 5 hours, includes wine, beer, premium liquor, soda and water....
we went with an open bar because my mother insisted. i really don't think we had too -- very few people took advantage of the bar (as i suspected) and we wouldn't have spent more than $20 pp, which is what we ended up paying for the open bar.
that's just my experience -- it can go either way and you really don't know until the big day.
We stocked our own bar and had way more than enough of everything for 65 people. We did all top shelf high end liquor and beer and then mid-range wine ($15ish per bottle). We spent about $1500 on the liquor and have lots of Christmas presents left over for our drinking friends and family!!!
we are doing the open bar during cocktail hour, wine/beer for the rest of the evening, and wine service during dinner. this is budget-friendly without looking cheap and will keep people happy without the risk of certain uncles getting out of hand!
We are having an open bar for a cockatil hour before dinner and then after dinner we are just having beer & wine. We are lucky because the beer after dinner is included in the reception package. I figure this will keep most people happy.
we did a hosted bar - wine/beer/pop/and signature drinks named after the bride and groom in our wedding colors :)
when we calculated it out - our hosted bar ended up saving us $$$ compared to the open bar and we were able to have a bar for nearly the entire event from the cocktail hour to the last dance.
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i'm going with the open bar. it was actually included in my catering contract, since i'm having the reception at a hotel. as long as you don't do a cash bar, i think you'll be okay with whatever decision you make. b/c u defintely should have liquor, whether it be only wine/beer or hard liquor.
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i am doing an open bar. the price is included per person in my food & beverage contract and it's pretty reasonable. (about $20 per head) the open bar includes all alcohol (which could be an issue) but our wedding is held in a hotel so no one has to drive.
I'm not having an open bar, much to my chagrin. My parents are very religious, do not drink, have already told me that if anyone gets out of hand they'll be leaving immediately and taking my younger siblings with them. It was a huge issue of contention between us, but we resolved it for the best I think.
We decided to keep a cash bar available, but put two bottles of wine on each table of ten people. So, we'll be giving them a little free alcohol, and any more they'll have to pay for. After being a little upset at this for awhile, I've realized it's for the best. I always take serious advantage of an open bar at a wedding. So do all of my friends. I don't want everyone being ridiculous. Even more so, it wouldn't fit in my budget!
But here's my big secret: in addition to our wedding party gifts, we'll be giving each of them enough cash to buy them two drinks at the cash bar. We feel they deserve a few more on us than anyone else.
We had a hosted bar with two signature cocktails, wine, and beer during cocktail hour. During dinner, we had wine and champagne service. Once dancing started, hosted bar again, with two signature drinks, wine, and beer. everything was paid for on a per-drink basis. With 180 guests at $7-8 per alcoholic drink and $3-$4 per non alcoholic drink (tea, soda, etc), it came out to be around $3500-$4000.
I'd consider 1/3 of our guests moderate drinkers (the kind who will go out once every few weeks for drinks) while the other 2/3 don't typically drink at all. But you'd be surprised at how many non drinkers turn into drinkers at a wedding! Especially if they are having fun. Many of the "non drinkers" had more than a few beers. :)
Budget for about 3.5-4 drinks per person during the night and I'd say you're probably ok. We budgeted 3 drinks per person but we also hit our budget during the last hour of the night and had to switch to a cash bar. But no one noticed or even cared at that point b/c they were all busy dancng and having fun. We didn't receive one word of complaint about the cash bar since the people who ended up paying at the cash bar were the ones who had already consumed 9 beers from our hosted bar. :)
Anyone have experience with hosting a totally open bar that you provide the alcohol for? That's what we're doing for 200 guests, and I've budgeted $3000 but have no idea if that's anywhere close to what we'll spend. Advice?
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I'm not sure if this is something that venues do.... but can't you keep a "tab" at the bar, and just pay the tab at the end of the night, instead of having an open bar? If you are really sure that you would save money this way because your guests aren't huge drinkers, it might be a good way to go (and maybe limit options to only wine, beer, and a signature drink or two).
Or, as someone suggested, maybe you can give the venue a budget so once your guests drink, say, $3000 worth of alcohol, they have to switch to cash bar? That way you're not screwed out of a lot of money by paying for an open bar that people don't take enough advantage of, but in the event they DO drink a lot, they're still getting drinks on you for a majority of the evening (possibly never even having to switch to the cash bar if the bar doesn't reach your budget maximum).
Someone told us that she did an open bar for 135 guests 2 years ago and the bar tab at the end of the night was about $7200. This is at the same venue we are having our reception at and the bar is consumption based, drinks are currently $6.75 and wine is about $20 a bottle and beer ranges from about $5-$6. Hope that helps with your estimating, also she said her guests were on the heavy drinker side and she mandated no shots allowed. Also, evite has a drink calculater that is helpful with estimating how much alcohol you're need based on humber of guests, drinking level and duration of event. Just google it.
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What my caterer suggested was to do a certain dollar amount as an open bar (say 3000) and once that limit hits, it switches over to cash... we have *very* few people coming who actually drink (religious/recovering purposes), so this will work well for us
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My friends and family hardly drink but his would consider it the greatest sin to have anything other then a top shelf open bar...so we are going to do an open bar but pay per drink not a flat rate per person. We added it up and the flat rate would mean that each person would drink around 8 drinks....I know for sure no one on my side will have 8 alcoholic drinks in a night and it seemed like such a waste to do the flate rate when half of the guests won't do any drinks or just 1 or 2.
One other hint I heard from another bride...some weddings provide free transportation for their guests from hotel to reception site which encourages your guests to drink a lot since "hey i don't have to drive tonight." If everyone is driving their own car then people are less likely to overindule in drinking since at least one person needs to be driving home. Make sure there are taxis avalible for those guests who drink too much even when they are driving.
have you considered a limited bar? like just beer and wine and some signature cocktails?
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We're having around 200 guests and there is absolutely no way we can afford to do an open bar - that's like $7000-$8000, and our hotel doesn't allow carry-ins. So we're just doing beer/wine/pop. I'd like some kind of signature drink but I don't know how that's going to work. I don't really drink beer or wine - I'm more of a vodka/cranberry type girl. So we'll see. :)
Thanks for all the advice. My fiance and I figured that with the price of open bar for beer and wine, each person would have to drink 6 beers or 5 glasses of wine, and while some will, I have enough non-drinkers (for health and baby reasons) that the cost is not worth it. I checked with my venue and they will allow us to have all types of beer plus pick a white, red and champange. Then pay by consumption. We are budgeting about 2500 for 85 people. I think this option will work best with the people we have coming.
Thanks again for the advice
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Hi all! I am having a bit of a deliema and needing advice. I am in Washington, DC and finalizing our wedding stuff and we can the discussion of open bar.
My parents and many of there friends don't drink or drink very lightly. My fiance and my friends drink average to boarding on heavy. We were planning on having on open bar from 0730-1030. However, I used alot of calucators and when I buy per drink it comes out a lot cheaper. I am not sure which way to go.
Advice or stories????
Thanks!