Alcohol you are used to seeing at weddings

[Shoopy]

Musey''s thread got me thinking. My FI is an alcohol snob. If he goes to a party where they serve what he calls "bottom shelf" alcohol, he immediately thinks the party sucks. I, on the other hand, don''t drink (YAY for Designated Drivers

) so I could care less what''s on the drink menu.

But seeing the answers to Musey''s thread where most people are serving just wine/beer, I''m wondering what people are generally used to seeing at a wedding. I have been to maybe 3 weddings and all served wine/beer/and bottom shelf alcohol (generic vodka type of thing). We can save so much money just offering wine but I was under the impression that you needed to have hard liquor. I''m glad to hear that''s not true.

Either way, in the weddings you have been to what has the majority served?

 

[jcrow]

i''ve seen everything. from no alcohol to just wine and beer to wine + beer + frozen drink to wine + beer + signature cocktail to full out bar.

we had a full bar. the only request i had was no shots. that can get pricey and out of hand quickly. we didn''t have a problem

and we had 100 guests if that makes any difference.

 

[violet02]

You don''t need to have hard alcohol... as long as you have beer and wine it should be fine. I didn''t drink anything more than that at weddings I went to.

I went to three weddings last year.

1) Full bar
2) Full bar - but you had to pay for ''top shelf'' alcohol... low was free.
3) 2 signature drinks then wine.

Ditto JCrow as well. I am NOT having shots served. That''s a fast way for people to get in trouble and overdrink... We are probably going to have four mixed drinks and a signature drink plus beer and wine. That will cut down on our bar costs.

 

[Shoopy]

Date: 8/12/2008 4:54:22 PM
Author: violet02
You don''t need to have hard alcohol... as long as you have beer and wine it should be fine. I didn''t drink anything more than that at weddings I went to.

I went to three weddings last year.

1) Full bar
2) Full bar - but you had to pay for ''top shelf'' alcohol... low was free.
3) 2 signature drinks then wine.

Ditto JCrow as well. I am NOT having shots served. That''s a fast way for people to get in trouble and overdrink... We are probably going to have four mixed drinks and a signature drink plus beer and wine. That will cut down on our bar costs.

That''s why I don''t want hard alcohol. We already agreed on a Saturday afternoon ceremony since its cheaper than the evening. But we are getting a suite at the Hard Rock where there are 17 clubs (I think). Anyway, he wants an after party where friends/family go to the suite, have some champagne or some shots, and then we all go clubbing. I love the idea but I''m thinking why do we need hard alcohol at the party then? And he wants the bartender to be able to do something like a Long Island Iced Tea. Who drinks that at noon? LOL

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 8/12/2008 4:31:50 PM
Author: jcrow
i''ve seen everything. from no alcohol to just wine and beer to wine + beer + frozen drink to wine + beer + signature cocktail to full out bar.

we had a full bar. the only request i had was no shots. that can get pricey and out of hand quickly. we didn''t have a problem

and we had 100 guests if that makes any difference.

Ditto...that is what we had...except that some of our guests thought it would be amusing to order Irish Car Bombs (kind of an inside joke that had been running for awhile). The bartender said the beers would be taken care of by us, but told them the Jamesons/Bailey shot had to be paid for by them...and to my surprise at the end of the wedding, I saw that they did just that.

 

[bee*]

Over here (Ireland), there''s usually wine and punch before the reception, wine with the reception and then either champagne/drink of chose for the speeches. After the dinner is over, then there''s a cash bar for the remainder of the night.

 

[dreaming of the day]

The last wedding I went to was a full on bar - no fancy frozen drinks or martinis - but beer, wine, highballs, and shooters. The wedding was the best I had been to in some time, and honestly the shooters were a big big hit. Yes everyone was drunk, but it was a wedding that every single person enjoyed to the fullest.

 

[CrookedRock]

Regarding the shooters... I am recalling my step sis''s wedding where she had a full top shelf bar, but requested no shooters as well. We all ordered vodka (or whatever) on the rocks. Same difference really. And the wedding was a blast!

 

[elrohwen]

The weddings I''ve been to have been full bars with top shelf liquor. I''m still trying to decide what to do for mine. Neither FI nor I drink hard alcohol ever, but we''re huge wine and beer snobs. Our wedding package comes with top shelf liquor, but I want to talk to the venue about maybe getting more (or better) wine selections by cutting out the hard alcohol. We''re bringing in a keg (or two) of our favorite beer(s), so that will be good enough for any beer snob''s taste

 

[diamondfan]

Slightly different but for my son''s bar mitzvah on 2005 and now in 2008 I am only serving top shelf. I am having specialty martinis and will have a variety of high end vodkas, and patron tequila and such. I am serving Veuve Cliquot, but not the non vintage. I will not serve inferior alcohol, it makes me get sick. All red and white wines will be good too, Opus possibly for the red, and not sure about white as I do not drink a ton of white except pinot grigio or prosecco occasionally. I will keep whatever wine we do not consume so I want it to be good stuff. I do not think I will serve beer.

At our wedding I served no beer, but the hotel provided nice alcohol.

 

[ljsmith001]

Oh my gosh, I didnt know people judged the party by the brand of liquor that is being served! We are having an open bar the entire night, but it was SO much more expensive to have premium liquor (makers, ketel one, etc) so we are just having "bottom shelf" i guess.. its bacardi, smirnoff, jack daniels! I hope no one sees it and thinks our wedding blows.

 

[Shoopy]

Date: 8/12/2008 9:03:09 PM
Author: ljsmith001
Oh my gosh, I didnt know people judged the party by the brand of liquor that is being served! We are having an open bar the entire night, but it was SO much more expensive to have premium liquor (makers, ketel one, etc) so we are just having ''bottom shelf'' i guess.. its bacardi, smirnoff, jack daniels! I hope no one sees it and thinks our wedding blows.

Dont let his stupid comment make you feel bad. He''s a snob when it comes to alcohol

. Most people are happy just to have something to loosen them up on the dance floor

 

[Clairitek]

I''ve been to two weddings as a guest recently and one as a BM (and 1 am in another one in May). One wedding had a cash bar for everything (but there were 300 guests so I don''t blame them). The second wedding had complimentary wine and beer but guests had to purchase hard liquor drinks. The wine and beer were both very good selections but once the wine ran out (with about 1 hour left in the reception) we had to pay for it. The third wedding had an open bar up until dinner was done being served. As soon as the dessert course started we had to pay for the drinks. I think they might have gone around with bottles of wine during the dinner service and filled peoples glasses up as well. The wedding I am going to be in this coming May is entirely open bar I think.

I personally plan on having complimentary wine and beer at my own wedding (whenever that will happen ). I''m not even sure that I will serve hard alcohol beyond a signature drink.

I''m sure that whatever you choose will be a great success and that your guests will be excited to be at your wedding.

 

[Mediterranean]

Date: 8/12/2008 9:29:25 PM
Author: fieryred33143

Date: 8/12/2008 9:03:09 PM

Author: ljsmith001

Oh my gosh, I didnt know people judged the party by the brand of liquor that is being served! We are having an open bar the entire night, but it was SO much more expensive to have premium liquor (makers, ketel one, etc) so we are just having ''bottom shelf'' i guess.. its bacardi, smirnoff, jack daniels! I hope no one sees it and thinks our wedding blows.

Dont let his stupid comment make you feel bad. He''s a snob when it comes to alcohol

. Most people are happy just to have something to loosen them up on the dance floor

Yeah, ditto! Don''t feel bad! In fact, at my venue, we ordered the "Brand Name" bar (one step above well at this place) and Jim Beam is the bourbon, not Jack Daniel''s Jack Daniel''s is actually in the package ONE step above ours.

I, personally, am not a big drinker of hard liquor and I can''t tell Absolut from Grey Goose. I''d imagine it''s even less so if it''s mixed into a drink, instead of served straight.

I''m happy enough eating and drinking for free, LOL.

 

[Neveah]

I say know your crowd! I knew most of our friends preferred Captain Morgans Rum... So I asked that they switch the Bacardi for Captains...
I tried to warn the hotel just how much my friends enjoyed it.... don''t think they believed me. By 11pm our wedding not only drank the ballroom out of Captain''s, but the entire Westin hotel

My friends are quite proud of that statistic!

A signature drink is also nice.

 

[diamondfan]

I think an open bar in general is a nice thing to provide your guests, but I have people in my crowd who are MAJOR wine snobs, Dominus etc, and also are snobs about their martinis etc. I do not really drink anything but wine and champagne, so vodka, bourbon etc do not really impact me, but those who DO absolutely have their favorites. I am doing a vodka ice thing at the bar mitzvah, where the vodka is poured down these ice ramps and it is really cool. I just like the look and the idea of it, but again I am not a hard liquor gal...

 

[ilovethiswebsite]

We are estimating 1 bottle of wine (fancy 50$/bottle wine) per 2 guests and an extra 2 thousand in open bar (beer, soda, wine, vodka)... after that point it will be a cash bar.

We have about 100 guests...

God I hope that's enough...

 

[Pandora II]

Maybe it's different in the UK.

The more upscale weddings I have been to have served ONLY wine (but very good wines).

The other weddings we have attended have had a full bar (but normally cash bar).

Personally I'd rather have really good wine that was chosen to compliment the food and perhaps a signature cocktail during the reception than a full bar.

As a non-drinker I do tend to notice if people have made an effort to provide something interesting that is non alcoholic. I did a sparkling pomegranate & elderflower presse that looked just like pink champagne and tasted a bit more grown-up than orange juice. I'm also a ginger beer addict (don't know if you have that in the US - non-alcoholic ginger flavoured soft drink, very different to ginger ale) so we had lots of that as well.

I loathe drunken behaviour and my parents disapprove of spirits, so it was a no brainer for me to serve what I did.

Around 50 of us were all staying in the same hotel afterwards and they opened the bar for us there. A few people brought along half finished bottles of wine from our wedding as well which was nice (I hate to see good wine go to waste!).

 

[MustangGal]

I don''t know if it''s a West Coast thing, or just the type of weddings I''ve been to, but none of the ones I''ve attended really did open bars. We didn''t have one at our wedding, and my BIL just had 2 bottles of wine on each table. All of my DH''s cousins didn''t even have cash bars.

I did help with a wedding here in AZ in March that had an open bar, but it was a Sunday night, so most people didn''t drink too much. Since I was more "working" the wedding than being a guest, I felt too guilty to actually get a drink.

 

[Delster]

Date: 8/12/2008 5:10:04 PM
Author: bee*
Over here (Ireland), there''s usually wine and punch before the reception, wine with the reception and then either champagne/drink of chose for the speeches. After the dinner is over, then there''s a cash bar for the remainder of the night.

Ditto, although the last wedding I was at omitted the wine/champagne for guests on arrival at the reception venue. They served tea to the guests, while the wedding party had champagne. They also omitted wine on the tables during dinner and just provided jugs of tap water. They did provide one drink per guest for toasting during the speeches. After that, as is usual here, there was a full cash bar provided by the hotel.

I''d never heard of a wedding with an open bar until I was at a friend''s wedding in the States.

 

[pocahontas]

I''ve only gone to one wedding that offered a cash bar, but served wine at dinner. All the other weddings I''ve attended (and there have been tons over the years) offered full, open bar service; most of which offered shots as well.

 

[vita*dolce]

most of the weddings i''ve been to have had open bars, though i''ve been to a couple in vineyards that only served wine, which seemed really appropriate circumstantially... i like the idea of wine and cocktails, though. i would nix beer from my menu entirely if SO would allow it!!

 

[musey]

We're doing a beer/wine/champagne open bar...

We can add a premium liquor bar for $25/head for 3 hours (we need 4, $9/head each extra hour)-an extra $3000 total, and/or up to 6 signature cocktails w/ Soju for $10/head for 3 hours ($4/head for each additional hour)-an extra $1200 total.

We're spending $120/head for the venue/chairs/tables/linens/china/food/etc., and the beer/wine/champagne package is rolled in. I don't enjoy hard liquor, so for me personally it doesn't feel worth it to "upgrade"... it didn't occur to me that some people might REALLY miss it.

So much money...