Bar is Open...Well Maybe, If I Get the Liquor Ordered

[sledge]

I'm trying to finalize the liquor order and would appreciate some input.

Here's what I got thus far...

• Approx 160 RSVP'd guests
• Figure 70% will drink so roughly 112 drinkers
• Many of my friends can do some serious drinking & partying. I won't be partaking at that level but I anticipate they will.
• We plan on having two signature drinks. One a sweet tea vodka and another a green apple moscato sangria.
• Will have a cocktail hour before dinner, that will allow us to do photos
• Anticipate about 5 hours total for the reception

I built a spreadsheet, because I'm a geek that way. Short & sweet is 112 people x 5 hours x 2 drinks/hour = 1,120 servings

While me and most my friends could easily drink this or more, I don't anticipate most guests will have 10 drinks. So I adjusted down to 1.5 drinks/hour and got 840 servings total.

I currently have distribution as follows: 25% wine, 40% spirits and 35% beer.

Roughly this breaks down to:

• 12 cases (24-12oz bottles) beer
• 9 handles (1.75L bottles) of spirits, spread using vodka, whiskey, tequila, rum & Jeremiah Weed sweet tea vodka
• 42 bottles (750ml) of wine

All in, it's approximately $1,000 for all the liquor.

Thoughts/comments? This seems like quite a bit to me but I'm worried about running out. Also the owner of the liquor store I am talking to has offered to buy back liquor we don't drink. The bar tender we hired is suggesting about half what I am proposing to order.

Am I stressing myself out over nothing?


Oh yeah, bonus points....

I see America drinking the fabulous cocktails I make.
Americans getting stinky on something I stir or shake.
The Sex On The Beach, the schnapps made from peach,
The Velvet Hammer,
the Alabama Slamma!
I make things with juice and froth: the Pink Squirrel, the 3-Toed Sloth. I make drinks so sweet and snazzy:
The Iced Tea, The Kamikaze, The Orgasm, The Death Spasm,
The Singapore Sling, The Dingaling.
America you’ve just been devoted to every flavor I got.
But if you want to got loaded,
why don’t you just order a shot?

Bar is open!

 

[tjkswift]

I think you're on the mark with the booze. One thought I have, around my neck of the woods, for an evening wedding, almost everyone enjoys a glass of wine with their dinner. A bottle of wine has 4 nice pours for dinner, so at 42 bottles, you're at about 168 glasses of wine. I'm a little concerned that may not be enough but you know your guests better than I. Also, there's no distinction made between red or white wine and that may need some consideration based on your menu. The # of bottles and beers seem reasonable. Cheers!

 

[arkieb1]

Add about another 20 to 25% (just a general rule I use) to what you think you will need (for just in case) and I also think they will possibly drink more wine than that too.

 

[missy]

Those cocktails you make sound pretty good @sledge

I think you are going to be A OK with the liquor but just in case have a cushion. If you have too much liquor can you just pack it up and bring it back so it won't go to waste?

I agree with @arkieb1 in that whatever you calculate you might need add a good cushion to that. You do not want to run out of liquor. We had an open bar with everything and it was included in the overall price for the wedding. But I am fairly confident we paid a premium to do that. However our friends (and his family haha) are serious about their liquor and we could not take a chance.

Most important for a successful day 1. Bride and Groom are in love with each other and show up 2. Music is amazing (and everyone joins in and dances and 3. Liquor is available and flowing (this one depends on your guests) and 4. There is decent food.



Congrats and good luck and please come back with photos.

 

[LinSF]

Our guests drank way more than we anticipated... and this is with a family full of non drinkers. We got an extra 5k bar tab after the wedding (yes, that was fun). I'd say you're probably spot on, but need a cushion. Ignore recommendations because you know your crew better than anyone. Buy a little more then return it, that's a great option!

 

[OoohShiny]

If it's Sale Or Return, just order worst-case-scenario amounts and return what's left, as above!

(Make sure to get the guarantee in writing, though, or agree it in the traditional handshake way )

I have no idea how much our guests drunk TBH - I think we only bought/brought in wine for the meal and paid corkage per bottle, and the venue's bar just had their usual stocks they worked through!

Don't forget that you may need bottles of dilutable squash or individual bottles of 'Fruit Shoots' (as they are called over here) for any kids that are coming. We just bought those at the wholesalers as well, but the venue was nice enough to not charge 'corkage' for bringing those in.

Will you be having champagne / Cava / something else fizzy for the toasts at dinner? (You might get 5 small glasses per bottle??)

Will you be having some alcohol-free-but-like-wine drinks? (We have 'Schloer' over here, or however you spell it, lol)

 

[sledge]

The place we are having our wedding requires the use of a bartender for ANY liquor. The bartender I hired supplies all the ice, mixers, fruit, cups, napkins and non-alcoholic drinks. Basically everything, except the actual liquor which is my responsibility to buy.

While it's a bit of a pain to figure out what is needed, I do think it's a cheaper route. Even if I add a 20% buffer to the liquor, my math works out as below:

• $1,000 alcohol + 20% buffer = $1,200 total
• $600 bartender
• $250 security (required by venue for any alcohol, even canned beer, that is served)
• Total = $1,850 / 160 guests = $11.56 per guest
• Or $1,850 / 112 drinkers = $16.52 per drinker

Assuming each drinker really used their 7.5 drinks that's only about $2.20/drink. When I go out, it seems most places are charging $8-12/drink. So this seems fair to me.

I'm just struggling to make sure I have estimated the average drinks properly. It's been difficult because a core group of my friends have big personalities and can drink more than the average Joe. Consequently they will likely make the event very fun; however, they could also encourage guests to drink more than normal as well.

Also, I am not really sure if I have the distribution correct. In addition to the open bar, we will also have tea, lemonade and water available for the kids and those guests that don't like to drink. And for the guests seeking sodas, etc the bar will supply those.

We will be having two signature drinks. One will be a green apple moscato sangria, and the other will be a sweet tea vodka mixture. The sweet tea drink really sneaks up on you as it's silky smooth but delivers the same 80-90 proof punch that Crown does! Also, at the risk of losing my man card, I will admit the green apple moscato sangria's are pretty awesome. I would never order one, but I would gladly steal a sip or two from my soon to be wife. I really kicked around a 3rd signature drink -- frozen Crown & coke -- which is a pure freakin' delight! Sad to report, we can't get a machine to do that one, but I will have plenty of Crown available for the non-frozen version.

Perhaps we have been short-sighed about the wine, but we had not anticipated everyone having wine with dinner. We think we will have a small portion of true wine drinkers, with the cavaet one of our signature drinks uses moscato. Which again, introduces a complexity of how to judge the right amount as we anticipate people at least trying the drink.

Good thing about moscato is the fiancee loves it, so she is happy to take it home. All the people we know that drinks wine, has similar tastes to her. We are thinking only a few bottles of stuff that isn't moscato based on what we think others will drink.

 

[telephone89]

Always buy more than you think, especially if you can return it.

A few things to note if you are returning:
-Don't put any bottles IN ice. Beer bottles or champagne. The ice will ruin the labels and you won't be able to return.
-Open as you go (for the bartender). No need to open all at once.
-Are you doing wine at the table? Maybe look at table service instead. If you provide a bottle or two per table, that could leave 10+ half drank bottles that cant be returned. Doing table service also provides people the opportunity to have a rum & coke instead of wine if they dont normally drink it.

 

[sledge]

Interesting thoughts @telephone89.

Neither of us like champagne, and don't plan on buying it to be honest. Our thoughts on the toast was that since we had an open bar, people were welcome to use whatever drink they chose for themselves.

All alcohol has to be served to guests, and cannot be placed on the table for self-serve. So yes, if a guest is going to get wine, then they can certainly order another mixed drink if that is what they prefer.

Good point about opening the liquor as needed, and not all at once. I spoke with the bartender earlier today and asked if I could bring liquor I had accumulated at my house. I've hosted quite a few parties at my place and have an assortment of spirits I'd like to clear out. I'd like to make sure my existing items of the same identical type is used before the new.

Now that I think about it, I probably have the extra 20% spirits covered.

My initial thoughts are up the wine order, bring my extra spirits and chance the beer.

 

[telephone89]

@sledge the ice comment goes for white wine as well! Any chilled item should be in a fridge if possible.
It sounds like you have a good plan!

 

[arkieb1]

I hope you have a fabulous day!!! The cocktails look great!!!

 

[sledge]

I wanted to take a quick second and update this thread in case future lurkers read this and curious how things turned out. First off, we had about 25-30 people that RSVP'd that didn't make it. On the flip side we had a dozen or so that didn't RSVP so it kind of balanced out. This wasn't totally unexpected, as our hometown is several hours away from where we held the wedding so many of our guests were from out of town.

That said, the final liquor order tallied just a hair over $1,000 (only the liquor, other items provided by the bartender & security was a separate cost) and included the following:

• 1 handle (1.75ml) Camarena tequila
• 3 handles Tito's vodka
• 2 handles Crown whiskey
• 4 bottles (750ml) of Jeremiah Weed sweet tea vodka (just shy of 2 handles)
• 1 handle Bacardi rum
• 4 cases Shiner Bock
• 5 cases Michelob Ultra
• 3 cases Blue Moon
• 24 bottles (again 750ml) Moscato wine
• 6 bottles Apothic Red
• 6 bottles Apothic Crush (variation of red)
• 6 bottles of Apothic White

Additionally I brought up some various liquor from my house that had accumulated from past parties I had hosted. Major items was 2 liters of Crown, Jameson whiskey, spiced rum, Bailey's Irish cream & Jack Daniel's fire whiskey.

Almost forgot, one of my guys got me a bottle of Woodford Reserve bourboun as a gift. Unfortunately, it didn't last long. We managed to enjoy 4 shots while getting in our tuxes and chilling in the groom's room before pictures & the ceremony. After the ceremony, we had to go back up stairs so we could stage to make a wedding party reception entrance. As we were staging us guys managed to get in a 5th shot & toast before making our ways down the grand stairs and getting the official party, errr reception, started.

This was an open bar, so totally free and the guests were unrestrained on how many or what type of drinks they wanted (aside from age restrictions and legality issues). Immediately after the ceremony our guests had about an hour to enjoy cocktails & hors d'oeuvres while we finished pictures.

Counting the cocktail hour, our guests had a solid 5 hours to drink as the vast majority stayed until last call was announced. I might note I had 30-35 power drinkers in the crowd. And several people we didn't anticipate drinking or barely drinking, ended up drinking more than usual. No one got tacky or stupid/rude but it was a lively and fun time.

After it was all said and done, I ended up returning the following which was close to a $500 refund after taxes were included.

• Two handles of Crown
• 12 bottles of Moscato
• 3 bottles of Apothic White
• 2 bottles of Apothic Red
• 1 bottle of Apothic Crush
• 7 cases of beer (spread somewhat evenly between the 3 brands)

A few side notes. The only reason I returned the Crown was because the bartenders used my 2 liters of Crown I brought from the house. Otherwise, the 2 handle estimate would have been spot on. My sweet tea vodka drink was very popular with the crowd but I did have one unused bottle that was non-returnable as it was a special order liquor per the owner of the liquor store. Not a big deal as I'm happy to drink myself. Her green apple moscato drink was popular but not as highly demanded as we anticipated. We way over estimated beer consumption, and despite having what I considered a good mix as those brands hit major groups I heard one family member complain there was no Bud Light. Of course, he was more than happy to drink Crown & Coke instead.

I'm glad we had the tequila and rum available, although they were barely used. Tequila was maybe 25-30% gone, and that's because they were doing a special margarita drink. The rum was barely touched, maybe 10-15% gone.

Obviously the preferences and tolerances of your friends & family may vary, but maybe this is helpful in some way to those looking for guidance in the future.

 

[telephone89]

Awesome update!
I've never heard of sweet tea vodka (canada) but that sounds delightful!

 

[sledge]

Awesome update!
I've never heard of sweet tea vodka (canada) but that sounds delightful!

Thank you!

I am a big fan of this drink, as it's so freakin' smooth. That's part of the beauty and evil. You have 3-4 of them because they are so tasty, then you stand up to use the bathroom and curious why you are a bit wobbly. Reading the alcohol content, they are the same potency of Crown whiskey.

Here's how I enjoy mine:

• 1/2 Jeremiah Weed sweet tea vodka
• 1/2 regular unsweet tea
• Lemon slice, which I squeeze and plunk into the drink like I would a normal iced tea
• Stir it all together for good measure
• Bottoms up!

One would think you can bypass the special combo Jeremiah Weed liquor, and I have tried. Unfortunately, the ratios get messed up and you get a different taste. I'm convinced with enough time & patience you could figure it out if you don't have access to JW.