Alcohol at a wedding

[aggiedvm2012]

Just wondering - if you''ve had a wedding recently and had alcohol at it, what did you spend? Was it open bar, cash bar, how long was the reception, and how many people?

We are trying to figure out if we will meet the minimum use fee for the place we are wanting to use. We''d like to have open bar (beer and wine only) and cash bar for liqueur. We''re planning on 150 people.

Thanks!

 

[jcarlylew]

I am not exactly sure on the numbers, but i remember our venue suggested the following (however our wedding is still a couple weeks away so we might change our numbers)
Beer: 2 beverages pp
Wine - one bottle of wine will serve 3 people
Keg - one keg serves about 80 keg cups (about 1.5 glasses). For 120ppl we are getting two kegs.

 

[caribqueen]

I can't speak from experience as my wedding has not come yet.

But here's what we WILL get. Our facility includes the open bar (including top shelf liquor) into the price per person dinner cost. In addition, we will have champagne for the toast and we had to pick one red and one white wine for each table that will be served during dinner. Guests will still be able to go to the bar at any time during the night during the cocktail hour and 4-hour reception. We'll likely extend the reception 1 hour at the end of the night, but possibly without alcohol (which may be a good thing since people should sober up before they leave for the night).

Personally, I'm not a fan of any kind of cash bar at a wedding.

ETA: We will have 210 - 230 people. Right now the going rate at the venue is $120 - 130 pp, but since we negotiated last year when things were not as good, we're paying $90 pp.

 

[LadyJane83]

Venues we have requested info from in the Baltimore/DC area that do not have alcohol included in the price, offer open bar for anywhere from $18-$30pp. Beer and wine only usually runs $13-$20pp, sometimes less.

If you are on a budget, look for places that do not have liquor licenses and allow you to bring in your own alcohol. I''d say 100-150 people can drink easily for $1500-$2000. A lot of liquor stores will also allow you to return any unopened bottles (except for beer).

Another option, especially if you don''t have a lot of heavy drinkers, is to look for places with consumptive bar options. You''ll pay a predetermined price per drink or per bottle opened. You can usually try to estimate how many drinks everyone will have and see whether you will save money.