Alcohol Budget

Are you hiring a bartender? I would talk to them and see what they think you need.

It depends if you are wanting top shelf or call liquor & beer & wine, and how many options you want. And if you are hiring a bartender, need to rent serving glasses, need to buy ice & mixers & napkins, and need to rent the actual bar and coolers? We had a party for 50 people and spent around $400 on liquor, we had a few beer options, a few cheap wine options, and pretty much all kinds of liquor but cheaper brands (Captain, Jack Daniels, etc.)

We will have bartenders and all of the mixers/glassware/ice ect through the caterer. This is purely the alcohol. We were going to go call liquor/beer/wine...as long as that means mid range type stuff. I'm getting a quantity estimate from the caterer, but I was wondering how much total people spend all together.

View Quoted Comment That’s really going to vary based on region. Here in MA, everything is expensive, so a 6 pack of beer could run me over $10 but if I drive up to NH (10 minutes away), the same 6 pack costs me $8.

Https://www.womangettingmarried.com/wedding-alcohol-calculator-open-bar/

I found this to be helpful!

Our venue charged us $12 an adult for an open bar, that would be $1,800 for 150 adults (charge is removed for under 21). That includes beer, wine, and several mid priced liquors. There was no additional charge for the bartenders so that would be total amount for bar. My friend who got alcohol for her open bar (no bartender) said she spent about $300 for 25-30 adults but had plenty left to spare.

We spent $6pp. We bought everything from total wine and returned the unopened bottles we had afterwards. My breakdown has been listed several times in similar posts like this recently, if you can’t find it and are interested I can send you my breakdown.

Our venue is also BYOB and we planning on supplying the wine, beer, and liquor. We also have 150 adults. We are going through ACE Liquors because they deliver and pickup (unused bottles; refund the difference) day-of. Our cater is providing the liquor license, bartenders, bar supplies, and mixers. We are planning to spend $2200 on alcohol. That number is based on ACE's recommendation and on my two friends with BYOB weddings in the DC area also.

We bought all our own alcohol for 200 guest, all of which are heavy drinkers (so I made sure to buy extra). We bought from Costco since if its unopened they allow you to return it with a receipt after the wedding. We ended up spending $2500. We also bought 2 different kegs instead of bottled/can beer.

I would of loved to of had BYOB at my wedding venue. Unfortunately they don’t allow it. I’m being charged $1600 for 120 guest that will include beer wine and soda. Any liquor will be extra. If I wanted to include liquor it would of cost much more. Luckily most of my guest are beer drinkers

Was also wondering the same. My venue only allows beer/wine/champagne served by a bartender. Had a bartender quote me $692 if he provides the alcohol. Don't know if it would be cheaper for me to supply the alcohol.