Alcohol Costs?

We supplied our own, but I'm guessing that's not an option for your wedding. I think we paid $150 for the certified bartender, another $400 for bar setup/unlimited soft drinks, and then $550 or so for beer and wine (5 or so varieties of each) after we returned the unopened wine (couldn't return beer). We also tipped another $100. So, I guess it was about $11pp total, but that's a little misleading because all of the soft drinks were included too. We had exactly 100 guests.

Woah woah woah. Is that $8k you bringing in alcohol? Or paying the venue per person? Because you definitely won't spend that much per person if you bring in the alcohol yourselves. Let me find my post about how much we bought and how much was left over. It was very detailed.

Here is the post I made about our numbers:

https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/our-alcohol-numbers-beforeafter/4f306ce7f2468bcf.html

I bought my beer and wine at Walmart. So ....what it's like $14 a case? about $3ish for each bottle of wine? YES I bought the cheap shit haha

We picked a venue that would allow us to bring in our own alcohol. I don't get why people choose venues before breaking down all these prices. Like would you get a venue that you had to rent tables and chairs for a ridiculous amount? No. Why is the same due diligence not done for liquor?

Anyway that's not too helpful for you OP. Where are you located? Is it a consumption bar or hourly? What time is your ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception?

Our only option was a consumption bar - we paid per drink (hard alcohol), per keg tapped or bottle uncorked. For 150ish people it was 7.5K

@Emily - That's what I never understand, but don't ask since it's too late for them! But I really don't get why people don't factor this into the venue budget BEFORE booking the venue! We knew what our costs of everything were before booking and looked at all aspects of each vendor and additional costs needed. Alcohol is a pricey item at certain venues that don't let you bring your own, which is why we had to calculate that into the cost to see if we can afford the venue.

This really depends on your area. We paid 10.50/pp for a full bar (well liqour, 2 types of beer, 2 types of wine, mixers) at 220 people after taxes and fees it came to about $2500. the bar lasted from 5 to 11 and closed down for an hr at lunch. There was no consumption limits. (we actually broke the record at our venue for most alcohol drank at a reception) This is definitely the cheapest in our area. My SIL got married 2 months after us and paid $3000 for beer and wine only.

For about the ~120 drinkers of our 150 guests, we're budgeting ~$800 for beer, wine, and champagne. We'll see how that actually goes. Sam's Club FTW.

We did a consumption bar of beer, wine, and a signature cocktail. We were charged about $6 per beer or glass of wine and about $10 per signature cocktail--and we got the tally (and final bill) the next day. This ended up being significantly cheaper than paying per guest, but YMMV; we did quite a bit of guestimating and number-crunching before deciding to go that route.

ETA: The $8050 for 110 guests does seem rather high for beer and wine only.

WHOA @Ashlei - who gave you that estimate? What type of beer and wine are the serving??? The quote from my venue for 4 hours of full open bar with beer, wine, and liquor for 180 guests was less than that!

Definitely ask if there are cheaper beer and wine brands that can be served!

We're doing 4.5 hours of open bar (beer, wine, liquor) - 5:30p-10p. $28/pp, (only $13 more pp than 1 hour of open bar!!), assuming 125 guests....$3500 (not incl. tax & tip). That was the lowest open bar option so the well is like Gordon's Gin, Smirnoff vodka, etc. vs. the higher options which were Tanqueray Gin, Grey Goose, etc. All levels of open bar at our venue have the same beer options so we opted for the lowest option of liquor. There was not an option to bring our own, but for us it was also just easier to have the caterers do everything Also our friends drink a lot and most of our family members also drink, so we figured it was better to just do open bar and not worry about it than do consumption bar...but paying by the drink is also a great option, especially if your friends/family aren't big drinkers!

We can only purchase alcohol from our venue, but since completely open bar and consumption bars are way overpriced, we are prepurchasing alcohol.

I spent a lot of time looking up drink calculators to figure out how much to buy, and this is what I came up with.

For alcohol, assume 1 drink per hour per guest. For non-alcoholic drinks, assume 2 drinks in the first hour and 1 drink for each remaining hour. If you're doing beer, wine, and a liquor, assume a distribution of 50% wine, 20% beer, and 30% liquor. For non-alcoholic drinks, I couldn't find a good distribution, so I predicted my own of 35% water, 35% juices, and 30% soda. Remember these are averages; some guests will have way more, some will have less.

For my venue,

1 keg of domestic beer = $275 for 165 servings

1 bottle of wine = $18 for 5 servings

1 gallon of fuzzy cranberries (our signature cocktail) = $75 for 16 servings

1 gallon of non-alcoholic juice = $15 for 16 servings

1 can of soda = $2 for 1.5 servings

We're predicting 140 guests at this point, so with the 21% service charge and 6% sales tax, our total will be about $2,600.

My wedding venue is a little different because it's considered all inclusive. We're paying $125 pp but that includes the cocktail hour with hors d'oeuvres, the meal, the cake & ice cream with berries, linens, centerpieces, and open bar throughout the cocktail hour and reception (I think it totals about 6 hours of open bar). When I asked what the cost per person was just for the open bar, I was told that the bar accounts for about $7-8 per person.

We had 38 people including us, in our back yard. We spent $440 at total wine (I budgeted $450 so I'm stoked we came under that at all) and we had more than half left of our stock we purchased. We over bought for sure, knowing we would have a nice stock for our home bar.

I just can't spend that kind of cash that's why we opted for a small, intimate wedding/reception.

I got a bar service through my caterer so I don't have to deal with bringing the alcohol on the day of.

I am paying $12 per person for four hour unlimited bar with beer, wine and hard liquor, soda and juice plus tax. I don't have to tip as I am allowing them to have a tip jar at the bar. Additional bartender costs $195 plus tax and also champagne & cider toast is $1 per person plus tax.

Total is less than $2,000.

The quote from our venue is 5 hours open bar + food (dinner and appetizers) + wedding cake + tax + service charge is $69 per person. I think we got a pretty good deal!

I had my wedding at a community center I was able to bring in my own liquor and bartender. For the liquor, bartender, milkshake bar, and off duty police officers it was about $1700 for 100 people. I had tons of liquor left over that I use for a BBQ for my out of town guest the next day.

@Emily and @Pancake are right. This is something that you should figure out before you book your venue. After that you are stuck with the options they offer.

I don't have to tip as I am allowing them to have a tip jar at the bar.

tacky.

When I read about the cost of drink at all of your weddings Im glad we don't do open bars here in Ireland.! We would never be able to afford to get married. We have persecco and fruit punch/ mulled wine ( weather depending) for the drinks reception and wine with the meal included with our package. After that the guests buy thier own, weddings can go on until 5/6 or 7 am in the residents bar so there is no way it would work otherwise, that's alot of drink!.we just keep feeding them all day instead.. Lol.!