Bar budget

Forgot to mention the champagne toast is included in the venue cost

I would determine the amount of guests, and the average amount of drinks you think they will consume per hour, then multiply that by the number of hours the bar will be available.

So for example, if you have 100 guests, and you think they will drink an average of 2 drinks per hour, and your bar will be open for 4 hours.....

100 (guests) x 2(drinks per hour) x 4 (hours) = 800 drinks

800 (drinks) x 9 (dollars per drink) = $7200

I would also add, because consumption bars are super unpredictable I would plan to budget more than you think you'll need; just in case. And make sure you also factor in taxes and the tip for your bartender(s) - both things that are easy to forget!

Yes, I think you'll need to budget more for the bar, also don't forget to add in a tip for the bartender!

View Quoted Comment $7000 is definitely not doable as that’s almost half our budget total. And we are already limiting what people can have (just beer and wine is no cheaper as beer ranges from $8-$10 per and wine is $10. Unfortunately where we live we are not allowed to supply any alcohol to serve at the venue as it’s against the law. I already know peoples opinions on having a cash bar so any other ideas on how to bring down the cost? I really can’t think of any good solutions

View Quoted Comment We have tip money set aside already and not really factoring that into the budget

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Unfortunately, there aren't many options. I am assuming your current venue will not allow you to bring in your own bartender? You could either look for a venue that provides a set price per person for bar (we found that option more cost friendly and liked that we knew exactly what our bar cost would be), or just not have a bar at all (ie, a dry wedding). You could also choose to only open the bar after dinner - you'd save on all the drinks people would have had during cocktail hour and dinner. So maybe instead of 4 hours, the bar would only be open 2.

Remember, the example I listed is only if you have 100 people show up, and if they all drink 2 drinks per hour for 4 hours. The real total is going to depend on how many guests you actually have, how long you have the bar open, and how many drinks they actually consume. Your total may be completely different depending on those factors. This is why I really dislike consumption bars - it makes it impossible to accurately budget!

View Quoted Comment I’m getting married in a month so there’s no budging with the venue (and we love the venue and would not want another one any way) but I will see if there are option for closing the bar especially during dinner I heard is popular and I was also considering closing 30 minutes-1 hour before the reception is over. Is that tacky?

Closing 30 minutes early is definitely fine. Just have your DJ or whoever is making an announcements announce a last call a few minutes before so that whoever wants another drink can grab one. My venue estimates consumption charges as two drinks the first hour and then one drink per person each hour after, and other couples have reported they almost always come out ahead. But of course it’s impossible to predict and depends on your group (we have several complete non-drinkers, but also some people drink more than usual when there’s free booze).


Another thing you can do is make sure you have plentiful non-alcoholic drinks if they’re more cost-effective. I’m not a big drinker, so I’ll maybe do one drink at a wedding to be festive and then happily switch to something else for the rest of the night. But guests can only do that if there’s something to switch to! Also, see how your venue handles water. My venue defaults to water bottles at the bar (at a ridiculous rate), but we were able to request water pitchers instead, which are free. I would double check with your venue.

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Ok good, it was more of a reminder to other readers not to forget.

You can close the bar early, but I would expect your reception to end earlier as well.

View Quoted Comment I never even thought of the water thing! They do have all kinds of soft drinks but not sure how those are priced (I’m assuming not more than $5 a piece) but we are also getting married on a Sunday so in theory we might see less people drinking than I expect because some will have to work on Monday. Thanks for the advice

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Closing 30 minutes before the end of the reception is totally acceptable. It's also worth mentioning that not all your guests are going to stay for the entirety of your reception. People tend to clear out after all the "events" have occurred (ie, dinner, first dance, cutting of the cake). So there will likely be less people consuming as the night goes on. On the other hand, it's not uncommon for the "party people" to be the ones who remain late into the night. So its really a "know your crowd" sorta thing.

View Quoted Comment Yeah I know there are definitely going to be people older people who won’t drink at all the entire time and if they do have 1 or 2 drinks but will leave earlier. I know our close friends and family plan on staying the entire time so it’s so hard to judge

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Girl, I TOTALLY understand! This is literally why I refused to even look at venues that didn't have open bar with set per-guest pricing. I'm a super organized person, and I couldn't plan not knowing if my bar tab was going to be $1,000 or $10,000! I hate that some venues do this. We have enough stress wedding planning to add that uncertainty to the mix!

View Quoted Comment It’s stressing me out but my FH doesn’t think it will be a problem

Can you ask the venue if they would consider a tab? Some venues I looked at offered the option for the couple to have a tab up to $x then once that was gone you could have an option to add more or change to a Cash bar.

View Quoted Comment Yes that is an option but I know a lot of people on here are VERY against cash bars

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Cash bars are a way of having your guests subsidize your costs of hosting your wedding. It's not considered polite to do that. Also shifting from an open bar to a cash bar is likely to cause confusion when they go up and suddenly need to pay for a drink.

A better way would be to just close the bar 1/2 hr early.

View Quoted Comment True. People sure do have opinions here. I think it depends on what’s a “faux pas” in your social circle.

View Quoted Comment I’ve never personally experienced a cash bar but I don’t think I would take any offense to it. Alcohol is expensive and weddings are already expensive enough