Bar Essentials if you have to provide your own alcohol for Wedding Venue

@OP - The winery doesn't offer a bar package? Does your Caterer? All the wineries we looked at offered open bar for wine for free, and we could pay extra per head for open beer or beer & Liquor. So it seems a little strange to me.

Use a party calculator to help you. Though if your family are big drinkers I suggest looking into catering that also provides bar services.

https://www.evite.com/pages/party/drink-calculator

Our bartender gave us a list of everything we would need. Did you hire a bartender? Perhaps they can help with this.

Eek, yeah it does seem kind of odd that the winery doesn't offer some kind of package.

I second using a party calculator, and choose "heavy drinkers" if that's an option. I'd actually Google it and find a few calculators, see what numbers you get and then find an average.

What kinds of alcohol to get depends on your guests preferences and your budget. Top shelf will get expensive fast: I don't think there is anything wrong with going lower-to-middle of the pack in each of those types of hard liquor. Or stick to just a couple: rum, vodka and whiskey should cover most drinkers.

We had to use the winery's prefer caterer list, which they provide the bartenders. Basically I rent out the barn and have to provide everything else!

I am in the same boat @Kelli, I rented the barn and am doing the rest. Check with the bartender they may be able to provide some guidance as they are the professionals! For our liquor we are sticking mainly to Vodka and Rum - FH is doing Cigars & whiskey tasting at the end of the night.

Not sure if you are near a Costco but their Vodka is GREAT!

I would get cases of craft beer. I would get kegs of light beer if you have a lot of big beer drinkers.

Find a local beer/wine/spirits place and see if you can purchase booze them and return unopened bottles.

I would not get red bull. That's expensive and at the end of the day mixing alcohol and caffeine is dangerous.

How many bartenders are the providing you? If its only 1-2. You have a lot of people. You do not want people waiting in line because of extra prep stuff so that's limes, lemons, oranges, cherries.

Here are some calculator -

http://www.thealcoholcalculator.com

https://apracticalwedding.com/how-to-buy-alcohol-for-your-wedding/

https://www.evite.com/pages/party/drink-calculator

Here is some perspective on the alcohol. The wedding on Saturday had 220 guest and an ultra premium bar. There was myself and three other bartenders. We went thru 132 bottles of wine, 13 bottles of Goose, and a few bottles of Angel Envy. I do not think that a few cases of wine will be enough for that guest count. As far as liquor is concerned the norm for our bars are: vodka, rum, captains, gin, whiskey, tequila, three white wines, three red wines and about 20 different beers. Have the normal mixers and garnishes. This wedding did drink A LOT, but no one was beyond over served. When buying the alcohol make sure you can return it if it is not opened.

And txncdelphia has a great point on bartenders. Our guideline is one bartender per 75 guests. So there were three bartenders and a bar server. (like a bar back)

I am having a local liquor store provide the alcohol as a package. They sent me a list of alcohols placed into specific packages and I can choose and modify from there. They also are delivering the day of the wedding and buying back any unused bottles of alcohol. Our catering hall is providing the non-alcoholic drinks.

Most of the wineries I toured they made you buy a percentage of their wine to use during the wedding. It was a non-negotiable.