Bar Packages

I know!! The packages are so different!

I do LOTS of weddings with beer and wine only. Maybe you could add a sig drink that you could buy a few gallons of too. 50. per head for an open bar is a little steep, even for NYC, even with BT's etc included. At the average wedding, people who drink have two drinks the first hour, and one drink per hour after that, so that seems a little extreme....BUT that being said, a martini costs 20 bucks here.

I live in the NYC area but the venue is in my home state of Maine! Drinks are SO cheap at bars there so I was surprised!

I would not be offended with a beer/wine bar. That's what we are doing to save some money. Though I think ours only costs $5/person/hour & we are doing 4 hours. At those prices I might consider consumption. Did they give you a price list for each drink if you chose to do consumption?

They did give us a price list yes. Beers are $4. House wines & liquors are $6 and top shelf is $8. We were thinking about going through our guest list & estimating how much consumption might cost us.

Yeah I would definitely do consumption minus the top shelf. Not sure if you have a lot of drinkers, but that's what I would do. Our consumption started with beer at $7.

Also unless you've signed something everything is negotiable. I would let them know you're looking at other venues and ask how competitive they can make their pricing. They won't drop it if you don't ask!

That does seem steep. I would do the beer and wine but would try to negotiate, doesn't hurt to try. Another option would be to put a limit and when you get close to the limit you can up it or stop. I would only do that knowing if your guests are heavy drinkers or not.

If you can do it by consumption go for it. Or do like Celia mentioned and have one or two signature drinks. You can then put out a little sign at the bar with a menu of drinks offered. ASk if they have a package with well or call brands and not just specifically top shelf. That can usually lower the cost.

Definitely talk to the venue directly and see what can be done to best suit your needs.

Um, I would never be upset that I got "only" beer and wine. I like Celia's idea of having a few signature cocktails, even if you can only have them for the cocktail hour. But I agree with the others that those prices are pretty steep!

@DlovesD I am in the same boat I live in AZ but I am getting married in Maine also and the liquor laws are crazy and the prices per beer and house wines are running me about the same my bartender wanted about $450 deposit for a $500 minimum tab I was not ok with that I told her most of our guest drink domestic and wine once we emailed her that and negotiated that she brought it down by half no way was i paying that lol when we aren't sure of our guest list destination wedding. good luck

Edited: we are doing drink tickets

Do you want to offer liquor? Can you host beer and wine and then do liquor based on consumption?

Ours costs $70, which includes wine service at dinner me champagne. The costs of open bars is insane! I have been to plenty of weddings where they served just beer and wine, which I think is fine. We didn't take that rout, because our parents wanted to pay for the full bar, but if we were paying we would have done that! I love adding a signature drink to the beer and wine open bar!

Great suggestions on negotiating everyone! I will definitely try that. Maine liquor laws are extreme! That $50 doesn't include .07% sales tax & 15% gratuity! Glad to know beer & wine is viewed as a large enough selection. Might even ask if we could do beer & wine on consumption. Beer is $4 so you'd have to drink 7 to hit close to $30 and 5 glasses of wine, most guests won't reach that!

$16 per person for beer and wine...4 hours. Our package options were Beer&Wine, Well, Call, and Premium. We thought about doing Well, but I kind of felt like if we were only going to have Well we might as well save some money and just do beer and wine. In our case, we asked "who will not drink beer or wine because they only drink liquor." The answer was no one. It would be nice to have some Maker's behind the bar, but I'm not going to worry about it. If the old men can't live without their bourbon (and we have a handful of bourbon drinkers), they'll have to hide a flask of Maker's or Booker's in their pockets.

Wow that's crazy! Ours is $7 for beer/wine open bar

Lisa that's amazing! Where do you live?

We live in the MD/DC/VA area.

DlovesD where in Maine are you getting married

We are thinking about Camp Eastwood in Oakland, ME.