BYOB Wedding?

I ended up spending about $500 on liquor, beer, and wine. My total bar cost for 100 people was $2000 but that also include a milkshake bar, the price of the bartenders, and the off duty police office for security(required by my venue). I'm in Georgia

Maybe I have worked too many hours today but when I first read the title of your post I thought you were going to be asking about having guests BYOB for the wedding. Glad that is not the case. :-)

My venue is supplying the beverages but I found this drink calculator via a google search - maybe it will help.

http://www.thealcoholcalculator.com/

I would change your title to "bride and groom supply alcohol"... Some people might think it's guest BYOB!

This is the option my venue is providing, BYOB. We will be providing beer, wine and champs for 50 people. We will need to provide our own "bartender" (doesn't have to be licensed) or set up a self serve station. We are going with a bartender to keep it neat and tidy. I haven't quite priced it out yet but I know it will be a lot cheaper than what venues were charging per person. Also most stores will let you return anything unopened!

I can't help with the numbers but I know that here in MN Total Wine in Mpls has better prices on hard liquor than most of the distributors. Get a feel for numbers by talking to a liquor store owner or manager. A career bartender would be of help too. See if any unopened bottles can be returned and if so, is there a restocking fee. If you can't return, I would think it better to over buy than under buy on the beer and wine. Bring home what's not used and use it up during the holidays!

I totally thought you were making guests bring their own liquor as well. Phew!! haha

@Kathleen I am so excited I found total wine. Even though the closest one is 2 hours from me the savings will be huge. Plus my future in laws along with my brother live close to one. To OP this is knowing your guests. If you know how they drink at weddings you can bet a heart idea of how much you need. After this weekend I found out we will need a lot more than I originally thought.

Ladies, check out The Tipsy Bartender for signature drink ideas. I love watching these videos!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/user/TipsyBartender

@randee, you might be able to get total wine purchase shipped to you if you spend a certain amount...

Oh god I opened this thread expecting you to be asking your guests to BYOB!! Glad that's not the case I don't have any personal advice, but this is very common with lots of brides on here!

This is awesome and can save you a lot of money!! Definitely see if your state is one where they will allow you to return unopened liquor, that can help a lot with planning.

@Pancakes posted this after her wedding and I have it bookmarked it's so helpful She breaks down the alcohol she purchased and the cost:

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

My venue provided that option too, but after cranking up some numbers we realized it would cost us the same to have a hosted bar (us bringing the alcohol) or a limited open bar (two beers, one red wine, one white wine, vodka, rum and rye), so I don't have any advice. However, we checked some online booze calculators and the estimates we got were very close to what our guests drank. Look up wedding alcohol calculator - I suggest checking out two or three - and that'll help you get a rough number of what you need.

We did this for about 100 guests and spent about $600 on all the alcohol. That was for beer, wine, extra wine for the caterer to make sangria with, Crown Royal, and Jim Buchanan. I used a couple online calculators to get an estimate and then adjusted according to what my friends tend to drink and time of year (people drink red more in the winter and white more in the summer). We actually overbought and have a lot of wine and beer still left but it's better to over buy than under.

I would recommend making sure you have at least a few beer options, at least one red and one white wine option, and a couple fun mixed drink options. If you really want to make your dollars stretch on the wine, buy Black Box wine (about $16 for 3L, the equivalent of four bottles) and have the bartender put it in carafes so that it looks nicer.

Yes! We did this and it was the best. I think we spent around $600 for 100 people. So...$6 pp. Plus I think the caterer charged us $4 pp for mixers. Can't beat that!