Consumption Bar

I'm guessing consumption bars in the US work the same as they do in Canada. You just pay for the drinks that guests order. I think the big difference is that, in most parts of the US, alcohol costs substantially less than in Canada.

I have bartended for a few consumption bar weddings in Michigan. We just kept a running tally of each drink as the guests ordered. I know other venues might do it by bottle (so each bottle of wine or liquor that is opened, each keg that is tapped). Guests putting down drinks and forgetting about it is a problem with consumption bars, but the venue can't do much about it. Other than not clearing drinks that are still full.

I had an open bar, but provided my own wine, beer, and pre mixed drink. If my lushes drank it all, oh well we had no issues. Some left over, and it only cost about $500 for 65 people. Is providing your own an option? Consumption bars scare me for that very reason

Consumption bars are scary...the first thing to ask is, like Lori mentioned, will the total be based on total drinks or total bottles? If they convert the liquor from a per glass rate into the bottle rate, it WILL be a lot cheaper.

You can't really prevent people from setting down a drink and "losing it." That happens all the time at weddings, and people will just go grab another. Personally, I think if your crowd is drinking crowd and an open bar is not an option, see if a limited bar is. It may be worth it in the long run

Each drink is $7, thats why it terrifies me haha, and bringing our own isn't an option unfortunately.

Its a per bottle rate for wine, bottled beer, and then $6 beer and $7 cocktails, no matter what liquor they pick, because the venue averaged the cost of all the options.

A consumption bar is the same in both countries - you pay per drink ordered by your guests. The venue sets the drink prices.

Some venues (yes even in Canada), have bar packages where you pay a flat rate per person. For example - $30 per person for 5 hours. You are charged the same for every adult whether they have 1 drink or 12. This eliminates the concern of drinks being cleared away by staff before they are finished, wasted drinks, etc. and you know what your bar cost will be before the wedding. It's a much better option for a heavy drinking crowd.

Can you just do wine and beer? Honestly...and this is weird, but I'm more likely to finish beer or wine, but replace a half drunk cocktail, due to ice melting

Mrs A&J - Thats funny, im the opposite, because the cocktail will still be cold, but warm wine or beer, no way! haaha

My venue does a consumption bar too and I'm also kinda terrified about what the final cost will be. My FFIL is paying for it (since his family all require alcohol) and he says anything is fine, but I also know he's expecting like half the cost that it will be.

I don't know how to solve the wasted liquor problem, but i think I might do a limited bar with beer and wine (cheaper options) and then like 1-2 signature drinks.

I had an open consumption bar.i was charged for the specialty keg I bought and everything else was by the drink if it was liquor or per keg tapped/bottles corked. We had 150 people our tab at the end of the night was $7,094

Thanks emmy! thats good to know! Did you notice a lot of waste or was it pretty under control and people were good about it?

A wedding consultant/planner friend of mine told me that if you have a choice between consumption and per person/per hour package then you should choose the package because in the end you'll end up spending less on the package. If you don't have a package choice and you have to do consumption, she said to cap the bar at a certain amount like $3,000 and then they will let you know when you're close to your limit. Then you get a choice of if you want to keep going and add more money (which you pay after) or change to a cash bar or close the bar. But I guess it also depends on your guest list and if you think you'll have a lot of drinkers or not.

This sounds scary and you don't know how much its going to cost you at the end of the day? Could def make a good day go bad

I've seen "this is your glass for the night" things, which would encourage guests to keep track of their glass? Only thing I got, hence why the ability to bring my own liquor was a non negotiable when I was venue hunting

Also, if you make the bar a teeny bit inconvenient/separate from the dancing area, you can reduce the number of abandoned drinks. (We learned this during my sister's wedding and re-confirmed it at my cousin's wedding and, then, mine.)

It is almost an "out of sight/out of mind" thing. Or it could be that, if you actually have to make a little effort to go retrieve the drink, you are more likely to finish it than abandon it.

For example: At my sister's wedding, the bar was in the "library/study" that was immediately adjacent to the room used for dancing. At my wedding, the bar was on the patio (surrounded by trees with twinkly lights), just outside the door of the reception hall.

I didn't notice that to be a problem. We had a lot drinking and partying. It made me nervous to have such an open ended situation to be paid at the end of the night. We originally put the cap at 6K but bumped it up last minute. We were suprised by all of the mixed drinks, we assumed more beer hense the cost difference

Our package through our venue just includes open bar. The wedding package we chose included 5 hours open bar along with the meal/rental of the space/other things they provided. That's just it. There isn't any more of a cost to it. I guess it could be split out to say the bar cost 'x' amount per person, but it's figured out more that the meal and open bar costs 'x' per person. So, for our per person for 5 hours of bar and their meal after taxes it's around $50 something. Of course the overall prices included using the venue (no extra charge) which includes linens/tables/chairs, etc

Can you pick specific type of liquor to help keep the per drink cost down? You mentioned they averaged the price of all the liquors so if you limit liquors maybe that could help. Would you be able to cap the bar at a certain amount and then have them ask you to increase if it goes over or switch to beer and wine at a certain point?

Most places in my area start at like $8 or $9 per drink (depends on the liquor) and $6 for beers. Consumption bars scare me. Thank God my venue lets us bring our liquor.

We have thought about doing a "consumption open bar" for wine and beer only, and any liquor will be cash bar. Still debating though. My family does not drink much so to pay per head per hour when half the guest will only have one drink is hard for me to justify.

I'm sorry if I start a big shit storm on your thread, but this is why I'm doing a cash bar. The thought that Emmy paid $7,000 in alcohol alone scares me and it's more than my entire wedding budget.

What kind of venue do you have? I feel like doing the "this is your glass for the night" is a good idea. However, if you have a fancier venue, that probably wouldn't fly.