Cost of open bar?

We got married in Pennsylvania and we paid $70 per person which included food and beverage. However, my parents paid an additional $1,500 for 100 I believe to upgrade the bar as the $70 per person was for a limited bar.

We spent about $8000 (taxes, service, and labor fees included) for an open bar for 120 guests (this was the bar package only: food was separate). The high cost was because we upgraded the bar package to include top shelf liquor and we're in a very HCOL city. My advice would be to get a quote from your venue and if you're worried about the cost, consider doing a limited open bar with just wine, beer, and signature drinks.

I got married in NJ, and we paid $130 per person for food and beverage, including a full open bar.

Our open bar was about 20 per person for drinks but it was about 100 per with food included. I agree with getting a quote from your venue, since each venue has a different cost.

I’m getting married in PA as well, our open bar is 32.94 a person. Our venue did have different tiers for different options (for example if you just wanted beer and wine only). We went with the call brands option.

Our open bar is $40 per person. It was $30 pp for beer and wine only.

My venue (VT) offers a 5-hour open bar for $60 per person.

Our open bar is a little bit different. We are paying $550 for two bartenders and two bar backs for 5 hours. We can bring our own alcohol and mixers. We’re budgeting about $700 to buy the supplies and alcohol including beer, wine, and liquor.

Ours was built into our $207 pp (cocktail hour/buffet) rate.

View Quoted Comment Hhmmm I’ll have to talk to my venue and see how they do it and what they offer. Thanks!!

View Quoted Comment That’s what I’m thinking we were going to do unlimited beer and get kegs but we have to talk to our venue. Thanks!

View Quoted Comment Thanks how my best friends was and I don’t mind that idea I know they will provide the bartender into the catering expense but I have to see how they do it there thanks!!

Our venue is $222 per person for food and open bar. I believe the open bar part is $30/person for beer and wine only. If we wanted liquor we had to upgrade. I think most places are probably around this same price point...

We are in Las Vegas and our open bar is $14 per person for the entire reception.

View Quoted Comment Im going to look into it I know my fiancé really wants one so we’ll see. Thanks!!

View Quoted Comment Ok that's good that its included with the food I dont want to have to pay separately

View Quoted Comment I would check with your venue though. While this seemed to be the norm at the venue I looked at, it isn't always the case.

View Quoted Comment Oh ok thank you Hannah

I am in Ohio and our open bar price is $15 per person plus 8% tax. With our guest count of 186 I think my estimate was $2,000-3,000 for bar. Our venue just charges per person but I have heard of other venues that charge by the bottle opened during the night, so that is harder to estimate.

Most venues in my area (Massachusetts) are somewhere between $25-40 a person for an open bar. I