Determining signature drink amounts

Monday bump!

Are you providing these drinks, or are the guests paying for them themselves?

If you are providing, then i'd plan on more than you think, especially if you'll make them buy any other drinks. Cash bars aren't popular, and if you're providing certain drinks, they will be drunk up, regardless if people like them or not.

We were just planning on providing those two drinks and possibly a third, with a full cash bar for anything else people may want. I understand that cash bars are unpopular, but unfortunately a real open bar is not in the budget :/ I don't even know where to begin with estimating how many we would need. Any guesses?

How long will the bar be open?

First of all, may I suggest NOT serving Sex on the Beach at your wedding. Ew. Tiki drinks are very popular right now, so I recommend going in that direction. And even if it weren't the lamest possible drink, you should consider making each cocktail from a different spirit - i.e. Seabreezes with vodka, a rum punch and Margaritas. This way, your guests will have more options within the open bar. Plan on a minimum of 5 servings per guest - premixed drinks are typically weak.

Hi Zoe,

Is it the name of the drink that offends you or do you just not like the drink? Lol we have thought the name could be iffy too and would give it a Seperate name for the night. Our venue had a list of pre mixed cocktails to choose from, we just thought these would be the best for our beach themed wedding. I hadn't thought of ensuring that each drink is made from a different spirit-I am not much of a drinker myself. I'll post the list when I get a chance. Thanks for the replies.

Here's the list we have to choose from:

Bloody Mary

Mimosa

Champagne Punch

Sex on the beach

sea breeze

These are available, but more expensive:

Red/White sangria

Volka doli

peach bellini

dark n' stormy

white russian

margarita

long island iced tea

Pearl Harbor

Martini-chocolate/lemon/pomegrante/expresso

Cosmo-Classic citron/grape/orange/rasberry

The name is terrible, but the drink itself is just as bad - super sugary sweet. ETA: Not about my personal preference but typical guest preferences, and I'm pretty much impossible to offend.

Dark N Stormy is a very hot drink right now - people can't seem to get enough ginger. I'd recommend that and Margaritas. If your budget won't allow for two of the higher priced items, Champagnr punch is a great alternative as it's perfect for toasts too.

@ Ripple I think its the name Sex on the Beach that is not appealing. Maybe called a Walk on the Beach or something instead. As far as how many drinks I wouldnt do anymore than 2 a person. I would say more like 3 or 4. People will drink free drinks faster than paid for drinks for sure. Especially if they know once they are gone they will have to pay for their own, They will toss them back fast to catch a buzz before purchasing their own drinks.

Typically most guests will drink 2 drinks per hour (especially if this is the only free alcoholic version), so multiply the number of guests who can drink, buy the number of hours and double, then round up. Do you have the option of buying more of the pre-made drinks if you run out? If you do, then I would round down and purchase as needed.

I think that you're having two very sweet cocktails, so adding or substituting another less sweet one is a good idea, but long islands are what college kids drink to get wasted quickly, so I'd go with another drink. Usually I think 3 drinks pp during cocktail hour, then 1 drink an hour for the rest of the reception per guest is a good estimate.

We were just talking about changing the drinks we had decided on. What do we think of doing a sea breeze, margarita and long island iced tea? We are going with a beach theme, so I was hoping to have cocktails that would compliment the theme. I don't think anybody is going to be chugging LITs at the wedding so I think we're good on that front lol.

I'm actually stuck on this too. We're having 3 signature cocktails and then wine and beer, so I'm not sure what proportion of people will be into the signature cocktails.

Some people though really like sugary drinks. I personally can't stand margaritas and I know many people who won't do tequila in any form so then if they don't like rum (which I don't) they are out of luck. I would personally try to fit in at least one vodka drink because at least around here that seems to be the most universally acceptable/the least hated. And since it's a wedding I might consider either mimosas or champagne punch (I'd go with champagne punch myself esp if the wedding isn't in the morning/early afternoon). Those are very typical wedding drinks and things that people would expect to have at a wedding.

I think the sea breeze is a great option and the long island and margarita give you a god mix of alcohol types.

A sea breeze does have vodka...

I wasn't big on the mimosa idea because it's later at night. We were strongly considering the champagne punch though.

The good thing about the champagne punch is how festive and wedding-y it is.

And yeah I know a sea breeze has vodka, I typed mine before I saw yours.

I keep going back and forth with whether or not we want the champagne punch. Do you think hosting 4 cocktails would be too many? I'm hoping that we have the option to purchase batches as the night goes on, in case one drink ends up being more popular than the other or one drink that nobody ends up wanting.

You're over-complicating it for yourself - keep it simple! If you stick with the favorites, people will drink them all. That's why I'd advise *against* champagne punch, as people don't drink it often and therefore it's likely to be the drink that gets left over - plus, you already have two fruity drinks. (Champagne punch has ginger ale in it and fruit juice frozen concentrate, which also typically has sugar in it.)

I think the sangria is a great 3rd option - in particular, the white. It's a more natural flavor, not full of sugar, and light so someone who wants 'a' drink will enjoy that as well as those who enjoy drinking more. Those who are drinking to get drunk will go for the hard liquor drinks anyway, while sangria should be a lighter drink. Also, less sugar = less hangover risk.

Finally, to calculate your quantities, there are 128 ounces per 1 gallon, so if they pour 4-ounce cups, you'll get 32 servings per gallon. I don't know how you get 40 servings from a gallon! But you need to measure out 4 ounces at home and think about that - because I suspect that they are measuring a 'serving' as containing 1 oz. of alcohol - and that's not the same as what they will actually pour for a guest. Most small plastic cups are 8 oz., which means 16 drinks per gallon, with 2-3 oz. alcohol per drink.

Let's see if I can do this math right: so 1-8oz. drink per hour, per person, is 1 gallons per hour for every 16 people.

So 100 guests/16 people per gallon = 6.25 gallons. Round down and say 6 gallons gives 100 people 1 drink per 1 hour. So for 2 drinks per 100 people per hour, you'd order 12 gallons of premixed drinks *per hour*, IF everyone drinks 2 drinks per hour - but they likely will not....

Tip: if you have the option, use 6-8 oz. cups or jam jars or similiar. If you have large cups, people will fill them and waste a lot because it's free. Having smaller cups, people will take less, and not waste as much.