Buying own alcohol for reception...logistics?

I would just let the caterers bring it, unless you can give it to them earlier in the week or hire someone to take care of this for you.

I should have noted we already asked the venue if we can drop stuff off earlier in the week and they said it totally depends on if there is also going to be a wedding or event at the venue the night before and/or the night after ours due to very limited storage space there. There isn't yet, but we are 9 months out and someone could definitely book. The site frequently does have weddings on Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the same weekend. So we can't count on an early drop off. I suppose you can pay people to do anything lol but we are wondering if paying someone to transport the alcohol within the setup window will negate the cost savings and be just one more thing to worry about coordinating

Whether it's the caterer, or a DOC, or someone else, it looks like you need to factor in the cost of having someone else take care of this for you. As mentioned above, in the big picture, it might be less expensive and stressful to have your caterer include it. These kinds of issues were a big factor in our choosing a semi-inclusive venue; at some point, the costs and headaches made it the best choice. Since yours is a DIY venue, you may want to interview some vendors who will include as many of the critical services you'll need and compare total costs/workload before you make a final choice. Good luck!

You may want to check with bevmo. My sister used them for her wedding and they delivered everything prechilled. I don't know the logistics of their delivery window though

We are supplying our own as well, we have to deliver it to the caterer a few days before the wedding, they inventory it and bring it to the wedding. We can either take home the left overs the night of the wedding or pick it up the next day from them. Maybe see if your caterer can help?

@033118 what is bevmo? ETA: nevermind I googled it and it seems to be a west coast thing. Our wedding is in DC

@FME oh that would be ideal!!! I didn't even know that could be an option. I will for sure ask the catering companies we are talking to.

We are doing this and dropping our alcohol off to the caterer in advance.

Also, when you hire your caterer make sure they will provide you with their liquor license. Ours briefly gave us a hard time about this since we didn't purchase our alcohol through him. It was several days of anxiety I could have done without, but in the end he agreed. I think there is also a special event permit you can get, but either way just make sure you have those ducks in a row well in advance so you don't end up like me and losing sleep over whether you'll be able to use the $2000 booze pyramid in your dining room.

Can your Bartender set it up for you? That's what ours did. Sorry if this has already been asked; I didn't read all of the responses.

@faulf we are going to get our own liquor license which is cheaper and our venue helps us do it

@justanotherjessica yes the catering company will provide bartenders who will set everything up, but we don't know how to physically get the alcohol to the venue