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Marissa
Dedicated July 2020

Food/alcohol costs

Marissa, on July 1, 2019 at 4:16 PM Posted in Wedding Reception 0 26
If you’re comfortable sharing, how much did you spend on food/alcohol? We are having around 100 guests and wanting to do a buffet and cash bar to keep the costs down. But gosh, it can get pricey quickly. Maybe I feel that way because I rarely spend over $10 on a meal when I eat out 😂

26 Comments

Latest activity by D, on July 6, 2019 at 1:50 AM
  • CourtneyBrittain
    Master August 2019
    CourtneyBrittain ·
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    We aren’t doing a bar, but we have 250 guests! We are doing a pizza buffet with salad and for that it’s $1300
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  • Allie
    Master August 2019
    Allie ·
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    I think our catering is $13 for an Italian buffet. We are also having around 100 people. Our venue allows BYOB as long as we have a licensed bartender and liability insurance. The bartender is $150 and the insurance was $200. We haven't purchased alcohol yet, but I'm thinking we will spend around $1000 for the drinks.

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  • Jessie
    Devoted September 2021
    Jessie ·
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    Our venue does catering and bartending. We picked a buffet with whole roast hog for $23 a person and haven't talked about how much for open bar yet. Looking at 80-100 people.
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  • Courtney
    Master December 2019
    Courtney ·
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    Before taxes we're spending $11k on a buffet and $3100 on a 4 hour open bar for 100 people. But that's pretty normal for most places here in MD.

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  • M
    Legend June 2019
    Melle ·
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    Per person cost for my meal is about $52/person. This is for a ten course family style meal with upgrades like lobster and duck. Alcohol we bought bottles to put on tables so it was another $400.
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  • Caytlyn
    Legend November 2019
    Caytlyn ·
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    We're paying about $19 pp for our cocktail hour apps and 3 stations for dinner. As far as alcohol, we are required to provide it, so we're planning to do beer and wine. We've budgeted $2000 for 125 people.

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  • MrsD
    Legend July 2019
    MrsD ·
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    Our open bar is $5,600 (includes champagne toast & barware) and our catering is $12,000 (includes staff, china & linens). We have 120 guests. I'd go with beer & wine for a cheaper option and something like Mexican or BBQ for dinner!

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  • Kelly
    Champion October 2018
    Kelly ·
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    Our food price was $134 per person and beer and wine was $55 per person, both thru our venue. We spent around $21,000 on food and a little over $8,000 on beverages. That included gratuity but not tax in Carmel, California.
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  • Kristen
    VIP June 2020
    Kristen ·
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    Per person for our meal is about $28, and it’s $14 for children. We are anticipating about 120 guests. After all of the fees and also the hors douevres, we are looking at about $5k for 120 guests. Bar along with other beverage services is an additional $2.5k
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  • Mandi
    Master October 2020
    Mandi ·
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    We're budgeting around $2500 for buffet for 250 people.
    I'm thinking somewhere in the $1k range for beer and wine. Maybe soda. We're flexible there.
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  • Allie
    Master August 2019
    Allie ·
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    How long is your reception going to be? And how did you estimate your alcohol costs?

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  • Caytlyn
    Legend November 2019
    Caytlyn ·
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    It will be 5 hours including cocktail hour. The $2k is more of what we can afford to pay as opposed to what we're estimating. For beer and wine only, we will likely end up spending closer to $1500 or $1750.

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  • Allie
    Master August 2019
    Allie ·
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    I gotcha! Our reception is only 3 hrs long so I think it will be a good bit less. We'll see. I read that most people drink 2 glasses of something within the first hour then one glass the remaining hours but my family drinks a lot so I'm figuring we will end up spending more than I think. Smiley cry

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  • R
    Devoted October 2019
    Roxana ·
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    So, we're doing a brunch buffet and a open wine/beer bar We have a max guest count of 75.

    Food: $1,600

    Bar: $400 (will be bringing in our own wine/beer)

    Service/rentals/cleanup staff: $1800

    Total comes out to $3,800~ buuuut, these costs are pre-final headcount so hopefully we won't be spending quite as much.


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  • Hannah
    Dedicated July 2019
    Hannah ·
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    Apps, buffet, and open beer and wine for 75 people is around 7,000$
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  • Jennifer
    Beginner November 2020
    Jennifer ·
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    Our catering is through our venue and will be $90 per adult for stations and includes our cake as well

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  • Kelly
    VIP October 2020
    Kelly ·
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    We're having 65 people and it'll come to about $5000. But that's including table linens ect
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  • Nicole
    Master September 2020
    Nicole ·
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    We're at about $13k for 4 appetizers, a BBQ buffet with two meat options, and a full open bar for 5 hours for 150 people. However, our caterer also included table rentals, linens, flatware, servers, and bartenders for that price. I think just the food and alcohol will end up around $50 pp.

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  • Pirate & 60s Bride
    Legend March 2017
    Pirate & 60s Bride ·
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    For our local reception, three-course dinner was $45 per person and unlimited beer & wine was $19 per person (plus tax).

    Our DW was per drink (price varied) and $165 per person for a family style dinner of two meats, three side dishes & a custom dessert.
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  • Z
    Devoted November 2019
    Zoe ·
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    Our price per person ranges from 100-112 (depending on if they get filet, crab cake or chicken) and that includes all food and open bar.

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