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AllisaurusRex
Devoted November 2025

How much should I budget for an open bar?

AllisaurusRex, on August 4, 2011 at 6:12 PM

Posted in Planning 21

We have 45 guests old enough to drink. We are providing a keg (approximately 165 12oz servings). I saw somewhere to estimate 2-3 drinks per person for the first hour and 1 drink per person per hour after that. Including cocktail hour, we are looking at 5 hours. I'm also thinking I should lower my...

We have 45 guests old enough to drink. We are providing a keg (approximately 165 12oz servings). I saw somewhere to estimate 2-3 drinks per person for the first hour and 1 drink per person per hour after that. Including cocktail hour, we are looking at 5 hours. I'm also thinking I should lower my estimate since we have already budgeted for the keg. What do you think is a good "drinks per person" number to go with (adjusted for the beer), and what number should I multiply that by to figure out what our bar tab will be? I am only looking for ball park numbers just to see if we can afford an open bar at all.

About half of our guests are light drinkers, a quarter are average drinkers, and a quarter are heavy drinkers.

Any help would be appreciated!

21 Comments

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    Just Said Yes April 2015
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    If the venue you have chosen allows you pick your own bartenders I would find one does an hourly rate. A lot of them only provide service as you provide alcohol but some will charge more to provide liquor. Just a suggestion. My friend who was recently married found it cheaper to provide the drinks and pay for service.

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