How to Stock the Reception Bar

How many guests are you having?? This seems like a little overkill for alcohol options, but if you think your guests will consume the majority of it, then I guess it's alright. Personally I would feel really overwhelmed and would have a hard time deciding what to order lol.

Honestly, I think sticking to beer, wine, hard seltzer, and maybe have 2 sign drinks to serve the entire evening would be enough. But if you want to keep all of the liquor options you KNOW you want, then I wouldn't add the other liquor options you listed.

We are doing beer (3 types), wine, gin, vodka, tequila, whiskey, cognac or brandy (not both), rum, and a small bottle of scotch. Our crowd is more liquor drinkers so we are going heavier on the liquors than the beer or wine. I don’t think you need amaretto, kahlua, vermouth, baileys, and triple sec. Don’t forget mixers and garnish.

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It's admittedly a lot of options for beer, our younger guests are really into craft but our older guests prefer more basic stuff, so we went with two of each (plus the seltzers), and then a dry and a sweet of both white and red wines. I'm just hung up on the liquor - not sure if people even drink gin or brandy (or tequila in non-shot form) anymore?? And then the rest were more as specific cocktail additives, like if someone asked for a martini buuut I agree that I would also get decision paralysis lol

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Thank you! I feel like our guest list is all over the place and likes everything, so it's hard to decide! I think you're right about the last ones - most people probably aren't ordering complicated cocktails at a wedding, right?!

I also have a guest list who likes different things (beer / wine / liquor) so here is what my caterer is providing.
- Seltzer’s
- Light Domestic Beer- Import Beer- 1 white wine- 1 red wine- Rum, Vodka, Whiskey, Gin & Tequila- and I might get a few bottles bourbon for the groom and his groomsmen

Where are you located? If you're in Texas, make sure you add tequila! I would ask someone who knows your guests pretty well. Pick the cocktails that are most prevalent among the culture/region of your guests. If they are big martini drinkers, then vermouth is a must. If you have whiskey, then you should definitely have bitters for old-fashioneds or maybe you're in mint julep country. If they are wine drinkers, you might want to add a couple more. I'm guessing you'll have 2 reds and 2 whites, but probably add a rosé or moscato. Anyway, I'm just saying rather than have one of everything, have everything needed for a few specific drinks. That's my strategy.

I don’t think you need a 3rd rum option.
It does depend on your crowd… I feel like mine was maybe similar to yours (we had a lot of options and it was NOT too many, and we had happy guests!). We included tequila bc we had a number of margarita/tequila lovers (so, also added triple sec for mixed drinks). I would’ve skipped gin in a different season, but ours was a summer wedding and I know a lot of people who love a gin and tonic in the summer! We’re not a big rum crowd but it felt like a standard, so went for it (wasn’t a big seller but glad we had it), and vodka felt similarly necessary (bigger seller). We have a HUGE “brown stuff” crowd— my family, H’s friends, my friends, all big into various whiskeys. We had a bourbon option AND a rye option, and damage was done !! We ultimately added a scotch too after scanning our guestlist and realizing we had one or two who only drank that…so only got one bottle. We did do vermouth and such and those barely got used…looking at the bottles after the event, I’d guess a max of 2 cocktails were made with it…so , may not be necessary (unless you know your crowd is super into that beverage!)

Maybe I’m a pain but I always like a fun cocktail at a wedding even though I’m usually a wine drinker . Last wedding I went to, someone started a lemon drop trend at cocktail hour, and by the end of the night, there was an espresso martini trend happening …. One person would see someone get one , think it looked fun, then had to try it! So I wouldn’t doubt cocktails, you just don’t have to have EVERYTHING for every cocktail ever …may not need brandy, bailey’s etc. but it could be a consideration if you’re doing coffee. I love to add kahlua to my coffee…but if it’s not an option, I’m not at all upset — I’d never expect it, but it can be a fun treat!
DEFINITELY look into purchasing bottles from a store where you can return anything unopened. This allowed us to be VERY liberal with our booze purchases, and we made a nice return the day or two after our wedding.
Our bar was: Vodka, Rum, Tequila, Gin, Bourbon, Rye . I don’t remember the number of bottles of each, but it was heaviest on the whiskey types, and low on rum and gin. We had triple sec and vermouth for mixed drinks (along with juices, sodas, sour mix), we probably could have gone without but they’re relatively cheap so to do it all over again, I’d still provide them….but probably only one bottle of each. Big wine selection— two white options (Sauvignon blanc and Chardonnay), two red options (Pinot noir and Cabernet Sauvignon), a prosecco option, and we added in a case of rose Kinda last minute and that got consumed VERY a quickly.Big beer selection— goal was : an IPA, a lager/pilsner (craft) option, and a summery/wheat option, plus the necessary bud light, and a hard cider option (lol wedding was pre-seltzer trend). We had a big ipa/craft crowd, and I got beer through my cousin who is a beverage distributor, so he tossed in a couple extra ipa options, lol
We had only 125 guests and some people on here would tell you our selection was too much, but they don’t know our crowd! The only thing that wasn’t heavily consumed was the summer wheat beer. Oh well. I guess the couple friends I know who are big into that we’re more interested in the bourbon selection that particular day

We are purchasing our own and only doing vodka, whiskey, and tequila plus beer/wine/selzers. The biggest reason to cut back on options is your goal should be to appease everyone, not to provide the exact infinite number of favorite drink options. Most everyone can find something they like from beer/wine/ a few liquors, but if you run out of Vodka most people won’t be happy to substitute Amaretto! (And ensuring you don’t run out with that many options will be $$!).

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Gotcha! I feel like you could make it easier on yourself by having a list of cocktails that cater to each liquor you'll be providing. That way your guests don't get stuck trying to think of a cocktail they want, and your bartenders will have a clear list of what's expected of them to make?

Hmm our guests don’t really drink beer/wine so we are keeping those to a bare minimum. But we are serving bourbon/whiskey, tequila with triple sec, rum, possibly vodka plus mixers because that is what we know that they drink. Having only beer/wine would be a waste of money.


We aren’t worried about anyone getting more plastered with liquor because it is no worse than beer/wine for people getting drunk.