Is it cheaper to host your own alcohol bar? Y/n

You need to check with the license of where you are serving alcohol first. So don't let you bring in or mandate their staff serves.

Not exactly sure what you're asking here. A lot of alcohol service works one of two ways if you're at a venue. 1) you have a bartender and fully stocked bar from the vendor or 2) you hire a bartender to serve the alcohol you purchase. For liability reasons you absolutely need a licensed bartender to serve alcohol, even if you're having it in a backyard. A bartender is there to protect you and your guests by not over serving. If someone leaves your wedding and is in a car accident that injures another person, the bartender will be dealing with a third party lawsuit. If you don't have a bartender, you personally will be dealing with the lawsuit. It's probably easier to have someone provide all the alcohol, but cheaper for you to buy it (and hire a bartender). We are doing option #2 , as our venue does not provide any alcohol.

Definitely check with the vendor, some require you to have an alcohol package when booking them. With some venues you also have to plan for what you think people will drink as you may not be able to take unused liquor/beer/wine after the big day. We are using a grocer who has a liquor store for our alcohol and bartending service. We buy the alcohol at cost from them and get to take home whatever we don't use at the reception.

I'm pretty sure you're asking if it is cheaper to pay for the caterer's alcohol package or to buy your own alcohol for them to serve. It depends on your crowd. We don't have many drinkers, so we are buying our own alcohol, and it will be about $300 versus the venue charging us $21 per person, which would be significantly more!

View Quoted Comment I agree, not sure what you're asking. If you're saying is it better to self cater and do a serve yourself bar, then just no to all of this. The people who do the catering and bartending have licenses and experience and especially insurance if heaven forbid something happens.

If you're asking about providing alcohol for a bartender to serve, I guess that could be okay, but it would be easier to ask the venue to do a consumption bar - you only pay for what the guests drink.

Catering and alcohol for weddings are usually one of the top factors in budget and the priciest part.

Even if I could save some money by DIYing it, I would choose to pay a little more to have someone else handle the alcohol part so I didn't have another thing on my plate.

I'm choosing to provide the alcohol (beer, wine, and signature drink) and hire a bartender. It will cost less than half the per person charge from the caterer and I can return any unopened bottles.

View Quoted Comment Yeah, sorry I could of reworded that.. 😂 but yes. This is the answer I was going for!
Thank you!