Limited Bar

I'd probably try to order more as long as you can afford to. Have you used any "drink calculators" to make sure their recommendations match what others say? (I think a lot of them say 1 to 2 drinks during cocktail hour and then 1 per hour after that.) I'd look into that first just to double check that they're not being too conservative with their estimates

This is the norm in my area. This is also what we are planning on doing. In my group of friends/ family, we usually just bring cash or card to weddings to be safe; I find it strange not to. If you do want to let people know I would put it on your wedding website.

I would order more if you can fit it in your budget. It's a little tricky to warn guests to bring cash when it's possible that they couldn't even need it.

I've used calculators and our venue is conservative. We're only going to be serving beer (both of our families and all of our friends are beer drinkers and rarely ever drink wine). I pointed that out to them and she said that their glasses are 16 oz so that means we can order a little less than usual since it's not the standard 12oz. I haven't found a calculator that shows what serving amount they're going off of (12oz vs 16oz).

We're going to have about 125 guests that are 21+. We ordered enough alcohol for 240 servings at 16 oz per serving. Does that sound extremely low?

We CAN afford to add more alcohol on if it's necessary.

If you buy it and don't use it, can you take it home with you? You have paid for it, so it is yours. I would buy extra and if you have unopened leftovers, let your venue know you will take the rest home. That is what we are doing.

I'll have to see if that's an option! Maybe our coordinator was assuming we just wouldn't want to take a keg home when she said that they just take it down to their restaurant area and serve it

That's less than two servings pp which sounds pretty low to me. Most calculators account for 2 servings pp during cocktail hour and then one serving pp, per hour, for the remainder of the reception.

Ohhhhh, it's a keg? They probably will not let you take it then. This is why we decided not to have kegs and went with bottles. Is it too late to change to bottled beer? You can always take leftovers home and its easier to transport. Bottled beer is typically cheaper also (at least where I live it is).

It depends somewhat on how long your reception is, and if there's a dedicated cocktail hour, but I tend to think that's low. I'd expect the average person to have a drink during cocktail hour, a drink with dinner, and a drink for dancing/mingling/toasts. Some will have more, some less, but I think if your guestlist has a lot of drinkers, you're going to run out if you're only planning for less than 2 a person

I would definitely order more if you can afford it considering it is less than 2 beers a person

I agree it's low, and that pretty much every calculator I've seen says exactly what you wrote, but I also have a really hard time believing that you'll average 6 drinks a person - that's just a LOT of alcohol, especially if you're limiting the choices. I'm sure some people will have 6 or more drinks, but I'd guess you'd have more people having only 2 drinks than 6+. That being said, "know your crowd" is always good advice.

I would order more. Not cool to do the bait and switch on people!