Open Bar v. Consumption Bar

My MOH was going to do this for her wedding last summer but decided to switch to an open limited bar instead. If you have big drinkers, I would average 5-6 drinks per person find the cost of the drinks (maybe average on the high end)and figure that total cost out, from there determine what you guys want to spend, if you're comfortable with the final amount then pay that amount

This depends somewhat on the folks who will be drinking. Are they the type to party hard? Or will they have a glass or two of wine with dinner? What will the venue charge you per drink? What's the per person cost if you do open bar?

One thing I notice a lot with wedding venues is the speed with which they'll clear a drink. Put your drink down to go to the bathroom? It's gone when you come back. So you go get a new one. With a consumption bar, you're then paying for two drink when the guest only maybe wanted 1. It's wasteful but good for the venue's bottom line. This could make a consumption bar way more expensive than an open bar, even if they charge for the underage guests.

If I had done one, I wouldn't have capped it. We wanted the bar hosted for the entire wedding.

A girl I was friends with did a consumption bar and it worked out great for them. If we had done it, we would be in the "pour" house. Get it? ;-)

I haven't heard of a cap but you could look into this alcohol calculator for the amount you think is need and sent a limit that way? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lauren-randolph/how-to-accurately-estimat_b_5503684.html?utm_hp_ref=weddings&ir=Weddings

Who is providing the liquor? What is the cost of the open bar? I'm not opposed to a consumption bar with a small group, but it may or may not be beneficial depending on what they are providing and for how long. Also, will they figure a soft drink price separately for everyone then charge the bar for only your over 21 guests?

Our venue coordinator keeps trying to get us to switch to a consumption bar vs paying for 4 kegs and 50 bottles of wine. Her reasoning is that if we pay for the 4th keg and don't finish it then we are out that money, however if we do a consumption bar they charge full price for the drinks: $4/pint of beer, $6/glass of wine. We would end up paying more for less alcohol. Plus I doubt that we will have any trouble going through all 4 kegs.

I would just check on the cost difference. You are having a smaller group so it might be fine to just do consumption but for us it would have cost WAY more.

Depends on the prices per drink - we are doing a consumption bar with no cap, but we are getting the private house prices which are SUPER CHEAP (cheaper than just going to a bar with your girlfriends). Do the math and figure what would be best for your guests.

I think ours i open bar and we pay a flat fee. IF when the wedding is over and they look at the consumption and we dont even come close to how muh we paid for, we get it refunded. I dont know if that constitutes open or consumption though

Thank you everyone. These are all very good points. I think that since we had already budgeted for the open bar, I'm just going to keep it as is. My FH wants a cigar thing for his friends and with whiskey that they all drink when they smoke cigars and the wine that my friends drink, I think will be better off just having an open bar. Thank you so much.

Not sure what area you're in but I'd estimate about 2-3 drinks per person on average. Do the math and figure out if it's better to pay by the person. Usually an open bar is easier, but not necessarily cheaper...unless your guests are big drinkers.

I would protest the same cost for underage people thing. Maybe they will knock a small percentage off if you do!

I think it's a good call to go with an open bar since you budgeted for it. Our total guest count for our vow renewal was 39 including us and we did an open bar. Our ceremony and reception was all in one place and the rooms were right next to each other. After the ceremony we went and sat out of sight so everyone could get to their seats but it took a while because everyone was hitting the bar first. Our families and friends can drink and I'm sure they were more than the average amounts of drinks per person.

If your family and friends are a bunch of lushes like our family and friends then open bar is the way to go. lol

I was a BM in a wedding that did a bar with a cap (after that it switched to cash bar). I'll just caution you that the biggest issue was that people were hammered before dinner was over because everyone was trying to take advantage of the free drinks before they ran out, because no one knew when the drinks would end... It wasn't a disaster by any means, but people were definitely more rowdy than you'd expect...especially the FOB's drinking buddies.

I have a few under 21 and one pregnant, so they are at a lower rate. It doesn't hurt to ask, it saved us money.

I'm doing a consumption bar. My wedding package comes with two bottles of wine on each table already. We'll be having an older crowd, who are all wine drinkers, so it just makes sense for us to get a consumption bar for our crowd. If we got an open bar for $6,000, we'd be wasting our money for our crowd. I think that it depends on your crowd if they're big drinkers.

A consumption bar IS a type of open bar, it just means that you pay per drink consumed rather than a flat fee per person. They are both open bars (guests are not charged) just different payment options for the hosts.

If both options are availble at your venue, the option that you choose depends on your crowd. With a lot of heavy drinkers, I would go with the per person fee. With few heavy drinkers or only a small percentage of your guest list that actually drinks, I would probably go with consumption. I would do some theoretical calculations though.

And I wouldn't put a "cap" on the amount of booze. The better option is going with a limited bar of beer, wine and a sig drink for the whole night.

What is the price per person at your venue? If 1/3 of your guest list is underage, you are probably better off with a consumption bar (without a cap) than the flat fee per person, unless the the flat rate is a really good deal.