Open vs. Consumption Bar

The DOC at this venue also said they can do a hosted "tab limit"...but then would that mean that once the limit is reached the rest of the evening would be cash bar????... HELL. NO.

Well one bottle of wine equals about 3 drinks. So I think depending on how long the reception is about 2 drinks per drinker per hour at least and average $10 per drink at least.

We are doing open bar to avoid confusion. Some of our guests don't drink, but we know some other guests will drink more heavily, so it sort of evens out.

I thin the consumption bar will add up quicker for you, even if some guests don't drink. It sounds like you will be spending at least $40 per person anyway a those prices. How long is your reception?

@ringaroundtheroushes: Yeah that is a good point!

Plus another benefit to doing an open bar is that I won't be stressing about people drinking more than I expected and I can just relax!

Okay, so I guess that wasn't a very difficult decision!! Thanks @jclovesdm and @ringaroundtheroushes

Our venue only has consumption bar... I really, really wish we could have done a per person package. It's really difficult estimating how much you need to put to the bar for it to stay open for 5 hours. We're putting 5K to the bar with an estimated 170 "drinkers." We're considering anyone over 21 a drinker even if they don't drink. Based on the average price of a drink, this puts us at 6.5 drinks pp for 5 hours. We're having a back-up $1K in case it goes quicker than expected. I refuse to have it switch to cash at all.

Also people will spill drinks, misplace drinks, get extra drinks.... Shots will add up quick!

Best to just pay the flat fee and not worry about it

@kristy: The reception is 4 hours. I think i will just go with the open bar to reduce confusion and stress. Thanks for the feedback! I hadn't considered spilled or misplaced drinks but that is a really good point!

I looked at one venue that only did a consumption bar was even going to charge us for soda pop, juices, and waters! I was like.. great... I can only IMAGINE how fast that would have added up, especially with kiddies. We found a better venue anyway - and were able to furnish our own bar! So that was lucky

By consumption can be dangerous. Unless your group is really light drinkers, I'd go with the package deal.

(Think of all the half glasses of wine that get left around the room)

@kristy: Wow that is crazy! It's funny because the winery I'm considering is really really amazing, but for their beverage package they charge $38 for a bottle of wine that I found at another grocery store for $18. I almost want to ask if I can BYOB if I bring their own wine LOL! (just kidding)

Ours only offers a pp package. The cost of the bar for beer & wine only is $30/pp for 3 hrs. The buffet is only $48/pp. it's costing almost as much for the bar as the food! And this is pretty much the best deal we can find.

@erin dayummm!

We are doing PP for our actual wedding, but consumption at the welcome party the night before. One thing that was helpful for us was to make a spreadsheet of all the guests, then categorize them by "L, M or H" for what kind of drinker they are. It's a 3 hour party, so for "light" we said 2 drinks, "medium" we said 4, and "heavy" we said 6. I actually think this overestimates the number of drinks, since we have several people who don't drink at all and I think very few guests will pound 6 drinks the night before the wedding, but it was still significantly cheaper than doing open bar per person. I'll be happy if we even save a few hundred dollars this way!

@twostep127: wow that sounds like a lot of work, and hopefully it pays off for you!

@richardk you and I sound like we are cut from the same cloth! if we did consumption I'm sure I would be doing the exact same things. Thanks for your perspective!

We were in a similar spot. Our venue suggested a consumption bar because each drinker would have had to have 10 drinks for us to get our money's worth with the pp package.

We took the most expensive drink and calculated 5 drinks pp person. Some will have more, some less but we've calculated a little over so we should be covered. Hopefully we won't be spending the full amount. Venue said it's a better option because with consumption if you don't spend it, you get it back. With pp just say goodbye to the money whether someone drinks it or not.

I'd say open bar but talk to the venue about not including non drinkers in the proce

You can make the tab limit high enough for your liking. If you plan on paying for the drinks anyways but don't want to pay so much per person, just make the "tab limit" high so it won't go over and you'll pay for what they drink.

I would just pay for open bar. My uncle paid his step-son's tab and ended up with 10k! My bil wedding had 800 tab the first 30 mins for 50 guests. I would hate worrying about that bill at the end of the night. Most people will drink at least a 40 tab for 4 hours.