Restaurant Reception Guidance

That's the environment we had for our celebration of marriage and it was very nice. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

If you're doing consumption, why not pay for other drinks? We are doing wine on the table but if people want a rum and coke or a margarita, they can have it. To be fair, mixed drinks tend to be cheaper than wine. Can the restaurant do a prix fixe menu? That way there isn't so much choice and you will have a better idea of what you will be paying?

Are you expecting this to last more than 2-3 hours tops? If so I would have some sort of music.

If you want it to be a 'dinner party' it will last as long as a dinner party...We had a dinner at a restaurant for my mom's 50th birthday...It lasted 4 hours..It was excruciating to sit through a 4 hour long dinner....

The restaurant just asked if we wanted to do beer/wine only or full open bar and we figured beer and wine was cheaper. It's in TN. I'm in NoVA, a glass of wine here is about $9-10 and a mixed drink is $12-14. I can ask what they drink prices are. Are you suggesting I just offer a few mixed drinks on the menu such as margarita or whiskey sour or are you suggesting we go all open?

This restaurant doesn't really have a ton of experience with wedding receptions since it's a tourist hub for vacationers. And I have NO experience with this sort of thing.

I appreciate the suggestion and yes as always, costs are being taken into consideration.

Your plan sounds fine to me. Offering beer and wine with dinner is fine and the majority of your guests will be fine with those choices. Sounds like something I would enjoy.

@Anne - Go all open. Also, buy bottles of wine for your tables. It'll be cheaper.

I would ask the price difference between a full open bar and beer and wine only. It may not be as much as you think.

I think the environment sounds great, but I would look into the open bar it would make everything less awkward when a guest tries to order say a rum and coke from the waitress and she has to tell them she cant sell it and they have to go to the other side of the restaurant to the other bar for a drink.

I don't know what a signature drink is. I figured it was like a hashtag where the bar makes some unique concoction that is named something after the couple.

If it isn't what I thought, I'd be open to it but I'm not open to some "couple drink".

I'll ask the restaurant poc if we can select some standard mixed drinks to offer along with beer and wine. I don't know if they will do it or not. Does that sound fair/reasonable?

I'm in the same boat with a dw with restaurant dinner reception. I'm sure the restaurant may have music playing but if you guys are talking,eating,drinking I don't think having a dj is necessary. We are also cutting a cake and doing cupcakes,if our guests want to make speeches it will be at their will but it's not expected. If it's not that expensive open up the bar for mixed drinks if it's cheaper for wine and beer I feel you are still hosting your guests properly since you are offering.

There is no preset price for open vs consumption. The restaurant will only let us pay for consumption. They do not allow outside alcohol. Not sure if we can buy bottles from them. I'll ask. I just emailed the poc to see if I could get a price list and offer about 6 standard mixed drinks along with beer and wine. If they are rail drinks it may not be that much of a price difference.

Anne,

Our venue was really similar. We ended up doing a full bar to meet our minimum, but if all the guests we invited were able to come we would have done beer and wine.

I think beer and wine alone are fine. Are you doing menus? Maybe you can include the drinks you are offering on the menu. This may eliminate people thinking of mixed drinks. There is nothing wrong with only providing beer and wine if it is a cheaper option.

We also did not have a DJ or dancing, and our reception lasted 2.5-3 hours.

Yes, @ Vine there is a preset menu that lists food and drink options that is given to the guests once seated. I'm thinking if the restaurant will let me, i will add some standard mixed drinks to the menu along with wine and beer. I'm waiting to hear back from them. I have been to work dinners where there were just a few cocktail options along with wine and beer at private rooms in restaurants so I know it can be done. Just not sure if this restaurant will allow that.

Thank you all for the input. So glad to hear I'm not alone in my concerns for this venue style reception and that it worked out in the end. I'm hoping this doesn't go the full 3 hours. I'm paying for standard 2 and then adding an hour for extra just because 2 hours didn't seem long enough to me.

This is pretty much the exact same thing we are doing except it isn't a destination wedding. I wanted to do consumption of only beer and wine because it is a lot cheaper. Beer is between $5-7 each, wine is around $11, and mixed drinks are $12. We may only have 1 or 2 people who drink wine. We only have 25 guests but I figured it would be like $500 more to have mixed drinks included in our consumption bar. We had the choice of open bar but I don't think it was worth it for the beer and wine open bar price. The mixed drink price would have been worth it but but was expensive.

Also, like your situation, technically if someone really wanted liquor they could go outside the private room to the bar and order a drink. I am having a lunch reception though so I think people are more likely to be fine with beer and wine.

Awesome, I hope it works out in your favor.

@Anne - You should be able to buy wine by the bottle. I would just ask. That's what we are doing as well as leaving it open to whatever else anyone wants to order. The majority of our guests are wine drinkers, but several like mixed drinks and beer, so whatever they want, they can have, it's a wedding.