Saving Money on Alcohol

As the host, you should be hosting something for your guests. Beer and wine is a great option. Does your venue allow you to bring in your own alcohol (it sounds like it does since you're considering BYOB)? If so, this will save you a TON of money.

We just purchased all the alcohol for our wedding tomorrow and spent $500...that includes 2 cases of Bud light, 2 cases of Heineken, 2 bottles of Crown Royal, bottle of Capt. Morgan, 5 bottles white wine, 5 bottles red wine, 4 bottle sangria, 3 Titos vodka, 2 Barcardi, 2 Jack Daniels. We purchased everything at Total wines. For Soda we purchased it all at a grocery with a buy 2 get 2 free.

Does your venue make you buy an alcoholic package through them or can you bring your own?

I don’t think you shoul do BYOB; if your venue makes you go through them beer 🍻 and wine 🍷 is a good option. If you can bring your own, PERFECT!

Hi Tim and Amanda! Welcome to WeddingWire! I think that simply offering beer and wine is a great way to cut costs! Also, you may want to look into purchasing your liquor at a Costco or Total Wine, as the prices are significantly reduced for bulk beer and wine! I would stay away from a BYOB wedding for liability purposes! I hope this helps!

My friends did Rum&Coke (cheap mixed drink) and a Keg (cheap beer) for their wedding, and they said we will have this, but BYOB, and everyone did it, and it wasn't an issue.

We did beer and wine only. We bought beer at Costco and all the unopened beer we were able to return it so we ended up being able to return 7 cases of beer. Also they will do that with wine too!

I've never attended a BYOB wedding so I am not sure the logistics of that? Do people just bring a cooler and place it next to their table? That seems very odd to me.....and would seem out of place for anything other than a very casual wedding. Anyway, i would be very much more inclined to offer beer / wine than a BYOB.

Beer and wine only is perfectly fine.

Never BYOB as the wedding hosts. Beer & wine are perfectly fine!

I would do beer & wine, so you are still serving your guests and not requiring them to bring their own. You could also do a mix of both. I'd look at Costco or Sam's Club, or discount liquor stores and buy cheaper brands.

If at all possible, do beer & wine only. I don't know how BYOB would even work at a wedding.

I think Beer and Wine only would be fine. We're having a brunch wedding that includes unlimited Mimosas, Champagne, and Bloody Marys. If anyone wants/needs anything its on them! Idk if they'll even serve anything else during brunch! lol

FH and I decided to provide two kegs (for 200 ppl) one is Guinness and the other is Angry Orchard cider. We wanted to make sure we had a gluten free option since a lot of ppl in my family can’t have gluten, and then there will be a cash bar as well. I know you can get smaller kegs and depending on where you get married provide provide some other mixed options. My friend got married at her in-laws estate and they made their secret family recipe margaritas, and then offered beer and wine. But they didn’t have to deal with food safety laws bc they got married on private property

If you can buy and bring in your own alcohol, that will be a money saver. We did beer, wine, and a signature drink (plus sodas) for 50 guests for less than $300 plus the cost of a licensed bartender. I've had good luck going to local wine shops, giving them my budget and having them suggest inexpensive wines that people like.

We are doing beer and wine only , but by consumption since we have a few people that do not drink at all.

We are doing a package that gives an hour of hosted bar followed by a cash bar after that. My side of the family drinks soda and iced tea more than anything, very few have more than one or two drinks. His side are very heavy drinkers, little too heavy at times. We are purchasing an unlimited soda package as well. I think we found the right balance for our wedding.

Beer and wine would be enough I think. It also depends on how many and how much people from the families drink.

Every venue we looked at only offered beer and wine. Alcohol in Australia is already crazy expensive (cocktails typically range from $17-25), so I can only imagine what a full open bar would cost. It's something to pair with food, and people can get plenty tipsy off those if they choose.

Don't do BYO. Guests will have already spent a lot of money on gifts, travel, accommodation, and clothing, and it's a bad look to ask them to spend more on alcohol.

BYOB is never appropriate for a hosted event, but beer and wine only is perfectly fine (as long as there are hosted non-alcoholic options as well, of course).

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Hello ladies. Thank you for all of your comments. This was super helpful. I will definitely look into Total Wines and Costco. Yes our venue wants us to provide the alcohol while they provide the rest. We can't do kegs at the wedding or take shots. We also can't sneak in alcohol either. Alcohol is the only beverage we need to pay. A lot of you gave good advice for the BYOB wedding idea and I agree. I feel like it is to tacky and rude for the guests.

Thanks everyone,

Amanda