Thoughts on Open Bar vs. Consumption Bar

Do you have a budget for alcohol already set? What would be the max that you would want to spend. That will play a BIG factor.

Of your 100 guests, are any of them children? And do children get a different rate than the $35? If you do a consumption bar, could you still limit it to Club Brands?

Well, for the consumption bar, you have to remember that even if people aren't drinking alcohol, they'll be drinking soda or water. I think $35pp is a pretty good rate! If I had 3 glasses of wine and 2 bottles of water, which is about average for me as someone who doesn't drink really heavily, I'd be at about $25 or so.

However, maybe my Floof would have 4 mixed drinks and a couple bottles of water, so he's already at $32 and however much water (assuming you don't charge for the soda and liquor separately.)

I think it'll even out, esp if you have some real heavy drinkers who are guests. I would go with the PP cost.

Our venue told us that an open bar is generally more expensive than a consumption bar, unless you have really heavy drinkers. We are planning on 1 drink per hour per person. We have some heavy drinkers, but also some people that don't drink at all so I think that will balance everything out!

At $35pp, that's a good deal. I like the idea of knowing exactly what you have to pay for the bar before hand. I would personally go with open bar if its within your budget.

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No, no children at our wedding. And yes we can still limit to club brands.

Something to keep in mind is that many people will drink a few sips of a drink, set it down and forget it and then go get another one. This is true for both alcohol and non-alcoholic drinks. For me personally, I like knowing the actual number I'm paying with no surprises so I liked having the open bar. It may ultimately have been more expensive but it was worth my peace of mind and my guests could drink as many drinks as they wanted and I knew what it was costing me.

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There is also water from the soda station as well that would be free so not just bottled water, I just wish the $35pp wasn't for well brand liquors/beer/wine.

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That is a good point, I didn't even think of that.

I would go for consumption personally, and I would also ask if you could do a limited consumption bar to save money. So beers, a couple of wines, champagne, and a signature drink or two with the club liquors.

$35/pp is a lot to me! I live in the south where maybe alcohol is a bit cheaper? Also I wouldn’t want to pay that amount for people who aren’t going to drink alcohol.

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Our all overall budget is 20k with room to wiggle up to 23k. Our catering alone is going to take up approx. half of that so I don't know if spending an additional $3,500 on alcohol is a good idea or we should just risk it and go consumption and possibly save.

Just based on some math I’d go open bar. Assuming my math is correct and I read your question correctly.

The average price of a drinks is $8.80
Half your guests at 1-2 drinks, let’s say 2 so 8.8x2x50 = $880

Then the other half of your guests drink 2 per hour so multiply the above number by 4 = $3,520.

Together thats $4,400

Which is more than the $3,500 you’ll spend on open bar for everyone. And that’s assuming equal amounts of all the types of drinks are ordered.

View Quoted Comment Totally agree! During my wedding I don’t want to be worried about how much I observe people drinking. Just pay ahead of time and forget about it. I paid in full for everything wedding related where it was possible so by the time the day comes a around I’m done spending money.

I’m one of those people that needs to know a dollar amount. I wouldn’t risk it and would go with the PP price. I wouldn’t want any surprises at the end of the evening

I do corporate events where we’ve done both, consumption always ends up cheaper.

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Right? And I would be chasing after them with it! "You finish that!" lol.

Some venues will do a consumption bar, but put a top limit of what the cost would have been to go for open. So if your open bar would have cost $8K and the consumption bar hits that amount, everything past that amount is covered. Would that be an option?

If you don't have many kids, PP may be cheaper (but $35 is high--we paid $19 PP for 5 hours). People seem to drink more than you think. Plus, guests often leave or put their glass down then go get another drink. Ugh. So glad we had a PP cost for our local reception. We paid for consumption at or DW and went over by a few hundred dollars (for only 15 guests!). I planned a company party and even with super-huge estimates, guests drank an extra $2K worth.

Wow. This is a real eye opener. I've been debating either open or consumption as well and my price is $15 a person for a four hour time frame. I thought that was expensive... I couldn't image doing $35 a person.

View Quoted Comment This math is correct based on info you provided. And at least with the open bar you’ll
know The exact price beforehand and not be shocked by a crazy consumption bill on your wedding night!

I’m getting married just outside of DC and my open bar is $30 pp for a 5 hour reception so I think your rate is pretty reasonable. It obviously varies a great deal based on location!