Alcohol included VS Bring your own Alcohol

tinylittlehouse

I am trying to decide between The Anthenaeum where I would bring my own alcohol and a couple of downtown hotels which provide the alcohol in the package. My friends drink A LOT but my family does not drink at all so I'm not sure how I am going to guess how much I will need and which package will be better.

Have any of you had bag or good experiences either way? What is your advice?

casims3

We are having our reception at the Athenaeum, so my response might be biased

I didn't choose it because you could bring your own alcohol, but it has turned out to be a big plus in terms of price. Our friends and my FI's side of the family drink A LOT. A lot of the other reception vendors we looked at would've been much more expensive than what we are expecting to pay now. FI met with the Athenaeum's preferred vendor for beer/wine and he estimated how much we would need. He doesn't provide liquor but will estimate how much liquor you need based your guests. He has been a great resource.

Hope that helps!

Combs132

I'm also an Athenauem bride, and for our big wedding with tons of people being drinkers, it realllly helped cut our cost.  Gentile Wine Cellars is the preferred vendor, and when I met with the man there, WOW he knows his stuff.  He will tell you exactly the cheapest or most expensive types of alcohol you can pick, which I loved because some just tell you the more expensive kinds so they can make a heavy buck!
He gives you liquor quantities and you can go buy it, drop it off to him, and he'll bring it there with your wine/beer that you ordered from him.

Belle0000

We did choose our venue (Walters Commons) based on the fact that we could BYOB.  Our friends and our families (I have a very large, mostly 21 and up family) are drinkers, and for us, it wasn't much of a question (the majority of the wedding is being financed by FI and myself).  Considering our guest count and what those people drink, it was better for us to do BYOB. 

We're going to be doing a lot of comparing as far as costs go (buying at a local store vs. elsewhere), and if we need to drive to a neighboring state to get significantly cheaper prices on alcohol, we will.  We also have a number of friends who are on military bases and can buy alcohol on base.