Bar Cost

future mrs masuda

My fiance and I are having a destination wedding in Hawaii. Our ceremony and reception are taking place at the Queen Kapiolani Hotel on Oahu. In all honesty we are getting a great deal for our wedding at this hotel. And we are very happy with our decision to have our big day at this hotel. But, I am having a dilemma with the cost for an open bar. Since the majority of our guests will be travelling to Hawaii for our celebration we want to have an open bar. We both agree with not having our guests pay for their alcohol at our wedding. The issue is that I really feel as though the bar package pricing for an open bar at this hotel is outrageous!! I wanted to find out if I wasn't taking into consideration the location of the wedding, which could be why the cost is soooo high. I want to make sure this is a typical cost in Hawaii for an open bar! 

The hotel's open bar package is for $25 per person, per hour. So we are essentially talking $100 per person for a 4 hour wedding, just for the bar. And the alcohol is well liquor only (plus wine and beer options). I needed clarification on this price with the wedding planner I am in discussions with and she ended up knocking the price to $25 per person for the first 2 hours, and then $15 per person for the last 2 hours. Now we are talking $80 per person for four hours of open bar. Is this really high?! What kind of leverage would I have in attempting to negotiate this price down?? I mean, that is a lot of money per person for well liquor only (in my opinion). I mean I have a friend who is getting married in Boca Raton, FL at a very ritzy country club and for premium liquor their open bar cost will be $45 per person. Am I crazy? Is anyone else having any issues like this for a destination wedding? HELP, PLEASE!!! I NEED ADVISE! 

pbi9994

Yes, that is effing crazy. Ask if a consumption bar is an option. That way, your guests will not be paying per drink, but rather, they will tally the drinks at the end of the night, and have you pay that total. It's a risk if your family throw back a lot of booze, but you still probably won't have everyone drinking $85 worth.

Another option is to ask about their cost for beer & wine only. Personally, if my choice is between well liquor and wine and beer, I'm always going to choose between the wine and beer, so that might not be a bad option.

mmm4763

That seems extremely high to me. 

Like @icecreamcono said, ask if paying by consumption is an option. That's what we did and we were able to save on bar costs that way. To our guests it looked like an open bar, but we were charged based on guests choices.

saric83

I would check over on the local board for HI to see if they can help to give you an idea if this is a normal cost.  Otherwise, maybe check with another venue or two in the area on their pricing.  Then if it's way lower, you can use that as leverage when working with the resort.