Paying for Alcohol

hbdiva725

We will be offering a bar for our guests at the reception. The hotel we will be having the reception at has a 'hosted bar' package where you pay a set amount per guest per hour for the bar (significantly cheaper than paying per drink). A significant number of our adult guests do not drink, and there will be 6 children there under the age of 21 (actually, all under the age of 18). We have not signed a contract yet but its pretty much a for sure that we will be using this hotel, and they have us on their calendar for our date to hold the spot until we give a final answer.The hotel states they will be charging us for alcohol for EVERYONE at the reception, even those who do not drink. We do not want to pay for alcohol for those who do not/cannot drink, as there is a significant difference in what we would have to pay. Has anyone run into this problem before? Any suggestions about how to separate out the guests who are drinking from those who are not, as far as when they approach the bar to get a drink (such as those who want alcohol vs. those who just want a soda)? Any suggestions on how to present this to the hotel?Thank you!!

kmmssg

It is one thing if they charge for everyone who can legally drink, it is entirely another if they are charging the hosted bar price for your guests under 21. It makes sense that if you are paying per guest per hour for alcohol that they will charge you for all who can legally drink, whether they choose to or not. There is no way they can keep track of that, and they would lose a lot of money if they didn't approach it that way. I do think you have a case though for any guests who are under the age of 21.  Ask them if there is any break for those guests.  

goheels05

Ditto to both PPs.  The hotel isn't going to budge on this.  It's pretty standard, and they have no way of knowing for sure how many of your guests drink or don't (except for the ones under 21).  Think about your personal situation to figure out which would likely be cheaper for you, hosted bar or consumption bar.  If there are a lot of people who don't drink, you very may well be better off doing consumption bar.  My husband's family is southern baptist and none of them drink, and they made over 60% of our guest list.  We did consumption bar and came out about $100 under what we had budgeted.  But also my wedding was in the morning with a noon reception, so even drinkers weren't drinking very heavily.  Here are some other ways to control the bar costs--do beer, wine, and a signature cocktail only, no liquor mixed drinks.  We took it a step further--we picked out 3 "premium domestic" beers, which were relatively inexpensive, and 3 wines--merlot, blush, and Chardonnay, all house wines.  Most people can find something they like out of those 6 options.  My family isn't exactly a "top shelf" kind of crowd.Another thing we discussed was capping the bar at a certain amount, meaning that the bar would close early once x dollars worth of alcohol was sold.  I'm not sure that capping the bar is as controversial as having a cash bar, but I wasn't sure how it would go over so we didn't do it.

AlexiaANDRobert

You might be able to get them to not charge you for the under 21ers, but even that is iffy.I'd ask that to be thrown in as a clause, and I'd pay per person instead of per consumption.  If your family is anything like mine, even though some don't drink at all, those that do, do it WELL!

tbh33

Another thing to think about, even though you don't usually see people drinking doesn't mean that they won't drink at your wedding.  I have a few aunts that I have hardly ever see drink, but at weddings, I'm not surprised to see them have a glass of wine or 2 and some champagne.  So unless you've seen these non-drinkers at weddings, I wouldn't count them as not drinking. 

betrothed123

Our venue did this.  It's one of the many reasons we didn't inite kids.  You can try to negotiate with them, but it may not work.  It didn't with our venue.

duckie1905

Just curious.  Even though the hotel would never approve what you want to do, how would you plan on proving that the people you didn't pay for weren't drinking?  Or, how would you indicate that certain people weren't "allowed" to drink?Wristbands or something?I can understand not paying open bar for children (our venue didn't charge open bar as part of the kids menu) and there were a few non-children that were under 21 we didn't have to pay for.  But, if you have over 21 adults there is no way the hotel isn't going to charge you for them.  How would the hotel know they weren't drinking?

Leah&Christian09

I think it is illegal in most states to charge for drinks for those under 21. I know it is here. Otherwise, exactly like PPs said. Thats the gamble with hosted bars. Will people drink enough to pay for the pp cost.

T&A430

I tried to negotiate with our venue to not charge us for those under 21 and it wouldn't work. Their argument is that they are still consuming non-alcoholic beverages. Children under 3 are totally free and kids under 10 have a discounted plate and no cost for the bar. I'm not sure why the magic number is 10, but at least it's something. GL!

buttrfly168

We did have to pay for everyone over 21 at the reception, drinkers or not. We did not have to pay for people under 21, and you shouldn't have to!!

mizu22

There is no reason they should be charging you for people under 21. Tell them the number of under 21's you have and state you will not pay for them to drink alcohol since they can't. Unfortunately, people who don't drink will have to be paid for because they technically can. But use your numbers and tell them exactly how many people won't be able to drink alcohol. You'll still have to pay for juice/pop, but you should not have to pay for the alcohol. If they still say you do, I'd threaten taking my business elsewhere and then see what they say.

brandyatc

I agree with most of the posters that you may just be better of going with a consumption bar. Most of the venues I've looked at have said they wouldn't budge on charging ALL of your guests for the bar cost because the under 21-ers can get drinks from the bar, they will just be non-alcoholic. They can still get pop, juice, virgin daiquiri's if available, etc. I would just try and weigh the difference in having a PP or consumption bar and go with the one that makes more sense. Putting a cap on your consumption bar is also a good idea if you go that route!

angel3ca

I don't know if it is different being that its a hotel.  But I think it would be ridiculous that they charge you for those under 21 the same price as those over.  Our venue charged us 3 different prices.  We had a child price, which was for everyone under 10 (they were offered childrens meals).  We then had a price for everyone from 11 to 20 which did not include the price for alcohol and finally a price for all adults 21 +.  I would definitely ask them about that and maybe check out a couple other places if that becomes a big issue for you.  Since you said a lot of your guests don't drink you might be okay with a consumption bar, but that is certainly not the ONLY option.  And i'm sure you'd be able to find a place that offers a different price for under 21 guests!HTH!