Do the bar package or pay for liquor by the drink

dixes

The bar package is expensive.  It would pay for 7 alcoholic drinks per person for the entire night.  I am leaning towards a price per drink.  I know I may drink 3 or 4 drinks on a wild night, but then I would drink soda or water.  Usually I just have a couple of alcoholic drinks and then a glass of wine with dinner and sodas.  I'm thinking we will come out ahead by doing a per drink charge.  Any thoughts?

belletop

In general, per drink bars are more expensive.  A lot of times people might get a glass of wine, set it down and forget it, go back and get another etc.  However if the bar package is really that expensive you might be better going per-drink.

kxhamilton

Ask the venue person for advice on this one--if it is someone who is a reasonable type.

Take a look at your guest list--are you expecting a lot of heavy drinkers to be there? If so, go with the package, if not, do it by the drink.

mgdb

I had to make the same decision, and ultimately went with the bar on consumption.  I told my venue that we would not go over a certain number and only authorized them to charge my credit card for that amount.  They agreed that the event captain would notify us when the bar was getting close to our number, and at that time we would convert to cash bar.  We ended up only having to do cash bar for the last 45 minutes of the reception, and no one seemed to care.