Cost of Open Bar

mlb215

I'm considering a venue that requires use of their on site catering.  I'm not worried about the food cost, but their open bar pricing seems very high.  What do you think is resonable to expect for open bar, per person, and what is included (beer/wine, beer/wine/signature drink)?

michelleb92

My reception is going to be 4 ½ hours long, 3 hours of it will be an open bar and the last 1 ½ hours will be soft drinks and water only. My bar will have beer/wine/signature drink and is costing $25 per person.

lpprudence

I'm having 4 1/2 hours of open bar that includes beer, wine, name brand liquor (not top shelf), and soda (of course) for $30 per person. This does not include paying the bar tenders.

thedeckerwedding

For anyone having an open bar and is not providing the alchohol I beg you to pay close attention to the contract. My best friend paid for bottles at a set price per her contract. She told the hotel her estimate of what she thought she needed...simple example 5 grey goose 2 captin morgan. What she didnt know if the guests exceeded the amount of bottles she orginally asked for she was charged the full cost of the bottle set by the hotels bar.

For my example they ran out of captin and opened another bottle instead of it being $25 (cost of the bottle in the contact) it turned out to be $110 bottle per the bars set cost. Just make sure you have a full understanding of if they will stop serving that type of  liqour or will open new bottles and up charge you. Hope this makes sense. Just makes sure you have everything explained and in writing!

lelupixie

We paid about $800.00 for a 4 hour reception for an open bar with 4 specialty cocktails. We went through Orlando Bartending.

PVerhagen

I was thinking of going with a consumption bar instead of an open bar? Some of my guests are not drinkers so why charge them $31 for 3 hours. And if you're a beer dinker, you'd have to have 6 beers in 3 hours. Being charged by the drink makes more sense...what do you guys think?