Maybe this open bar plan is a bad idea

squirrly

As it's going to cost me DOUBLE what we budgeted for a bus/shuttle.  I do NOT have that much extra laying around.  Gah!

lilgina64

soz squirrly. have you been on budget otherwise?

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

Ohhh, so you decided to upgrade the bar rather than the bus?

Can you do signature cocktails, or maybe just a few common cocktails - margaritas, mojitos, screwdrivers - and se if they can discount it?

:-(

ac_in_dc

Yeah, I agree with Msmery, maybe see if just beer/wine is cheaper??

squirrly

Nope.  Beer is $2 each, and wine/mixed drinks are $4 each.  So, zilch savings over cutting out liquor.  It's pretty much all or nothing for us. 

There are about 3 or 4 other bus companies I'll call. . . I think I just have to referee extra tournaments this winter. 

And, yeah, we're on budget overall.  I'll make it work, somehow.  I just need to get creative on the transportation.

squirrly

Oh, and sorry about the post & run.  Co-worker walked in and interrupted my knotting.

opalsky007

Yeah, definitely call some other companies...after getting a couple of quotes, I thought there was no way we could afford to rent a bus. But, I kept at it, and wound up booking with a company that, tax and tip included, was half the cost of the rental from one of the other companies.

Also, super jealous of your drink prices. I wish we could have $4 cocktails!

squirrly

Yeah, it's the only way we can have an open bar.  Which is an FI requirement.  The thing that kills me is paying for all the time in between.  I hate that. 

opalsky007

Keep on calling around. My company did not require us to pay for the time in between, we just paid for two one hour blocks.

september's bride

We ran into the same problem. To rent even a yellow school bus was $650, and it was something we hadn't considered until later in the game. We couldn't swing it and/or justify the cost for such a small amount of service, so we called up the local cab company and got discounted rates and coupon books for our guests that cabbed it home. Thankfully the reception was only a short ride away from the hotels (which made the bus cost hurt even more!) and the cabs were only about $5 after the fact, but I was still pretty bummed about not being able to provide transportation.

squirrly

Yeah, I think there are a whole 3 cabs in my hometown.    They're telling me it's a 3 hour minimum for any booking, which SUCKS.  My sister had done some prelim research which indicated this one was the cheapest/best, but she gave them the wrong start time.    So, I'll go back through the WHOLE list. 

squirrly

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_maybe-this-open-bar-plan-bad-idea?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:79410a5c-182d-451f-b7a3-7136d29e4a55Post:f7f25ed0-cf6f-4504-b40b-de7c527852fc">Re: Maybe this open bar plan is a bad idea</a>:
[QUOTE]Keep on calling around. My company did not require us to pay for the time in between, we just paid for two one hour blocks.
Posted by opalsky007[/QUOTE]

Now, that I could afford.  Do they want to work a wedding in KY?  <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-cool.gif" border="0" alt="Cool" title="Cool" />

opalsky007

I dunno. It's Chariots of Hire, if you're interested. I think they're local to Knoxville, so they'd probably charge you extra just for fuel to get there...but it might be worth a check.

butterflyink22

we wanted to do an open bar at our wedding but cost wise it just wasn't in the budget. we did opt for a cocktail hour and a shuttle to accomodate everyone who would be drinking. would hate to have friends/family get arrested for drinking and driving!

but a cocktail hour is alway's something to consider, your still doing a nice thing by offering them a free drink or two, but your not killing your budget doing it.