Bar for In Suite Reception- Please help me trim my cost

bbuckner984

Hello all, 

Due to a family issue, we might be looking at having to cut down our plans dramatically for our wedding on May 12th. Cancelling or postponing is not an option as we already have several guests who have paid in full for their travel and we would lose a lot of money on deposits. 

I have trimmed the fat on many of our areas, but one I am needing help with is our catering. We currently have MP booked for the gourmet express and a 3 hour open Call brand bar. We could cut their part of the bar and do it ourselves, but I am having problems figuring out how much that will really save us. I haven't bought liquor at a store in LV, so I don't know how much the prices differ from where we are at. Also, for those that hired a bartender, how much did that run? Some of our guests are a little heavy handed with the alcohol and we don't want to have to worry about running out. 

Anyone who has done this before, please let me know what kind of cost we would be looking at. We can knock it back to 2 hours if need be. 

Thanks in advance. 

VegasCalling

I was worried about the costs of open bar, and some posters mentioned getting booze at a place called Lee's Liquor. It's supposedly cheap and close to the strip. Compared to $750 for the 3-hour open bar and required bartender (at MGM Grand), I plan on spending a couple hundred. Guests will have to pour their own, but I have a feeling our more boozy guests won't have a problem with that. 

Lee's actually has a website: http://leesliquorlv.com

jmp2004

Why not just cut the alcohol all together?  Have a good dinner with friends, and if they want to drink, let them go out to a bar or a club afterwards?

Granted, none of my guests really drink.  Just a thought.

LilMissScareAll

http://www.evite.com/pages/party/drink-calculator.jsp

That's a link to a good drink calculator to tell yohow much you need for the number of people you have. In general, buying your own liquer in going to save you quite a bit of money. You also can just pick up a few types instad of having a a lot of options. In general if you get beer, red & white wine, vodka, and rum, I would say 99% of the guests will be happy. Rum and vodka are pretty universal. If you know you group likes a particular kind, such a tequila or whiskey, get that as well. 

I've only bought liquer in Henderson and the Albertson's and Food4Less. Albertson's gives you 10% off if you buy 6+ bottle of wine or spirits.

Smirnoff & Bacardi are $16.99 w/ preferred card (free to sign up for just like other grocery stores) for 1.75 L bottles

bbuckner984

Cutting out alcohol really isn't an option as most of guests are definately drinkers. Thanks for the calculator lilmissscareall, I was looking for something similar earlier and couldn't come up with anything. 

Anyone know of for hire bartenders and what the general cost is there?

Hiltonsgirl

I booked a bartender with Culinary Pros. Their fee was $25 per hr, 5 hr minimum.

magic34k

It has been so long, i cant really give you specifics.. but i will try. We had 46 guest. We spent around $400 @ Lee's Liquor and that included all liquor and about 4 large cases of beer. We then spent about another 100 on mixers/soda/water. The bartenders were hired from Culinary Pro's and it was 125 for one bartender for 5 hours. No tax, just a straight amount. I did tip. I think each bartender was paid 200.

I did spend about $100 or more on cups/ straws/napkins.

We did run out of liquor and had at least 2 cases of beer left over. I didn't think we would have such heavy liquor drinkers. But it was perfect in the end. The end of the liquor was the end of the party. 

HTH

I think at Lee's the Smirnoff was 13.99 or 14.99 for the fifth. I was so surprised at the price. At home it is nearly 20 for the same bottle. 

We did no wine. We stuck with Vodka, Tequila, and Whiskey. There was something for everyone. 

BTW.. i also guided my drink buying with that calculator. It was pretty accurate.

bbuckner984

Thank you all for the advice. 5 hours is a bit longer than we were looking for. I guess I shall look around and see if there are other options for the bartender.

But yes- it seems like buying your own booze is going to end up much cheaper.

easullins

Absolute Beverage is another vendor name I have seen around the board.  I just checked out their website, but didn't see any specifics regarding minimums.  They might be worth looking into.

http://www.absolutebev.com/id5.html