Cost of stocking a DIY open bar?

ashleygracern

Hey everyone!  

We will be having our wedding at a venue that allows us to bring in our own alcohol.  Has anyone done this and have an approximate cost for beer/wine/liquor/mixers for 150 guests?  (Not including the bartender and cost of renting the bar itself, we already have some quotes on that).  We live in Southern California and are planning on buying all our alcohol at Costco.  Just trying to see how it will fit into our budget.  Thanks so much for the feedback!

Ashley

ElcaB

I haven't done it yet, but in the interest of keeping thing simple and low-cost, we're only doing wine + beer + two signature drinks. Things can get complicated, costly, and stressful when you try to stock a bar.

There are booze calculators for this to help give you an idea of what you should budget for.

southernbelle0915

ashleygracern said:

Hey everyone!  

We will be having our wedding at a venue that allows us to bring in our own alcohol.  Has anyone done this and have an approximate cost for beer/wine/liquor/mixers for 150 guests?  (Not including the bartender and cost of renting the bar itself, we already have some quotes on that).  We live in Southern California and are planning on buying all our alcohol at Costco.  Just trying to see how it will fit into our budget.  Thanks so much for the feedback!

Ashley

A lot of this depends on your crowd. Our caterer did our open bar, so I don't know the answer to your question. But I did find this link that breaks down some numbers and may help you get an estimate. http://apracticalwedding.com/2013/01/calculate-alcohol-for-wedding/

One thing I didn't agree with when reading it was that a bottle of wine has 5 glasses of wine in it... sorry but when I pour, it has 4. Keep that in mind with other quantities also. If you're using pint glasses, they're 16oz - versus the 12oz that technically qualify for a serving of beer. In summary, take the information on this link with a grain of salt when you figure out quantities and keep the tendencies of your crowd in mind. Also, hire a licensed bartender.

photokitty

Ask the bartender, they will have a good base line.

My family has been able to do this and between the calculators and our judgement we always end up with WAAAAAAAAY to much. A typical crowd with drink more beer and hard liquor than wine. Champagne is more popular than wine. I would get a handle of 4 or 5 hard liquors that you like and will drink the leftovers. If it was me and I was doing a prelim budget I would budget $750 and prolly spend way less - depending on what tax and alcohol costs in CA. I don't live in Cali. GL!