Arizona-Phoenix

Having serious doubts...

Has anyone else booked their venue and then 4 months later had serious doubts that they made the right decision based on something that should be a small factor but to me is huge? We booked our venue knowing that they had a very strict food and alcohol policy and figured it would be easy to work with. However, now we are seriously second guessing the cost of the alcohol and considering changing venues because of it. Did anyone else change venues mid-plan?
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Re: Having serious doubts...

  • alschmidalschmid member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011

    I had doubts and thought about changing to a venue that was more of a package deal.  But actually timing wise I really couldnt' find any with open weekends. 

    You are at the Waterfront right?  What is their strictness in food?  I know it may be more to pay for them to do alcohol like they require, that was one reason we went to a place where you could bring your own.  If its really putting you over budget, can yo find some other areas where you can cut back?
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  • edited December 2011
    I am at the Waterfront. With their food, you have a certain list of caterers you can use and if you use someone not on the list, it's a $250 kitchen fee. Not a huge deal. With the alcohol, that's where we're running into problems. For open bar with mixed drinks, beer and wine, it's $28 per adult PLUS 20% service charge (not including gratuity). This gets ridiculously expensive fast (about $4000) when you have about 125 adults. For us, it's not just about the budget, it's a lot of wasted money. We considered doing just beer and wine, but even that is $21 a person for 4 hours and they're using $6 bottles of wine.
    ~*February 13, 2011*~ Wedding Countdown Ticker
    163 Invited image
    17 Can't wait! image
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    146 are still deciding image
  • alschmidalschmid member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011

    Yeah I was amazed with how much alcohol packages were as well.  Although I think those prices are pretty typical for alchol t any venue where you go through them.  I guess its up to you to decide if the cancelation fee and if you can find another venue for the time you are looking at compared to just dealing with the alcohol prices.

    btw, I  haven't had my wedding yet, but I am super excited about our caterer (A savory affair) they were just so great when we met with them and yummy!
    BIO: Updated 7/28 with bridesmaid dresses

    Amy & Ian

    image 133 Invited so far!
    image 48 Are ready to party!
    image 27 Will be missing out! (12 kids)
    image 59 Are MIA!
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  • lgoldberrylgoldberry member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011

    Honestly, I think 28$ per person for an open bar is pretty typical and maybe even on the low side.  It is hard for any place to know how much people are going to drink.  Some weddings it equals about 2 drinks per person and other weddings it is 10 drinks per person.  The site has to protect itself in case you have a wedding where people are drinking the 10 drinks per person.  I think the only way you can avoid this is find a site that lets you bring your own drinks or you pay per drink (and have a group of people who hardly drink).  Your site sounds like a pretty good deal to me!    

  • sboobear03sboobear03 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I dont know if thie is an option but you can ask. We are doing a cash bar but paying for the keg and putting $1500-2000 down on the bar. Then when it the money runs up its a real cash bar. The lady told us we can do that and its a good idea. We are having 150 guest and I know they all wont drink.
  • NillaWafer10NillaWafer10 member
    5 Love Its First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I have to disagree.  $28 pp is a rip off.  The cost of alcohol and supplies doesn't even compare to that. I would ask if you could bring in your own insured bartender.  Companies like Pourmasters have their own insurance for all alcohol related incidents.  The venue would be fully protected from any liability.  The total cost of our nonalcoholic drinks and alcohol for 150 people was under $1000, and we had over half of it left.  Our bartender was about $400 after taxes and gratuity (another rip off IMO for 5 hours of work).  That's less than $10 pp.  Essentially they are making $15 pp off of you.
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  • NillaWafer10NillaWafer10 member
    5 Love Its First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Oh! I too had doubts after I booked our venue.  I started seeing new venues pop up, and they looked so gorgeous.  I had venue jealousy :)  In the end, I was really glad that I had booked my venue.  I wouldn't have wanted my wedding to be anywhere else.
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  • lgoldberrylgoldberry member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011

      Wow, less than 10$ a guest for the bar?!  Sounds like you got a great deal!  I have to pay per drink and wine is 9$ for one glass!  I guess it comes down to how much you like your venue, your budget and what is important to you.  For me, I am in love with my site, but I know I am going to spend a ton of money there on food and drinks (I don't have the option of a cash bar or bringing in my own food or drinks).  However, I don't have to pay fees for other things like renting the venue.  Because of how much the site is I am going to have to go cheap on other stuff (like flowers, cake, invitations, favors, etc).  The trade off is worth it for me though because I really love my venue.  I guess it depends on what is important to you, your budget and how much you like your site. 

  • edited December 2011
    I have had moments when I wish I did one of those all-inclusive deals because it would have been easier, but I really love The Waterfront. We talked to Jessica about giving everyone a token for a free drink, which we would pre-pay for, and then having it be a cash bar for the rest of the night. That might be an option you can consider. You can make the tokens really cute. I've seen it done at other weddings. Did you not have luck in your meeting with Atlasta? I really liked Heidi's. I hope you aren't feeling too troubled. :\
  • edited December 2011
    Personally $28 per guest sounds great to me, mine was quite a bit more than that.  You have to think, when you go to a bar a glass of wine is probably $8-10 (on average) per glass, you have a few glasses of wine over a 4-5 hour period and you are right around the amount your venue charges.  Sure, you could buy an $6 bottle and have it at home, but a restaurant is in the business to make money and they would never let you bring in your own bottle or lower their prices just because you could buy it cheaper some where else.  Your venue has the right to do the same thing.  Sure it would save money if you could bring in your own liquor, but many places do not let you do that.  Venues have certain liquor licenses, and they have to do what that liquor license mandates or they will lose it.  So while a company like Pour Masters would take all the liablity off of the venue, that has nothing to do with wether or not their liquor license would allow them to have any off site liquor.  Ask them what their license allows, but my guess is that you brining outside liquor is not an option.

    As for changing venues, I did not do that, but you have to weigh the pros and cons.  How much money would you loose if you changed?  Would you have to compromise other aspects?  Would you end up saving money in the long run?  Can the caterer that you booked (I am assuming your contract states that you owe them a certain ammount of money if you cancel with them) work at the venue you end up moving to?  Good luck with your decision and let us know what you end up doing!
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  • edited December 2011
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_arizona-phoenix_having-serious-doubts?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:71Discussion:173e980d-b689-4fcb-923f-fd25496faf0bPost:c80d7551-c549-4dfd-a370-18e270b43d7f">Re: Having serious doubts...</a>:
    [QUOTE] Essentially they are making $15 pp off of you.
    Posted by NillaWafer10[/QUOTE]

    This is their business, they have to make money.  All businesses have a profit line that they need to be above or they will no longer be in business.  I am totally not trying to be argumentative or anything, I just have been on the venue side and know how important it is for these places to cover their costs, it is very expensive to run this type of business and there are a lot of things that go into being a wedding venue besides just the cost of the liquor and the cost of the bartender. 
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  • edited December 2011
    You all bring up a lot of good points and have a lot of great advice. Thank you all for your responses!

    I had never heard of doing a cash bar and prepaying it, but that may be the direction we go if we stay at the Waterfront. We haven't booked a caterer yet (although things went really well with Atlasta the other day, so we'll probably be going with them) so booking them for a different venue shouldn't be too much of an issue.

    The alcohol thing was totally our fault...we didn't get a price list until after we'd signed the contract (we signed March 31 because someone else wanted our date) and we didn't get the list of the alcohol they serve until this weekend. My parents are being gracious enough to pay for pretty much everything and $4k for food and $4k for alcohol is just a little outside of our price range. We definitely should have investigated before we signed anything, even if it meant losing the date, and I take full responsibility!

    We're looking at another venue that is actually cheaper to book as well as lets you bring in your own alcohol and would give us about a $3k savings. We're going to check it out today. I'll let you know how it goes! Thank  you all again!
    ~*February 13, 2011*~ Wedding Countdown Ticker
    163 Invited image
    17 Can't wait! image
    0 Can't come :(image
    146 are still deciding image
  • kpwedkkkpwedkk member
    Combo Breaker First Comment
    edited December 2011
    We got two open bars - but we stocked the inventory basically from Sam's/Costco/Bevmo.  We just had to get two bartenders licensed to serve alcohol.  It was much cheaper, and we rented out the Indo-Cultural Center (27th Ave and Glendale Ave) for the day! 

    Granted we did have 300+ people so it drive the food costs up, but it was still worth it and we gave our guests two meals - lunch (after the wedding) and dinner (for the reception).

    "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart." ~ Miss K ~
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