The BAR situation

JheartsA · October 2009

I am having a never ending debate with my fiance among others about how to handle the bar and keep it at a reasonable price buuuuuuut I don't even know what a reasonable budget for a bar is which doesn't help my argument. All I know is that I do not want to do a cash bar only. So any suggestions, advice, budget information would be very much appreciated! Thanks ladies

bethbloom · October 2009

Beer and wine. Way cheaper than liquor. That's what we did at our wedding two weeks ago, and as of yet, no complaints : )Cash bars are super tacky (in my opinion) so don't let FI win!

shortycole2 · October 2009

we had a couple of kegs, lots of wine and lots of champagne and it was way way cheaper than a bar, and no one complained one bit. and everyone got plenty drunk, trust me.

estherandgeoff2 · October 2009

We did beer and wine only and we didn't even have champagne for the toast. It worked out great for us.

tiffgriffin7 · October 2009

We are doing wine and beer only too. You can also close the bar early or talk with your venue about what options they have for their bar. Some are willing to work with you. If your group drinks liquor you could always do a 'signature cocktail'. I don't have really have any advice on a bar budget because it depends on your overall budget, how important it is for you to have certain types of alcohol, what time your wedding is and how much your group drinks.We are actually thinking of paying for drinks up to a certain amount and if we reach that limit, people have to buy their own drinks.As much as a cash bar sucks, we are willing to contribute quite a lot towards the drinking and I don't want to go in debt so everyone can get wasted.

tiffgriffin7 · October 2009

bethbloom....I was just wondering how much you ended up spending on beer and wine (if its too personal no worries). Our group drinks a lot and I am just trying to figure out how much it will actually cost. Thanks!

mayflymanitou · October 2009

We had beer, wine, and champagne. We bought our own wine (from Trader Joe's) and champagne (online from Safeway with free delivery) and then just paid a corkage fee, which worked out to be much cheaper than paying for it by the glass from the venue. We also asked the bar staff to let us know when we reached a certain amount spent since we were worried about going over our food and beverage minimum (we had approximately $400 set aside for the bar) and planned to close the bar when we reached that amount. Even with all our lush friends, we never hit it so the bar stayed open all night.And we were able to send guests home with unopened leftover bottles of wine and champagne

JheartsA · October 2009

I agree about serving beer and wine that is what I want to do, but my FI still thinks his buddies are capable of drinking us into debt (I say just don't invite the rowdiest but that is a whole other conversation

). We haven't sat down and hammered out the details with the venue yet because the wedding is so far away but the contract says we have to purchase all booze through them so I am hoping that we have a choice in what they buy. Anyone delt with a vendor that provided the alcohol? The biggest down size is that they charge a pretty hefty bar set up fee for all of the glasses, ice, mixers, insurance and bar tenders but I was hoping to negotiate that with them if we aren't going to be using mixers and ice and the stuff used for a full on open bar. I like the idea of setting a limit I just don't want to piss people off if we "close" the bar. Thanks for all the feed back so far!

sassypdxbride · October 2009

We did an open bar---it was a non-negotiable for my husband and both sets of parents so it was fine with me. I think hosted beer/wine is great but I think its super tacky when guests have to pull out their wallets at the bar.

bethbloom · October 2009

Tiffgriffin- I think we spent about 5 or 600. We had about 100 people, and had 2 wines and 4 (i think) beers. We ran out of wine apparently but they had backup in case. The lady who ran the venue and who we ordered it all with said we ordered WAY less than anyone else had before. And lots of "oh gee, not sure it'll be enough" kind of comments.But tah-dah we had like 12 beers left! Suck it lady.(The bartender said it was the first time he had ever not loaded a car with extra cases)Look online and find the calculators, and figure out yourself how much you need BEFORE you talk to a catering manager or whomever, it is their job to sell you after all. It took me a while, but I knew how much we needed, and we stuck to that. (If you want more specific help, let me know!)

cristi&jeff · October 2009

We used a venue that let us bring our own alcohol, which was a must for me, since I didn't want to pay corkage/per drink fees. I used a drink calculator, but was still short on stuff. I ended up with waaay too much wine and not enough beer for the 100 degree day. I think it's perfectly fine to just have beer and wine, but I like mix drinks so we had that too. I had a specialty drink menu and then just basic mixers.I also see nothing wrong with having wine and beer and then letting guests by mix drinks themselves if they want, doesn't look cheap to me since you are providing some. I would do some calculating before you meet with the vendor, like the PP said. Here is one I used.http://www.evite.com/pages/party/drink-calculator.jsp

tiffgriffin7 · October 2009

Thanks bethbloom, that was helpful and makes me feel better about the amount we have set aside.We have to purchase alcohol through our vendor which makes it more expensive than trader joes (love that idea!)They don't really give a lot of options though, mainly setting spending limits or drink vouchers (yuck!)I figure those who want to buy hard alcohol can do so very easily.

petrieam · October 2009

we are doing unlimited beer and wine...we are getting married at The Crown Ballroom and the most expensive thing for us is the food and bar....18$ per adult...I thought it was a little overpriced, but my fiancee said it was a good deal compared to other places...and the plus side is we don't have to worry about ordering anything, choosing anything, or running out of anything....they do it all. so a lot less stress...and we can make sure our guests have it all available and everything goes smoothly and everyone has a good time! definitely worth it!

DramaGeek · October 2009

we skipped it all together :-P I'm amazing helpful, huh?

emalee_jane · March 2010

Wow... this is definitely making me reconsider a cash bar.... We are paying for everything ourselves! Hmmmmm... we were considering drink tickets for the first two drinks on us. Still tacky?

The BAR situation

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