Community› Wedding Discussion Boards› Wedding Cakes & Food Forum
Wedding Cakes & Food Forum
New Discussion

Estimating Amounts of Beer, Wine & Signature Cocktails

sierralewissierralewis member
First Comment
in Wedding Cakes & Food Forum
Hello Fellow Knotties!
I'm fairly new to the boards so please forgive me because I'm sure this topic was already posted.  I wasn't sure how to search the posts!

My fiance and I have decided on a bar with 3 beers, a selection of wines & 2 signature cocktails rather than a full bar. 

We have 50 adults attending the wedding & reception and of course, not everyone drinks alcohol.  My caterer charges by consumption and I'm trying to estimate how much alcohol I should actually plan on paying for when all is said and done.  I know how much my caterer is charging per drink I just don't really know how many drinks I can safely estimate paying for, and I'd like to try and come up with a ballpark figure if I can.

Right now I'm estimating the following figures and I'm looking for advice/guidance as to whether I'm on track or way off base.

My Estimates - (50 adults)
Beer $4/person = 75 beers?
Wine $16/bottle = 15-20 bottles?
Signature cocktails $7/person = 50 cocktails?

Does this seem like too high or too low of an estimate?  I would love your opinion, I just don't want to have major "sticker shock" when I get the bar tab!!

Thank you!! 
snl
Report Reply to Post

Re: Estimating Amounts of Beer, Wine & Signature Cocktails

  • rknox88rknox88
    First Comment
    edited December 2011

    What day and time of day is your reception? Also, does your crowd predominantly drink one drink over others or is it all pretty even? The day and time of day, as well as how long the reception is will be kind of important. If you can add that info I might be able to help more!

    Image and video hosting by TinyPic
    Report Reply
  • Ashes_3Ashes_3 member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Answer First Comment
    edited December 2011
    We are having 120 ppl.
    We are doing 30 btls of wine. So, I think the wine is to high.
    We are having only one Cocktail & I think it will go more then the beer *if there are more women, sorry but we like our girlie drinks*
    You just need to figure most ppl will have at least two drinks.
    Report Reply
  • kaeshakaesha
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Comment
    edited December 2011
    This is what I used, and it was pretty much bang on:

    http://www.evite.com/pages/party/drink-calculator.jsp
    image
    Alyson & Phil | Planning Bio | Married Bio!
    Dates & Quinces Blog
    Report Reply
  • sierralewissierralewis member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Thanks for all the replies!  Extremely helpful!

    We have 50 adults and they are really a diverse crowd of drinkers.  I'd say 5-10 won't drink at all while the rest are either average or heavier drinkers.  Our ceremony starts @ 6:30, cocktail hour is 7-8 then dinner is served.  The reception ends at 11:30pm. 

    The calculator tool really helps but it still seems a tad high but what do I know??!!? 

    Either way, thank you all for the thoughtful replies!  At least I feel a little bit more prepared when I talk to my caterer. 

    snl

    Report Reply
  • kaeshakaesha
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Well, better to overestimate - if you've got great signature cocktails you can expect people to drink lots of those. We brought in our own alcohol and our guests drank us out of the cocktails (in spite of us bringing a back-up bottles, and our caterers bringing two back up bottles!). So that's something to think about too.
    image
    Alyson & Phil | Planning Bio | Married Bio!
    Dates & Quinces Blog
    Report Reply
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards