Open bar = 2 drinks per person?!

MagCal · February 2012

I just emailed the lady at our venue to ask for a quote with an open bar included, and she sent me one right back, but it says, "Hosted bar (2 drinks per person)"... Ummm, wtf? That will definitely not do, as we'll have some big drinkers in attendance. I guess I need to tell her I meant unlimited, and find out if there's a price per head for that or if they will just bill per drink at the end of the night? Also, how does that work for a wedding where there will be many children? Can I subtract them from the open bar head count?

andrea2473 · February 2012

They should only quote you on guests that are 21 and over if they do a per person charge. Definitely clear it up with her that you meant a 100% open bar. I wonder why she assumed that you meant limited. Maybe she got you confused with another client.

ETA: If you have a choice between per person charge and consumption, go with the ppc for a heavy drinking guest list. Consumption can climb really fast. But if you have light drinkers, go with consumption. Given you have the choice. Some venues will let you choose while others already have a policy in place.

jeslm · February 2012

That's weird, "open bar" generally means unlimited.

Our venue gave us a significantly reduced price for the under-15 set, less than half the adult price, with a true open bar. Older than that their theory is it's not obvious they're under 21 and they won't card, so they charge adult prices (which sounds like a crock of crap, but the price is otherwise pretty stellar even for the adults, so we're just going with it, since we've only got 2 or 3 that fall in the 16-21 group). We're going to fugde it with one 16 year old cousin.

andrea2473 · February 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_open-bar-2-drinks-per-person?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:59559b87-f2e9-4421-a778-5f72177cd588Post:24bbb60b-e061-4a92-aa6f-58cfa13fc71f">Re: Open bar = 2 drinks per person?!</a>:
[QUOTE]That's weird, "open bar" generally means unlimited. Our venue gave us a significantly reduced price for the under-15 set, less than half the adult price, with a true open bar. Older than that their theory is it's not obvious they're under 21 and they won't card, so they charge adult prices (which sounds like a crock of crap, but the price is otherwise pretty stellar even for the adults, so we're just going with it, since we've only got 2 or 3 that fall in the 16-21 group). We're going to fugde it with one 16 year old cousin.
Posted by jeslm[/QUOTE]

They won't card? They'd rather arbitrarily charge anyone that might be 21 rather than follow the law? If they have that in writing then they could get in a lot of trouble for that. That's very peculiar. But I'm glad it worked out for you.

NOLAbridealmost · February 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_open-bar-2-drinks-per-person?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:59559b87-f2e9-4421-a778-5f72177cd588Post:24bbb60b-e061-4a92-aa6f-58cfa13fc71f">Re: Open bar = 2 drinks per person?!</a>:
[QUOTE]That's weird, "open bar" generally means unlimited. <strong>Our venue gave us a significantly reduced price for the under-15 set, less than half the adult price, with a true open bar. Older than that their theory is it's not obvious they're under 21</strong> <strong>and they won't card, so they charge adult prices </strong>(which sounds like a crock of crap, but the price is otherwise pretty stellar even for the adults, so we're just going with it, since we've only got 2 or 3 that fall in the 16-21 group). We're going to fugde it with one 16 year old cousin.
Posted by jeslm[/QUOTE]

<div>Lol....that's pretty ridiculous. </div><div>
</div><div>I could see them doing that for people 18-20 (who I'd fully expect them to serve the liquor to if they're charging adult prices), but 15? Really?</div>

Simply Fated · February 2012

Is that just their estimation? That every guest will have 2 drinks? I'm as confused as you are. I'd call back for a further explanation.

katehar01 · February 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_open-bar-2-drinks-per-person?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:59559b87-f2e9-4421-a778-5f72177cd588Post:24bbb60b-e061-4a92-aa6f-58cfa13fc71f">Re: Open bar = 2 drinks per person?!</a>:
[QUOTE]That's weird, "open bar" generally means unlimited. Our venue gave us a significantly reduced price for the under-15 set, less than half the adult price, with a true open bar. <strong>Older than that their theory is it's not obvious they're under 21 and they won't card, so they charge adult prices</strong> (which sounds like a crock of crap, but the price is otherwise pretty stellar even for the adults, so we're just going with it, since we've only got 2 or 3 that fall in the 16-21 group). We're going to fugde it with one 16 year old cousin.
Posted by jeslm[/QUOTE]

I can't believe they actually said this to you. They could easily lose their liquor license over something like that.

Also I know in PA they're required by law to charge you a minor rate for guests under 21, but some places try to pull one over on you....not sure about Jersey.

monkeysip · February 2012

One of the venues I want to check out has a policy similar to that stated on their website.

It says "hosted bar--3 drinks per person" and it's like $20 or something like that. I don't get it because I don't understand how they enforce that. Do they give out drink tickets (gag) or do they do an average (50 guests=150 drinks, and that's it)? What happens if you want more drinks, do you pay per consumption?

So strange.

Loopyseven · February 2012

2 drinks per person is probably not enough. It sounds like signals got crossed with what you are actually looking for.

mica178 · February 2012

Have her re-run the numbers with all over 21 guests drinking more drinks (a good rule of thumb is two drinks the first hour, then one drink per hour for the rest of the reception). Better to overestimate your final bill.

Also, I hope that they are not expecting you to buy event insurance if they have the policy of not carding guests. That's a liability that they need to accept and take on because it's a really poor bartending policy.

calibud8 · February 2012

Bartenders do count kids as heads just for the fact they have another person that has to be served. It doen't matter if it's a vodka tonic or a Shirley temple. a drink is a drink. Therefore you may end up having to pay for 2 servers based on guest count.

HOWEVER, the cost should be different based on the cost of the "what" is in the drink. That smells fishy to me.

lyndausvi · February 2012

Are they quoting seperate open bar AND meal prices or are they all rolled together?

For example on the boat I worked on our price was $100 per person which included an open bar and food. Ages 0-3 were free. 4-12 were half off. So if your venue prices it out like we did I can see why 16 and older are the same price. A 16 year can drink more in soda than some adults would drink in alcohol.

If they give you seperate food and drink rates I find it odd.

Anyway, 2 drinks sounds like a very low estimate. From my experience is people will drink 2-3 drinks per hour for the first 1.5 hours and then 1-2 for every hour after.

Open bar = 2 drinks per person?!

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