Canada-Ontario

What to do about the BAR

im stuck....im thinking of ways to save with the bar at the reception.what are ways to cut cost..im thinking that a fll open bar will be costly....im having a host bar and i don't wan to be surprised at the end of the night with a huge bill

would it be wise to have 2 signiture cocktails and add beer and wine for the night

any suggestions are greeatly appreciated...wedding is in june 2012 in pickering
Mashavoo

Re: What to do about the BAR

  • 2 signatures and beer and wine sounds perfectly fine.  It should limit costs for you, depending on the venue.  Have you asked them about their options?  Do they charge by consumption or a flat fee?  CAN you get a flat fee?

    Also, what are your family and friends like?  Are they light or heavy drinkers?  That affects things, too. 
  • thanks for responding ..very mcuh appreciated..your questions are great...im going to ask the people at the venue what my options are.maybe they can just give me a flat rate.

    my guest are caribbean..most of them..so they are exspecting there rum and cocktails...
    my wedding is in pickering at the lake house...the man running it seems great to work with..im sure we can work out something
    Mashavoo
  • The details about the different packages for the lake house are on their web site:


    Page six has the bar information, but it appears that drinks are included in most packages.
  • i've checked that out...we are customizing a package..because we are going with a different type of food..any how..i will take a look at there prices again ans see if i can work something out

    i don't want to do "per person" option cause....that will be way to much..so we'll see
    Mashavoo
  • I think signature cocktails, wine and beer are great.  Perhaps you can make sure one of these cocktails are rum based.  Either that or consider just serving rum plus mix and wine and beer.

    As well, you can do things like have the bar open for cocktail hour, then closed for dinner but serve wine and then open the bar up again after dinner.

    Other ways to cut costs, have a pre-set limit at the bar since you're doing consumption.  When it reaches a certain limit, have the venue notify you and you can decide if you can afford more.

    If your guests are big drinkers, you're likely better off doing an open bar per person but perhaps, as I suggested earlier, make it a limited bar. If they're not big drinkers, then you're likely fine.  To give yourself an estimate, it's about 5 drinks per person.  So take the most expensive drink at the venue and multiply that by the amount of people you're having.  For example, if the most expensive drink is $5 and you're having 100, then it's (5 drinks x $5/drink x 100 people = $2500.  That way you know how to budget it.

    But ss long as you're hosting the bar, I think you're fine.  HTH
  • yea, that sounds reasonable..i've actually thoguht of some of the things you'cve said...we will be closing the bar at dinner and just serving wine..the open back up later...i think if i do everything thats been mentioned then i will be ok..thanks for responding your inout means alot!!!
    Mashavoo
  • Just to warn you, even if you have few drinkers, the venue may ask you to pay upfront assuming X number of beverages per person. This is to make sure that they get paid in the end.

    We had to pre-pay the equivalent of a bottle of wine per person, even though for religious reasons a lot of my guest do not drink. This came to over $7000, but we expect to get more than half of that back.

    Just be aware that you might need to have more money available that you are budgeting for (even though you'll get it back).
  • You should really inquire about flat rates because open bars aren't too expensive if you go on a flat rate per person basis.

    For instance my venue offers $20 per person for an open bar. So for 100 people - $2,000 which is very reasonable.

    :)
  • Well i did inquire and it's $32 per person and we are having about 150 people at the wedding...that's way out of budget for us when it comes to the bar..$20 pr person is ideal..i like that price....LOL.....if i had that option i would go with that for sure!!
    Mashavoo
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