Community› Wedding Discussion Boards› Wedding Reception Forum
Wedding Reception Forum
New Discussion
Options

Open Bar: Per Person vs. On Consumption Question

blushingbride8888blushingbride8888 member
First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its Name Dropper
in Wedding Reception Forum

So my Fi and I want to host the bar for our guests and are struggling over whether to do open bar per person option or whether we should just pay on consumption. We will likely have approx. 90 people - about 7-10 of that group will be under 21.

I think our group will definitely take advantage of the open bar but most will not drink to excess. Some of our group - while over 21 - don't drink at all. If we pay per person it's $30 per person for the whole night for alcohol and soda, etc. for anyone over 21 and $12 per person for non-alcoholic (minors). Drinks run about $4 or $5 for beer, $6-$12.95 for wine and $7-8 for cocktails and martinis.

What are your thoughts? What is the better deal? Including taxes and fees we're looking at $3100 for open bar per person. What do you think we should estimate if we pay on consumption? Thank you all in advance!

image

image

Wedding Countdown Ticker
Report Reply to Post

Re: Open Bar: Per Person vs. On Consumption Question

  • Options
    augsum15augsum15 member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment First Answer
    From most things I've read, I believe if you're estimating it's approximately 1.5 drinks per person per hour. But like you said some drink some don't so it'll vary, but that might be a good place to start? Otherwise google up how much alcohol should you serve, I'm sure there's plenty of articles, etc. But I'm almost positive "1.5 X number of guests X number of hours X max price per drink" will give you a good idea.
    Report Reply
  • Options
    southernbelle0915southernbelle0915 mod
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its
    So you have a little fewer than 80 potential drinkers. The average cost of your drinks is a little over $7/drink if you have an equal # of beer, wine and liquor drinkers. Let's say your reception is 4 hours. If every single one of your guests drinks 1 drink per hour, a consumption bar is about $2/person cheaper. If they drink more than that, consumption is more expensive.

    So the questions you need ask ask yourself:
    - Do you have primarily beer, wine or liquor drinkers? Beer is cheapest, wine is most expensive (on average)
    - is your crowd full of heavy drinkers or light drinkers? More or less than 4 drinks/person?
    - Are you providing transportation? If so, more people will probably drink and more heavily since they don't have to drive.
    *********************************************************************************

    image
    Report Reply
  • Options
    blushingbride8888blushingbride8888 member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    Thanks ladies! I will definitely look into that and crunch some numbers. It's so hard to try to estimate what people will drink.

    image

    image

    Wedding Countdown Ticker
    Report Reply
  • Options
    Maggie0829Maggie0829 member
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its
    Another thing to take into consideration is would you rather just know that you are spending $X amount on the bar or are you okay with being "surprised"?

    For me, I would rather just pay $X amount per person and be done with the bar instead of worrying about the final cost of the bar all night (watching half drunk drinks taken away by servers, watching someone get a drink and then not like and then go back and get something else, watching someone drop/knock over a full glass of wine, etc, etc)

    Report Reply
  • Options
    MyNameIsNotMyNameIsNot member
    First Comment First Anniversary First Answer 5 Love Its
    To me, the worry of not knowing what the bar tab will be has a pretty high cost. My estimate would probably have to be about $1000 below the per person charge before I'd risk not knowing. I would end up spending the whole night worrying about the eventual bar tab. 
    Report Reply
  • Options
    blushingbride8888blushingbride8888 member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    Maggie0829 said:

    Another thing to take into consideration is would you rather just know that you are spending $X amount on the bar or are you okay with being "surprised"?


    For me, I would rather just pay $X amount per person and be done with the bar instead of worrying about the final cost of the bar all night (watching half drunk drinks taken away by servers, watching someone get a drink and then not like and then go back and get something else, watching someone drop/knock over a full glass of wine, etc, etc)
    That's what I was thinking, but we can also put down a certain amount on the bar, say $2500 and then they let us know where we're at as the night goes on. Since we're under 90 guests most likely and many of them are minors or don't drink at all, or wouldn't have more than 1 or 2 drinks, I'd be surprised if we even reached the $2500. I just don't know if $30 pp is worth it?

    image

    image

    Wedding Countdown Ticker
    Report Reply
  • Options
    lyndausvilyndausvi mod
    First Anniversary First Answer 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    southernbelle0915 said:

    So you have a little fewer than 80 potential drinkers. The average cost of your drinks is a little over $7/drink if you have an equal # of beer, wine and liquor drinkers. Let's say your reception is 4 hours. If every single one of your guests drinks 1 drink per hour, a consumption bar is about $2/person cheaper. If they drink more than that, consumption is more expensive.

    So the questions you need ask ask yourself:
    - Do you have primarily beer, wine or liquor drinkers? Beer is cheapest, wine is most expensive (on average)
    - is your crowd full of heavy drinkers or light drinkers? More or less than 4 drinks/person?
    - Are you providing transportation? If so, more people will probably drink and more heavily since they don't have to drive.

    Don't forget the non-alcoholic drinkers.  

     At $3 a pop for a soda (not sure the actual cost) a non-drinking person can drink $12 worth of soda in 4 hours.






    What differentiates an average host and a great host is anticipating unexpressed needs and wants of their guests.  Just because the want/need is not expressed, doesn't mean it wouldn't be appreciated. 
    Report Reply
  • Options
    mrsbananymrsbanany member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment Name Dropper
    Another point on consumption bars. I went to a wedding once where it was a consumption bar and when I went up to get my drink I was told that it had switched to cash, so I went to get my wallet and when I got back to the bar it was open again.  The bartender hadn't found the person who was paying the bill in time so there was this awkward in between stage where some people paid for their drinks even though the hosts had planned on keeping it open.  

    And on soda, at my venue non alcoholic drinks are $6 each!!! It is going to add up very quickly if we did consumption! 
    Report Reply
  • Options
    MandyMostMandyMost member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    mrsbanany said:

    Another point on consumption bars. I went to a wedding once where it was a consumption bar and when I went up to get my drink I was told that it had switched to cash, so I went to get my wallet and when I got back to the bar it was open again.  The bartender hadn't found the person who was paying the bill in time so there was this awkward in between stage where some people paid for their drinks even though the hosts had planned on keeping it open.  


    And on soda, at my venue non alcoholic drinks are $6 each!!! It is going to add up very quickly if we did consumption! 
    That's terrible! The venue shouldn't have done it that way. We did my rehearsal dinner as a consumption bar, and told them to let us know when we reached a certain amount (just so we had an idea) but to definitely keep it going! 

    I think the question is really "how much is peace of mind worth to you?". I knew that if we did a consumption bar for the wedding, I would totally have been paying attention to all the half-drank drinks, and all the people going back for more because they lost their's, etc., and it would have stressed me out completely. 
    Report Reply
  • Options
    Liatris2010Liatris2010 mod
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Answer Name Dropper
    I would do the open bar. I don't think it isworth the risk to maybe save $200 by doing a consumption bar. What if someone sees a nice whiskey on the shelf, and has one or two $30 drinks? What if everyone is feeling fancy and goes for cocktails or wine instead of beer? What if everyone decides to cut loose and throw moderation to the wind? You end up with a huge surprise bill, that's what. If everyone drinks less than you expected you gave the venue an extra few hundred bucks. In the grand scheme of your budget is it a big deal, or a drop in the bucket?
    image
    Report Reply
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards