Save Money on Alcohol for Your Wedding Reception
Tanner |
Thoughtfully composed by Tanner Filed under: Reception, Wedding Planning, Saving Money, Wedding Alcohol |
This might be a little tricky, because Caterers and Reception Halls often force you to retain their services for serving alcohol and liquor at your wedding reception, but I plead with you to STAND UP for yourself and tell them that you will find someone else if they will not let you provide your own alcohol.
Buying your own alcohol and hiring your own bartender is the absolute cheapest way to have an open bar at a wedding. Caterers will charge you thousands for something that should only cost you hundreds.
First: Hire a bartender/s to serve the alcohol:
The absolute first place I would visit would be Craigslist for your town. Go to the ‘Services’ section and peruse the site for bartenders that are offering their services. Try searching using the keyword ‘bartender’ or ‘alcohol’. If you cannot find anyone already offering their services, try posting a message saying “Hiring: Bartender for One Day Wedding Reception.” Tell them that you will pay them $50 or $100 for the reception services and they will receive all of the tips (which will probably be over $200 after the day is over). Amateur (but good) bartenders will be swarming you with emails offering their services at this point.
You will want to have face-to-face interviews with the potential bartenders to see if they have an OK “look” and if they will be professional. You can also have them give you demonstrations of serving alcohol. Maybe have them serve several common drinks, like a cosmopolitan, margarita, and martini in an impromptu fashion to see how well they will do.
Second: Buy the liquor for your wedding:
This is the part that is FUN. I would have so much fun spending several hundred dollars at a liquor store. Great times. Below, I will list the calculations for how much alcohol to buy. The numbers are going to be a little funny, but that is fine.
The alcohol amounts are provided assuming 100 guests. If you need to do the calculations for 50 guests, just halve the numbers.
Beer – (Total 9 dozen)
Three dozen each of domestic, imported and light beers
Wine – (Total 5-8 dozen bottles)
Chardonnay - 3-4 dozen bottles
Sauvignon Blanc - 1-2 dozen bottles
Cabernet Sauvignon (red) - 1-2 dozen bottles
Champagne – 1-2 dozen bottles
Hard Spirits
Vodka – 5L
Gin – 3L
Rum – 2L
Scotch – 2L
Bourbon – 2L
Vermouth - 750ml
Kahlua – 3L
Sweet and flavored liquors: (About 1 liter of each)
Bailey’s Irish Cream (heavy Irish cream)
Grand Marnier or Triple Sec (orange)
Amaretto (cherry)
Sambucca (licorice)
Brandy (whatever flavors)
Frangelico (hazelnut)
Chambord (raspberry)
Also, to help you save money (but upset the snobby guests)….buy the cheap liquors and either don’t let people watch while they are made (stupid) or just pour the drinks without even making a fuss about it. Who’s gonna complain?? Free drinks!
I promise you that buying your own wedding alcohol will save you TONS of money!
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June 6th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Would guests know to tip the bartender? Nobody ever does at the weddings I have been to (all very upscale) because it is understood that the bartenders (which are usually provided by the venue) are tipped by the individuals paying for the wedding. How would guests know that this is a different scenario where they will NOT be tipped by the wedding hosts, and instead are supposed to be tipped by the guests? Putting out a sign seems incredibly tacky, and just makes the bride and groom look cheap.
June 6th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Hi Julie. Thanks for the comment. It might possibly look a little tacky to put up a sign asking for tips. You might just put a tip bowl or jar out in front of the bar and that might encourage tipping. I usually have seen tipping though at both cheap and expensive weddings.
But, if you do feel that it is tacky, you can just negotiate to pay the bartender more money upfront and get any tips that might possibly (but doubtfully) fly his way.
Then again, we are going for cheap weddings, so some sacrifices must be made
June 21st, 2007 at 12:27 pm
I’m not having a bar at all at my wedding, but these are some great tips.
You guys should be on the Style Network!
July 9th, 2007 at 10:33 am
If at all possible try to buy alcohol on a military base. We live in Navy country and it is a lot cheaper. I know this obviouly isn’t possible for a lot of people but if it is it can save a lot
July 16th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
Couple Questions:
We are having only beer and wine at our reception. We will have 200-250 guests — majority of which will be drinking. Our reception is going to be held at a historic Garden Center with an outdoor tent where the bar and seating will be located. Our buffet will be indoors (to avoid the bug situation as much as possible).
One thought we had was to do boxed wine and kegs and just display bottled wines of our bulk choices out on the bar. If we go with this option, how many kegs and how much wine should we get? Thoughts on this as an option?
If we do go with bottles of both, how much should we get and what would be your suggestions?
What is a reasonable budget for our alcohol expense?
Sorry to bombard you with questions but this has been the first site where someone was replying to responses that actually seemed to know what they were talking about.
Thanks!
Lori
August 12th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Lori:
Sorry no one has replied yet for you - hope it’s not too late!
Boxed wine is kinda lame, and a real pain for the bartenders, and I don’t know that you’d save that much there.
The kegs are a great idea. You’ll need two standard bar kegs (17.75 Gallons) for your crowd, especially if it’s warm. Pick a popular local microbrewery, get one lighter and one more full. They will usually let you taste a bunch of them when you go to get it - that’s the really fun part!
Based on Tanner’s counts for beer and wine by the bottle above, I did a quick spreadsheet. For the beer, wine and champagne it looks like about $580 for 100 people, so 2-2.5 x 580 = $1160-$1450. The beer part of that is $210-$300, I think you can get the kegs for less than that.
Congratulations and good luck to you and your man, Lori - Let us know how it goes!
August 12th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Great Stuff, Tanner! I have been bartending catered weddings for several years now, and just recently learned how much my company charges for my services - I think I’ll go indy from now on!One additional tip on the bartenders: be sure to check references!
Regarding your alcohol list, it’s really a pain to try and provide a full service bar in this manner. Most people don’t have the equipment and supplies necessary to do it right, and the setup is usually ad hoc. You WILL run out of some things, and barely touch others. And don’t forget all the mixers and garnishes, straws, toothpicks, umbrellas, and oh, how many of each of the right size glasses?
Another alternative is to stock for 2 or 3 “signature” drinks, for example Lori’s favorite Cosmo or the groom’s extra spicy Bloody Mary, and then just add the few extras for basic Rum, Tequila or Whiskey drinks and call it good. This is a fun way to go, much easier for you and your bartender, and will usually please just about everyone!
Happy Day, everyone!
August 29th, 2007 at 8:01 pm
this has to be the best info i have read so far, thanks so much.
September 7th, 2007 at 4:58 am
How much juice and mixers should we buy for lets say a wedding of 450 people?
October 10th, 2007 at 10:55 am
Tanner, I plan to provide my own alcohol and bartender for my wedding reception. My reception site does not have a liquor licence. Do I have to obtain insurance or licences?
October 23rd, 2007 at 7:36 pm
OK, I hate to be a crepe-hanger here again but there are some very important considerations. Here in Arizona you can’t serve alcohol in other than a personal residence without a permit from the city. It only costs $25.00 here but the steps you have to go through and the divisions that have to sign off on it is really hard to do. The other factor is liability. These companies that serve alcohol carry the requisite policies to shield you from a lawsuit. Is your fathers homeowners policy going to cover him offsite?
November 14th, 2007 at 10:03 am
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April 18th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Hi I wanted to know about how much of total liquor far as how many liters for a wedding reception of 300 people?
April 24th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Hi I’m having a beach-themed wedding and we are bringing our own alcohol to our facility and we are trying to keep the costs down w/o having a full bar b/c it never all is gone.
I was thinking some signature drinks with Vodka, Rum and Tequila any ideas? We are also having Beer and Wine.