Cash bar Vs Host Bar? Corkage?

View quoted message You might run out. We only have 50 people at our wedding and our bar budget so far is $1100. And this is bare minimum, were not stocking everything. Have you researched how much alcohol you should approximately buy? We got a paper from our venue woth numbers.

We are doing corkage for our wedding. Our venue is charging us $8/person and we bring in our own alcohol and mixers. We think it'll be cheaper this way because the minimum drink cost for host bar is $9 per drink. We do need a liquor licence as well. My friend did this option and was able to return half of what they bought. They spent almost $2000 on wine, beer, liquor, juice, pop for 120 people and returned any unopened ones.

We averaged 1 drink per person per hour and did the math for host and corkage. Obviously, not everyone is going to drink this much, but some might drink more.

Also, I am not too concerned if we run out of alcohol. Our budget for alcohol is just over $1000 for 100 people and if we run out, we run out.

I wish I had done some more research on my venue before booking. Although I have a large family and it was able to accommodate everyone with extra room. If I want to bring in wine it is going to be $15 a bottle for the corkage fee and then I have to have their cash bar. I also can’t bring in hors d’oeuvres and if I get their hors d’oeuvres it will be chefs choice spring rolls, Mac and cheese, wedges, and mozzarella skewers. Kinda disappointed about that. I think we might just upgrade instead of paying corkage for the wine because then we get hors d’eauvres too. I enjoy planning but when people want you to pay ludicrous amounts for things it just really sucks.

We are doing an open bar but my fiance's parents offered to pay for it as their gift to us. We just have to pay for the wine on the dinner tables.

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What fuels the fire a bit more is what they charge for their spring rolls. I think it was like $42/dz. That's crazy. I think it might work out to just pay the $1.50 per person fee. We'd have more spring rolls and they are the ones that are Vegan and the ones that we love.

Weddings can be a lot of fun to plan but its there kind of things that can drive you batty.

We are doing a cash bar. Although the idea of a host bar is nice, I worked at a hotel as a catering coordinator for over a year and I saw a lot of waste with host bars and toonie bars. You also see a lot more over consumption with these type of bars with the younger crowds. It really depends on your crowd and how the venue is operating the host bar. If there is a package that you pay one set amount and you have a lot of drinkers, I say go with the host because usually the venue takes a bit of a hit. If you are paying by consumption, there is a chance you will be pouring a lot of money down the sink at the end of the night because people don’t care about their drinks as they can always get another one. If it is an older crowd or a group that drink responsibility, host bar on consumption may be a nice touch for your guests. The best way to estimate how much a host bar would cost you is by taking the average drink price and budget for 1 - 1.5 drinks per person per hour the bar is open. Also dinner dinner wine, I would get from the venue because although the bottles may seem more expensive, they can stay out on the tables all night so at least there is a better chance of the them being empty at the end of the night. Some venues may partner with the winery to do custom labels if that is what you are into. Corkage fees are just so the venue doesn’t lose the revenue on the wine. Honestly, by the time you add the cost per bottle, the corkage and the special occasions permit (required in Ontario, unsure about other places) the cost is approximately the same as if you got it from the venue anyways.

View quoted message I find that just crazy how they charge for heat up. I am going to see if my venue does too. I just think paying $55/person and then a 17% gratuity fee is a lot. I mean I could upgrade to the $70/person but then I only get 2 wine bottles per table and I don’t even know what kind of hors ‘deauvres they have but I would get 2 per person. I kind of wish I was having a summer wedding and could get married on an average so that there wouldn’t be so many restrictions.

We are having a cash bar ran by the venue. We are bottling our own wine for the tables. When our wine is being served, the venue shuts down their bar, and will reopen when our wine is done being served.

Corkage per bottle is expensive and not worth bringing in. They feel they can't justify to bring alcohol for free and charge nothing to lose business.. Restaurants are the same way which is crazy.

I do agree that most venues don't allow due to the license. They would charge you if your ok with it.

Some venues do allow based on thr fact don't stock their bars fully.

We ultimately decided on a host bar. Our venue wouldn't have let us bring in our own alcohol anyways. Similar though, we were talking to them about a late night food item. We really wanted spring rolls but the ones their distributor supplies isn't vegan (which i am) so we asked about bringing in our own (from Costco). They charge a $1.50 per person fee if we bring in our own. The cost "covers" their heating the spring rolls up and serving them.

Corkage is what they charge you for bringing your own bottles in. It’s per bottle I’ve never heard of it per person. I don’t know if there’s a liquor law behind it or not

We’re doing a red and a white wine on each table as well as a toonie bar. Our venue doesn’t have a corkage fee but I’ve seen them range from $2 to $20. I think any kind of fee is ridiculous