Consumption bar

That price is good for heavy drinkers as to not so big drinkers way less than $50. Its your call to make if you want to go open bar.

Most wedding venues will charge more per person with food to put your cost up more than your actual budget. Consumption bar helps to cut down your cost and just have the guests pay for their drinks and you give the tip at the end as an option. Otherwise, the bartenders will have a glass for tips so you don't have to tip them at the end of the day.

My friend had a consumption bar. The only thing that drove her crazy where the people who had drank quite a bit then forgot which drink was theirs and left it to get another....other than that there wasn't a problem. There are enough DD's, people who don't drink and people who drink less to make up for the big drinkers. It is a wedding not a frat party after all....

I was very open bar team and have recently changed to team per consumption. My fiance was convinced that per consumption is just the smarter choice. Hes an engineer so he went all math on me with spreadsheets and all to show me and its true. However, I said youre not in the business lets wait till we see the venue coordinator. She is 150% convinced after many years of experience that 96% of the time you will always save when doing per consumption. She strongly discouraged us from open bar and showed us the numbers. Her number is the magic 7 so 7 drinks per person which is not far off from your venue’s guess. She also did the count based on 150 guests and it was a difference of about 5K from per consumption to the open bar, which is huge. I worry a loooot so open bar just seemed like the safer choice but after seeinn the numbers im convinced. You also gotta think its all about the average. Yes some ppl drink a lot but theres also ppl that dont. And per consumption allows you to skip in some mandatory fees. For example, pregnant guests (at least in my venue) even if they cant drink I still have to pay for their open bar fee which is crazy! But per consumption I know for sure they will not be adding to my cost. Same with vendors some venues if its open bar + food fees you are required to pay for their open bar fee even tho they most likely wont be drinking as they hopefully are working away! Lol anyway, just my experience from someone that felt like you with the open bar.

I think that’s a decent price actually. The thing with consumption, and I’m not sure whether your coordinator mentioned this, is regardless of whether your guests actually drink that much you’re going to be paying that amount.

However, if you go above that amount, you will have to pay the venue the difference the next day. For example, you pay $5400 but the bar calculates you actually consumed $6000 worth, you’ll have to pay $600 the next day. My parents had this kind of bar at their wedding. I think I’d have anxiety all night worrying whether I was over or under plus we’re leaving immediately on our honeymoon so we wouldn’t be able to go back to the venue the next day.

id definitely ask your coordinator about what’s expected of you if you go over that amount.

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Dang... and that's why we went with a venue that we provide our own liquor license and alcohol...

We are having 250 people and our bill will be around $4,500...

I would say based on that price per drink that it's pretty accurate. Make sure that shots are not allowed though because that will run the price up even more!! It's all based on how heavy of drinkers you have though. I know myself would drink maybe 8 drinks but of course at the same time I would provide enough presentations for those 8 (but not at $6/drink.. I would give enough presentation at $5/drink as that's the rough cost of a drink at a bar).

It comes down to how much your guests drink. My parents had a consumption bar for their wedding, it was about 80 people, and my family likes to drink a lot. I think they said their bar bill was almost as much as the food.
But 6 drinks per person is a good amount because there will be some people who will drink less, and it will balance out the people who will drink more

View quoted message Ya I’m wondering how much the bar bill would cost for 150 guests. Our coordinator quoted us $5400 for (6drinks pp @6 each) I’m curious if people stay within that quote or go way over

Do you mean for 150 people? Or are you asking what people buy for that amount - like what $150 in alc. looks like?