Alcohol Pricing Per Person

That seems about average for a lower cost of living area. We paid $55 a person for beer and wine in California for 6 hours. You also have to think about if your crowd is mostly heavy drinkers and the price per drink at your venue to see if it would be worth it. There are places that let you bring in your own alcohol or there are places that would let you do a consumption bar which is based on how many drinks are ordered instead of a flat cost.

I'm in Grand Rapids, Michigan. For 5 hours of open bar including glassware with one craft draft, one domestic draft, three wines, 7 "call liquors (Tito's, Bombay, Jack Daniels, etc), Coke products, and juices/mixers, we are paying $21 per person for 21+.

I thought ours was cheap per person, but we are also expecting a smaller guest list (120-140).

I live in VA and for 4 hours of open bar it is 32 pp and higher-end liquor was 40. That price does not include the gratuity, tax, or the bartenders. I'd say it's a pretty normal price.

I live in Upstate NY and and we are paying $33 pp for a 5 hour open bar.

From what we priced, that is about right. Where do you live?

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We're having our wedding in Dayton. I had seen some people say numbers closer to $15 per person which seems more reasonable to me with the amount of guests we have, but I guess this is pretty typical. Just way more expensive than bringing alcohol ourselves. Thanks everyone!

We paid $50/pp for 4 hours of open bar.

Mine is $35 per person open bar (contract says 4 hours but my coordinator claims they don't shut down the bar for an hour). Idk how that even works cuz we aren't paying for an extra hour. Yes it is a lot, we don't have 200 guests though. In PA alcohol has no tax and tip will be from guests via the tip jar.

Our venue also has it's own bar pricing, and we aren't allowed to bring in our own alcohol. They have different "beverage packages" to choose from. We're doing beer and wine and it's going to cost $25/person for 5 hours. Our venue also has different level packages that include liquor, that range from $35--$55/person. We just couldn't afford the more expensive beverage package, so we're just doing beer and wine. This is in California (SF Bay Area).

That's what we're paying here in MD. But with BYOB weddings, you're facing much more risks when it comes to consumption and liabilities.

I think ours was $32 for 5 hours (we picked an inclusive package, so we just paid around $90 pp and that covered booze/buffet/cocktail hour/staff/linens/china/cups/etc), so this seems pretty normal. You will definitely save a ton of money if you are able to find a venue that lets you bring it in yourself.

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I am so sorry for what your city has gone through. I am not trying be political buy your mayor was VERY impressive in all tv interviews.

If your crowd has a lot of non drinkers, you could try consumption bar. However, I did that thinking my crowd didn’t drink that much and it still ended up averaging a little over forty dollars per guest.

That is actually pretty reasonable, believe it or not. we paid $35 pp plus tax and tip, for 4 hours for well drinks, in California

We paid $35 pp, plus tax and tip (so about $47 pp, total), for 5 hours of premium full bar, in So Cal. The bar total was about 25% of the total for the inclusive venue for ceremony & reception.

I've been touring multiple venues here in the San Diego area and every place has been a lot higher than that! I'd go for it. The average I've seen around here is $22-$30 per person, PER HOUR, of open bar! We crunched numbers and each guest would have to drink at least 2 drinks per hour to pencil out. We are leaning towards billing by consumption since I know at least 10% of my guests will be drinking ice tea or diet soda during our event.

The place we are doing our dinner at is $45 for the first hour and $10 for each additional hour for the premium bar package. That's in Los Angeles so I think what they are offering you sounds reasonable. We're having less than 50 people but have lots of heavy drinkers, we are on the fence right now as to what we will do.

I think that's about right, maybe higher end of average. What's a little more concerning is the venue is still under construction. When is the expected finish date?

View Quoted Comment That is true about risk and liability but it is still thousands cheaper to hire licensed bartenders and get insurance for the event.

That’s about what we’ve been quoted up here in W. Mass. Ask if they have different options, beer & wine only, signature drinks, etc. You could also see about an open hour only, or have a cash bar. Not ideal, but alcohol is a huge expense.