Buying alcohol for bar service

I think the rule is something like 2 drinks per guest for the first hour and 1 drink per guest for each hour after that.

View Quoted Comment Thank you! So helpful!

Go to a local Bevmo or Total Wine. They can help you determine how much you need. Also you need to sit down with fiance and decide what type of drinks you will serve. Also talk to the bartender service to see what they are willing to make. Do your guests drink beer/wine only? Do they not drink beer/wine at all but will drink mixed/frozen drinks? You have to ask your VIPs what they prefer because every group is different. Make sure you have a wide variety of nonalcoholic options too because those nearly always get forgotten.

Another option is to do a limited liquor bar! You can choose two signature drinks that are your favorites and then only have those types of liquor available. For example, we're doing Manhattans and Gin and Tonic so we'll only have bourbon, gin, and vodka (bc not everyone likes gin and vodka can sub for it in almost everything). Then just wine and beer. That makes it a bit cheaper because then you don't have to buy a ton of different options and mixers.

View Quoted Comment I’m so glad you mentioned that. I actually think that would work very well for us as well. Thanks!

View Quoted Comment Thanks Michelle!

If you’re doing a full bar selection it’s a lot. If you curtail things down to a limited bar you’ll save significantly. Like beer, wine and a signature cocktail

There's tons of websites that can help you calculate how much you need for your wedding based on a number factors. This is the one I used for my wedding: https://www.evite.com/pages/party/drink-calculator/

I would recommend purchasing your booze from total wine. For my wedding we got a keg of my husband's favorite beer, liquor, wine (both red and white) and some single bottles of different beers to serve at my wedding -we got the beer, water, soda and other mixers from sam's club though. The best things with total wine that sold us was we were able to return any unopened/unchilled bottles after our wedding & we got discounts b/c we purchased in bulk. We spent a little over $400 when we went to stock the bar and we returned over $200 worth - and we had a TON of stuff left over for a wedding with 150 guests and just about everyone drinking but 5 or 6 people. The discounts we got for buying in bulk was nuts!

If you have to provide your own ingredients, I would suggest buying from bookers. You will need to do a registration first but at leat the prices are very good.

Alternatively, you can have companies like spin and shake mobile bar hire london providing with a complete solution with pre-paid packages or open bar packages.

This will avoid having a ridiculous amount of surplus alcohol left after your cocktail hour.

Sometimes it workout cheaper thank you providing your own ingredients.

Hope this was helpful.

Regards

Elisa

Hey Stephanie,

If you're anywhere near London, these guys are great and can accomodate small crowds! Mobile Bar Hire London - Luxury Cocktail Bars For All Events (theseshbars.com). As Elisa said, you may want to get the alcohol and use them for the bar tending service - just to keep things in order!

I was at a small corporate gathering from my partners work colleagues last Christmas and the service was great - reasonably priced too, from what I hear