Do it Yourself Open Bar at Your Wedding Reception!
65So you want to have an amazing reception where everyone indulges in the moment, drinks eats and is merry, without spending an arm and a leg. Weddings are famous for letting loose with family, new family and friends. The following is some rough guidelines to follow when you're setting up your own bar to relieve the stress of money off your guests and most of all to ensure that they have a great time.
The Basics How much liquor for an average wedding of say, 100 guests? Maybe you should ask your local bartender, but here are some averages:
Beer: 5 to 6 cases
Whiskey: 1 liter
Bourbon: 1 liter
Gin: 2 to 3 liters
Scotch: 2 liters
Light rum: 1 liter
Vodka: 5 liters
Tequila: 1 liter
Champagne: 1 to 1 1/2 cases
Red wine: 2 cases
White wine: 3 1/2 cases
Dry vermouth: 1 bottle
Sweet vermouth: 1 bottle
You might want to ask your caterer if they will take back any of the alcohol that isn't used at the wedding reception.
Open Bar An open bar is often expensive. It is extremely generous and most of all, stress free for your guests. It is typically best however, to only have an open bar that includes beer and wine, as this will ensure that your guests don't get a little too into the mood! With any open bar it is always wise to inform the bartender before hand, if you know of someone that tends to always over-indulge.
Limited Bar A limited bar can range between beer, wine, some standard rum or vodka for mixed drinks and perhaps a bottle of affordable tequila for shots. You can even entertain the idea of having some cocktail servers with some well drinks or already poured mixed drinks on a tray. You can save trips to the bar and keep people from going over the limit.
Cash Bar You truly should not put this burden on your guests. People don't tend to bring a lot of cash with them and on top of that, they might have spent money just getting to your wedding reception so asking them to spend more so they can enjoy themselves, isn't the best idea. If you know without question that your guests don't drink very much at all, then you might consider a cash bar.
Dry Wedding The only reason for this is if your family completely does not drink, and either do your friends who are attending. You can have cider for toasts. To each their own!
Matt is the owner/operator of Choice Entertainment in San Diego.
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This list is for a more affluent crowd. The BASIC list for a DIY cheapskate would be much more simple and cost effective. Who needs a bartender? Or, worst case, get the friend of a friend who wants to make a small service fee. Most people actually ONLY rent a facility and don't do the sit-down catered meal thing. When you've only rented a facility and have pre-ordered (insert supermarket chain) cheese, meat and veggie/fruit trays the afore mentioned list is too 'hoidy toidy'.
What you NEED for 100 folk (I choose this word on purpose) is 2 kegs (1 bud light, 1 something more pompous), 2 handles of whiskey (maybe one boubon, one whiskey), 1 handle spiced rum, 1 handle light rum, 2 handles vodka, NO vermouth, 1 case champagne (for toasts), 1 handle peach schnapps, 1 handle triple sec (no curacao due to fancy dresses), 2 gallons OJ, plenty of soda (for rum/whiskey + coke), and premade WELL-DRINK margaritas... and OPTIONAL items like Tequila, Jagermeister/red bull, midori, wine, cherries, limes, umbrellas, etc.
That is a terrible list! 1 liter of whiskey for 100 guests? There is no way.
Yeah, my guests would tend to drink waaaay more whiskey. I like the idea of having an open liquor bar for a limited amount of time after dinner has been served and keeping it to just beer and wine the rest of the night. Also, you forgot one thing: encourage guests to tip the bartenders. Caterers and bartenders bust their asses for events like this and often when people get things for free, they don't think to tip.
SOUNDS Like a MORMON SHINDIG
increaseurmileage 3 years ago
Great example of how to set up an open bar. It's things like setting up the bar that keep people from doing a wedding themselves and hire professionals. It's all those details that you wouldn't know if you weren't in the business of wedding planning.