Free Bar - How much alcohol do we need? (for 150 guests)

PolishBigSpender

We had 0,5l of vodka per person, plus wine (I don't remember how many bottles) plus beer from the tap, so unlimited. There was plenty of vodka left, but we had several older ladies and a few pregnant women at the wedding.

Soft drinks (water, orange and apple juice, coke), tea and coffee - unlimited.

reformedEffortmaker

All
Thank you all SO much for the effort you have put into your replies

To clarify a few questions
1. We have ‘dry hired’ a hall, so we literally have a huge room and a kitchen, two changing rooms and a store cupboard, so will have to supply everything from the tables and chairs, to the drinks, the knives and forks, and the drinks ourselves

2. We have invited guests from 7pm – midnight.

3. The prices I listed were my estimates on how much various drinks cost (without special offers) from supermarket websites. I have considered the option of Sale or Return from Majestic wines and Oddbins, but their prices were just too much per bottle, but I will also try costco.

4. I like the idea of ice cubes....in fact I really like the idea. I also like the idea of using optics and large bottles of soda instead of cans, seems so obvious now which i guess is the point of this site

5. We will have about 15 children under 15 yrs old, (4 of which will be babies so obviously wont have anything)

6. The list was based on what I have seen some of my family/friends drinking previously when we have been out, but on reflection, perhaps the list has too much variety and will end up causing more hassle

7. I hadn’t thought about who would serve, and in fact the thought of some of my family having that job terrifies me!. I will speak to the venue and see if they can supply someone, otherwise i guess it will be a case of advertising for a barman from the local university or contacting a catering company.

8. I am also thinking about asking people to re-use plastic cups where possible, to save on cups, but also to encourage them to finish one drink before starting on another

PolishBigSpender

x_missymoo_x wrote: »

Also, we have only got a few bottles of the 'premium' stuff (e.g. brand names for Vodka etc), the rest we have gone for cheaper versions. I've not gone so far as going for the value ranges but in some cases we've saved half of what we would pay if we had the premium brand.

Oh God, just don't go for the cheapest vodka there is, it will be undrinkable or will cause people to be sick.
I tried TESCO vodka once, at the Uni I was SO SO sick afterwards!
We had Finlandia and it was a good choice, no hangover afterwards.

Dekazer

A couple of things to add. We bought a lot of our wine from Tesco - I waited for a Wine Festival (they do them fairly regularly) and also got money off for my first order. I ended up getting loads of bottles of my favourite wine (normally £9 per bottle) for around £3 per bottle. I also got the clubcard points, which bought a couple of bottles of very nice single malt

Our caterer was able to provide bar staff as well as food serving staff. The only drawback was that they didn't have a great deal of gumption, and forgot to bring a bottle opener!! Thankfully my best friend's husband wasn't drinking and was able to drive to the local shop for a corkscrew, and lots of my friends had bottle openers on their key rings

gwapenut

Is there any feedback from people who've had a wedding, as to just how much was drunk for a certain number of people for the following (my guesses are in brackets)

a. Pimms? / sparkling wine on arrival (2 glasses each?)
b. Wine during the meal (I normally hear it's 1/2 bottle per person?)
c. Champagne for toasts (1 glass?)
d. Beer, wine and spirits in the evening (usually an average of 1 drink per person per hour, if people are slowing down by then? Some more, some less?) Might be more if you have evening-only guests

seashore22

Why not remove spirits from the bar entirely?

Our daughter got married on Saturday and we paid for the food and drink. We wanted our guests to spend as little as possible and the wine merchants recommended a free bar. They supplied Pimms, soft drinks, wine beer, lager and cider, and only spirits had to be paid for.

I was a bit nervous that some people might take advantage, but it worked perfectly. The guests seemed to have a good time, only a small number were well refreshed, but not stupidly so and it was nice to be generous. Didn't see anyone buy spirits though.

Giving away free spirits would seriously worry me. So much easier for people to go a bit far.

seashore22

When we get the wine merchants bill I will do another post about the amounts drunk etc.

I would guess that the average consumption of Pimms was 2 glasses each. We had half a bottle of wine each, but we certainly didn't get through our share on the top table. 1 glass of sparkling is fine. Lots of people don't like it much and tend to leave half a glass anyway.

Gloomendoom

seashore22 wrote: »

Why not remove spirits from the bar entirely?

That's what we did. We said on the invitation that a free bar would be provided but if anyone wanted spirits, they would have to provide their own.

My parents bought the wine in France. 100 bottles each of red, white and cava. We bought the beer soft drinks when they were on special offer in Tesco, Sainsbury etc. My wife's uncle donated a barrel of his cider. 12%, I believe, which was a shock for those unfamiliar with it.

Every single bottle of cava bar one was drunk but we had a few bottles of red and white left over. The reception ran from 3pm until 2 in the morning.

We were determined to have a free bar after attending several weddings where the bar prices were extortionate.

Oh, we had about 120 guests including 26 children.

[Deleted User]

We provided red, white wines (on table to start with), soft drinks, juices, mineral water, cava for toasts. If people wanted beer or spirits then they could get their own

Maybe ditch the spirits (do you really want a room of quickly piserated people?) and just go for wine, beer, cider, soft drinks? If people are that fussy they can't abide any of that then they can buy their own

We purchased (for 110 people inc children & non-drinkers): 36 red, 36 white, 24 cava, 14L each of Coke, Lemonade, 10L OJ, AJ and some extra varied things like Lime, fizzy water etc

SUESMITH_2

if you have a home bargains near you they usually have 2L bottles of pepsi for 79p, also lidl have 6 packs of pepsi for about £1.40.

when I did a works do where I bought the booze I bought the wine when they had the buy 6 bottles get 25% off.

aldi or lidls version of pimms is lovely and I made huge jugs of that mixed with 19p lemonade which is nice and economical

normally I wouldn't provide spirits but as your dad loves brandy it would be a bit mean not to have any

have a good time!