How much to put behind the bar?

Andrew_Ryan_89

Hey guys,

I am getting married soon and have about 130 guest. We budgeted to put £1,500 behind the bar (the venue does not allow us to bring any of our own drinks, even soft drinks) but are thinking to reduce that to £1,000. From experience or some mathematical model, how much do you reckon we should put behind the bar?

Edit

So, we put £500 behind the bar for soft drinks only. Turned out most people on the day were buying alcohol behind the bar and from what I could tell we never made a dent in the soft drinks tab. I asked to be refunded the remainder of the tab and our damage installment. This was all agreed and I sent them my bank details. However, it's been a week and I have heard nothing back despite chasing.

Part of me feels that they never kept tabs on the tab and are stalling. Let's say for example that they come back to me with a figure which seems unrealistic (charging me too much) or say they don't know what to refund, what will be the proper way forward? In the latter situation for example, should they refund me the entire tab?

k3lvc

Given this is a money saving site I'd be starting at zero


A welcome drink to all as they arrive but a pay bar where they buy you drinks


Or am I a stingy Yorkshireman who's a long way behind the times with wedding etiquette ?

cashewnut

£0 is what we put behind the bar, but we had welcome drinks, plenty of wine at dinner and a toast for speeches. The leftover table wine (loads of it) was put out for evening guests.

cashewnut

If you are going to put money behind the bar you should make sure it's for soft drinks, wine and beer only. Otherwise people will start ordering doubles and mixers and the tab will disappear rapidly.

[Deleted User]

(Average cost of drink) * (Number of free drinks you want to give guests) * (Number of adult guests)

Are you putting wine on the table also? You'd probably want to deduct that as a 'drink' from the amount you want to give them.

Andrew_Ryan_89

Thanks for all the replies so far. We were not planning on putting any drinks on the table but thinking we may do so now

firebird082

We didn't put anything behind the car - provided a welcome drink and toasting drink and that was it. Made sure everyone was aware pre-wedding that it was a pay bar. No complaints! Seems like a total waste of money to me.

megaginge

Welcome drinks and drinks on the table during the wedding breakfast are all that is "required"

You could consider giving people drinks "tokens" if you dont want to put money behind the bar, that are good for wine, beer and softdrinks only. You pre-pay for those with the bar. This means the bar can still sell spirits etc but you won't have people getting 5 triple gins and destroying your budget in seconds.

Or, just dont put money behind the bar. Most don't expect it. It's important that people get toast drinks / drinks with a meal imho, that will have a much more positive impact as they expect that part...

[Deleted User]

Andrew_Ryan_89 wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies so far. We were not planning on putting any drinks on the table but thinking we may do so now

You should check that this won't incur a corkage charge by your venue.

I've been to a range of weddings, and there is no 'norm'. It can depend on culture, budget, 'class' ect..

I generally split weddings into 'black tie' and 'not black tie' - I generally expect there to be drinks laid on at a black-tie event, but not otherwise.

The bare minimum is to give everyone a fizzy drink (Champagne, Prosciutto) for toasting the bride and groom.

k3lvc

ringo_24601 wrote: »

The bare minimum is to give everyone a fizzy drink (Champagne, Prosciutto) for toasting the bride and groom.

Have you ever tried toasting with ham :rotfl:

[Deleted User]

k3lvc wrote: »

Have you ever tried toasting with ham :rotfl:

Lol, fun typo since my wedding was a kosher event!

Our caterer provided a 'cash-free bar' (Table full of bottles of alcohol..) since the venue didn't have one