To drink or not to drink: Beverages at your Wedding

The age old question of to drink or not to drink?

I can’t answer that question for you, but I can explain the economics of having alcohol at your wedding. It just got a whole lot more expensive.

Some hotels/venues will charge an all-inclusive price that includes an unlimited open bar with the food.

Unless your friends and family (and I mean ALL of them) are major over-consumers, these packages are a rip-off. You will inevitably end up paying $30 plus a 22% “service” charge for your Aunt Mary’s diet coke. The salespeople are trained to make you think purchasing one of these packages is the “safe” way to avoid an unexpected huge bill at the end of the night. Believe me, I was one of them.

I’ve often been asked if it is cheaper to have just beer and wine instead of a full open bar. The logical answer is that it shouldn’t matter if the cocktails and imported beers are the same price.

Let me explain the ugly truth about what happens with open liquor bars. For one thing, the bartender pours heavy because he is not being counted against drink tickets at the end of the night. His only incentive is to pour a little extra in each glass so that he might get an extra tip. If the servers are paid a base wage plus tips which about half of them are, they are motivated to pour extra which increases your bill and their earnings for the night. Each liquor bottle is divided into tenths with each tenth equaling approximately 3 drinks (on average but can vary by venue). When the bar closes and the banquet manager or captain reads the bottles to determine how much was poured, he or she will always do it in the hotel’s favor which depending on how many brands were served could equal anywhere from 15-25 extra drinks being charged because the reads are very subjective. Combine that with the numerous doubles that were poured and you have some inebriated guests and a hefty bill.

How do you control your costs? The first suggestion is to make it an old fashioned day like your grandparents had and just serve punch or iced tea. Nobody will think less of you. If they do, they need to get a life. If your dream wedding includes a little alcohol but you are on a strict budget, you may want to consider just having a champagne toast. Depending on how full the glasses are poured, you can figure 4-5 glasses per bottle. A lot of people actually prefer sparkling apple cider, so I would suggest having between 40-50% of what you serve as nonalcoholic sparkling cider. You know your friends and family best, so order based on their preferences.

If you’ve always dreamed since you were twelve years old that you’d have the big, fancy wedding with the open bar, go with a beer and wine bar that allows you to pay for what is actually served. That way a beer equals a beer. You may consider talking to the banquet captain in advance of the reception to set an expectation that they will notify your designated person (probably the bride’s dad if he is picking up the check) if it looks like they are going to serve more than a set amount. That doesn’t mean that you have to let them “run out” of beer and wine, but you would be in the driver’s seat as far as knowing what to expect on your bill.

Some valuable advice: Be kind to your banquet staff as you don’t want them intentionally overcharging you because you were so rude to them or acted so cheap that they want to get even on some crazy level.

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