How To Save Money On Alcohol In Your Reception

Alcohol is one of the largest expenses of your reception.  Providing your own liquor can save you up to 50% of your alcohol bill.  Even if the alcohol is being provided by your reception site, there are always ways to reduce costs.

Here are our favourite cost saving tips for the bar bill:

Use bar brands, not premium brands of liquor—they are less expensive and no one will notice.

Limit the hours your bar is open.  For example, open during cocktail hour, closed over dinner since the guests will have wine, and opened after the dancing starts.

Close the bar one hour before the reception ends, and serve coffee, tea and soft drinks instead of alcohol.

If you are having hors d’ouevres or a dessert buffet later in the evening, close the bar and have coffee/tea from that point on.

Hire a real bartender to work the bar—your cousin who is working the bar might pour larger drinks and negate any savings you might otherwise have by arranging your own bar service.

When having an open bar, arrange with the provider to keep the bar open until a certain dollar amount is reached, and then close it down and serve tea/coffee and soft drinks.

Serve a signature drink only—say a specific cocktail—along with soft drinks, coffee and tea.  This saves a lot of money on your overall liquor bill, and is a fun way to express yourself.

If the bar service is charged by the bottle, or if you are paying corkage fees for the liquor you bring in, you might consider larger bottles of alcohol like a magnum of wine, or a keg of beer.

If your site is charging a flat rate per guest for alcohol, ask them to subtract the number of children expected from your overall total.

The SmartBride™ video called The No Alcohol Option has many ideas for interesting options to having an open bar.

There is no rule that says you need to serve alcohol at a wedding reception.  Etiquette demands two bottles of wine at dinner, but after that, there are no rules.  What you choose to provide to your guests is up to you.

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