You’re getting married! Congratulations!
When you think of an amazing and memorable wedding reception, what are the first two magic words that come to mind? Is it “open bar?” If so, you’re not alone.
That’s why we’re talking about how to save money as you plan and prepare your wedding bar.
Around 90% of couples will have alcohol at their wedding reception and of that, most of them are going to have an open bar. But before your eyes glaze over seeing dollar signs while your budget goes out the window, we’d like to note that a lot of couples don’t realize how affordable your open bar wedding cost can be.
Did you find the perfect venue?
When you’ve found the venue of your dreams, or even if you’re trying to narrow down your venue search, you can always ask the rules each venue has in place for alcohol vendors. Specifically, if you’re able to utilize an outside alcohol vendor.
When in doubt, just ask!
Wedding tip: When touring at the venue – ask for their bar policies. The most often responses are that it’s provided by the venue, they have a contracted bar company or you can use anyone you want as long as they have a valid license to serve and liability insurance.
If you’ve found a venue that allows outside alcohol, what do you do then?
The hardest part is figuring how much you need to buy. While there are plenty of online calculators – the quantities are usually incorrect. They tend to over estimate in some areas and short out the amounts in others.
Most couples don’t know that there are local resources to help guide them. For example, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits has a concierge program.
It’s a totally free service that provides a team of event specialists who will help you figure out exactly what you need and how much you need based on your guest list. Their wine and spirits experts can offer you high-quality, top-shelf brands that are a great bang for your buck.
They also offer bulk discounts on wine, so you’ll save $10 off every $100 you spend in wine purchases, and you don’t have to worry about over buying and being stuck with extra product after the wedding—ABC will take returns on any unopened and unchilled products.
Wedding tip: Book a free consultation with ABC’s Concierge Service!
The celebratory champagne toast? Everybody does it, right?
Champagne toasts aren’t as common as they have been in the past. Cheap champagne is often left in the glass on the table. That’s like dumping some of your wedding budget down the sink.
In fact, you can actually opt for a cava (a sparkling wine from Spain) instead – which will be around a $10 per bottle price point and save you some money.
Between us, nobody’s going to be able to tell the difference. You can also do a toast with a drink in hand or even a signature drink instead.
Wedding tip: Skip Champagne and opt for something most of your guests will actually enjoy.
Looking for more ways to keep the cost low on your reception bar?
Wedding tip: Have a beer and wine only hosted bar.
People are not going to turn their noses up at free alcohol. If you are set on spirits though, we suggest holding to the large sized bottles that are going to save you money in the long run and be a great budget-friendly option on the bar service for your wedding.
Consult the experts! There might be wedding bar bundles and trending ideas they can offer as well.
Now that you’ve started planning your open bar reception, feel free to come see the experts at ABC Fine Wine & Spirits Concierge Service to learn about more ways that we can help you plan a celebration and give you Champagne taste on a beer budget for your big day!
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