Considering that the food and beverage cost for your wedding will be the largest overall expense, it makes sense to think about ways to trim this portion of your budget… without sacrificing service and style, of course!
More and more couples, thus, are choosing to buy their own alcohol (rather than order a package through their caterer or venue) for the festivities. Certainly, having the caterer manage this is much more convenient and spares you from having to make additional decisions about what to serve and how much. However, for the budget conscious, BYOB wedding booze may be a great option. Even if you go this route, the caterer can still provide the bartender (and glassware, napkins, stirrers, etc.) as a part of your contract.
First, you need to have a good estimate of guest attendance. Next, you need to determine what types of beverages are important to you to serve. You can stick with beer & wine, or go for a full-bar, but the more you include, the more it will cost. Other questions to ask:
- How many hours will you be serving drinks?
- Do you want to have a champagne toast?
- If you’re serving liquor, do you want this for before / after-dinner only or for the whole evening?
- How much do your friends and family like to drink? (Seriously – this is important to know!)
Next – tally it up to figure out quantities. There’s a great wedding alcohol calculator here that makes the math easy, if that’s not your thing.
Call a few local stores (large liquor stores, grocery stores, and even club stores) to get a rough estimate of pricing. Some stores even deliver, but you can also pick up. Just get it to your venue, and make sure that whomever you hired to bartend knows where to find it and what they need to do.
The other bonus of buying your own? If you have a surplus at the end of the evening, it comes back to you! Nothing wrong with starting out your married life with a nicely stocked bar and fridge.
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