How to Save Money on Your Wedding by Reducing Liquor Costs

A real variable expense at weddings is liquor. Here are some ideas to try to save money.

While some in house catering facilities packages offer no discount on wedding packages with open bar or liquor, you might be able to negotiate a reduced rate on the cost of the bar per person by limiting how many hours the bar is open, such as shutting the bar down to coffee and soft drinks for about an hour before the reception ends. This will also help people start to digest the liquor they have already had and limit the risk of liquor impaired driving (which is some states you are partially legally responsible for in the case of injury or accident). Likely they have alternative suggestions for those with religious or dietary objections to unlimited alcohol or recovering alcoholic guests. You will also need to decide between a limited bar (beer, wine and soft drinks) and choosing to offer a full range of liquor for a more limited period of time.

If you are catering your own wedding, there is the highest potential for savings since you can pick up liquor on sale, on clearance or at discount liquor and wholesale clubs. Costco and BJ's both have a liquor section with reasonably priced brands. Sometimes liquor is even available on eBay. If you or your friends and family are doing the catering, then this is a good way to go. If you are having it at a facility or being done by a catering company, enquire about a corking fee. This means a fee for each bottle you bring in yourself. This fee can range from $2 to up to $20 per bottle. Depending on the price of the liquor the caterer provides, you can determine if savings are to be found by bringing in your own and paying a cork fee. If you have to pay a cork fee or buy a set number of bottles from the caterer, ask for the unopened bottles back (and perhaps an accounting for the used bottles). As a general estimate, one bottle of wine is about five glasses, so if each guest had one to two glasses per hour, calculate how much you will need when buying your own wine. If you want to limit the alcohol, consider providing a tasty alternative drink. Make sure to make provisions for a water glass in addition to alcohol so guests can drink something other than liquor if they are just thirsty. If you want to reduce the cost of wine, consider cheaper wines in wine carafe bottles on the table.

Some caterers do a flat fee per hour for open bar, others charge per drink. The per-drink option can get very expensive; it is impossible to budge for and is hard to disprove if you feel the numbers have been inflated. Do not assume that if a guest asks for some sort of specialty drink that it is automatically included in the costs outlined. Also, do not have a cash bar, guests have been invited to celebrate with you, and the unexpected cost of paying for drinks will often leave your guest begrudging you for this hidden expense. If you really aren't able to afford liquor, consider cutting back on another area or do without before expecting people to pay for their drinks. If your caterer charges a flat fee for open bar and you are having a lot of underage guests, find out what they charge for just open soda or soft drink bars and ask if a discount is available for these guests who will not be drinking anything but soft drinks and thereby are a less expensive entity.

Decide when a full open bar might be a waste, such as during dinner when fewer people are likely to get up to get drinks, especially if wine is available at the table. Or conversely, do you want to pay for bottles of wine at the table if you are already paying for an open bar? Find out if your caterers' package is at all flexible for reducing costs when removing such items. Another option might be having a bottle of house wine on the table, and only have an open bar during hors doerves, and during dinner only offer soft drinks. If you are limiting access to alcohol, consider having some other beverage readily available, such as a customized ice tea or a champagne punch. A specialized beverage might be especially appropriate if it is paired with ethnic foods.