Serving Drinks at Your Wedding

Weddings are notorious for toasts and speeches. Making them more ”interesting” at times is alcohol. It’s traditional to toast the wedding couple with champagne, and generally people expect some alcohol at the wedding reception. When considering the serving of drinks at your wedding reception, consider many options and how they can affect your wedding budget. Below are a few ideas for serving drinks to your wedding guests.

An Open Bar at the Reception

First, and most expensive, you can have an open bar. This means that the bar will be available to guests for the whole duration of the wedding reception. Generally, with an open bar, guests will be able to get any drink their heart desires (and as many), so it can become quite an expense.

A Limited Bar at the Reception

The second idea is to have a limited bar, which is much less expensive. This can be done in 3 ways:

• Have a limited amount of time for guests to get drinks
• Have a limited variety of drinks
• Have a combination of limited time and limited drink variety

A Cash Bar at the Reception

The third option is to have a cash bar, which makes the guests pay for any drinks they get. This is not recommended no matter how tight your budget is.

No Alcohol at the Reception

The last idea is to not have alcoholic beverages at the wedding at all. This will really decrease your reception costs and is a great option if you and/or your families do not drink.

Recommended Alcohol Amounts

For all of you who do choose to have alcoholic beverages, you may be uncertain about how much you actually need to get. Below are amounts for various drinks, based on 100 wedding guests. If you are going to be serving many different drinks, you’ll want to split these amounts accordingly.

• Beer: 2 cases
• Whiskey: 1-2 liters
• Bourbon: 1-2 liters
• Gin: 2 liters
• Scotch: 3 liters
• Light rum: 2 liters
• Vodka: 6 liters
• Tequila: 1 liter
• Champagne: 1 1/2 cases
• Red wine: 8 bottles
• White wine: 1 1/2 cases
• Dry vermouth: 2 bottles
• Sweet vermouth: 2 bottles

You’ll want all of the guests to at least have some kind of drink for the toasts. The most popular choice is champagne with wine close behind. Some couples will choose to have the ”bubbly” effect without the alcohol and simply use sparkling cider. If you are having a daytime or casual wedding, you may choose something a little more fun like cranberry juice or lemonade. Just make sure you take into account the style of the wedding as well as your own personal tastes when choosing drinks for your reception.

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