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How much drink for 150 people? (kind of an AIBU too)

24 replies

ButterpieBride · 18/08/2010 10:27

Sorry, more wedding stuff!

FIL is in charge of the bar at the theatre where we are having the wedding. We are giving people a glass of fizz as they arrive, then it is a paying bar (although cheap prices) and free tea, coffee and cordial.

He seems to think that 150 people (10-15 kids, about a third of the adults will be rock/biker/goth types and another third will be general working class northern family, the rest will be mumsnet/breastfeeding club people and the PILs friends from the theatre and more well behaved (ie less drinky) family) will be ok with 5 crates of lager and 10 bottles of wine on top of the usual theatre sherry and such, for a bar that will be open from 1pm till 10.30pm.

This is madness, yes? So, AIBU to ask him to get more booze in? The theatre will make a profit on selling the booze, and it is a charity, so it needs it, but I suppose it is an upfront cost that they don't want to risk. I also don't want them to think our friends are going to rampage through the place.

PIL are very well behaved- MIL has never been drunk in her life, she will have one glass on a special occaision, and FIL maybe has three pints of real ale on a night out.

My Dad drinks four cans before he goes to bed every single night, and I think most of his family do the same, and a lot of our friends drink a bottle of wine whilst getting ready for a night out. So you can see we have a bit of clash of cultures here.

So, how do I ask them to get more stock in without a) making my family sound like undesirable inlaws or b) sounding rude. DP has tried, but I think they think he drinks too much, so I think it needs to come from me who hardly drinks.

I think this is the first time an event like this has been held at the theatre- it is usually more along the lines of a couple of sherries and some vol au vents for somebodies 70th.

OP posts:
ButterpieBride · 18/08/2010 10:33

Argh. This is actually a class issue, isn't it? My family are things like builders in brass bands, his are things like librarians who do am dram. Also, my parents are quite a bit younger than his (by around 20 years).

OP posts:
TheFallenMadonna · 18/08/2010 10:38

10 bottles of wine? For 150 people? OMG - yes, you need more! Half a bottle per person for a meal, plus everything that will be drunk before and after. You need to have a word.

Appletrees · 18/08/2010 10:38

Absolutely not enough so you need to buy it yourself. Table wine, three per table of ten. That's if you are doing that. Fizz ..six glasses per bottle, you can work it out. Beer: allow for two per bloke then they can pay. Have I got the wrong end of the stick here?

cat64 · 18/08/2010 10:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Appletrees · 18/08/2010 10:40

Cat is right:askthe advice of the wine shop and do it on sale or return.

pushmepullyou · 18/08/2010 10:43

I had advice from a hotelier when planning my wedding, and he said equivalent of 1/2 a bottle of wine per person

CMOTdibbler · 18/08/2010 10:44

I'd be allowing a bottle of wine per person (if not 1.5 for an all day event), or 5 pints of beer. Magestic do sale or return, so it wouldn't be any issue in over ordering at all.
And it would be lager and real beer - most of my friends won't touch lager

TheFallenMadonna · 18/08/2010 10:45

Half a bottle for a whole day? Am I just a lush? I suppose some people won't be drinking...

ButterpieBride · 18/08/2010 10:52

It is to stock the paying bar (we can't afford to do a free bar apart from one glass as they arrive and tea/coffee/cordial) so it isn't even like it will end up costing them anything.

I'm also going to ask him to get in plenty of bottled real ale- there are some good suppliers round here, and like you say, most people don't like lager if given the choice.

It is a very informal thing with a buffet, so no tables as such (well obviously there are tables, but small bar style ones) and poeple might even take the food to the park for a picnic if the weather is nice.

OP posts:
TrillianAstra · 18/08/2010 10:54

I would think am dram people would be drinkers!

Some wine places (Majestic maybe?) let you take wine back if you buy it for an event and don't use it all.

Or you could offer to pay some of the upfront cost and then they can pay you back once they have the takings, if it's a cash flow issue?

ButterpieBride · 18/08/2010 10:55

He'll be getting the booze with the theatre's bar budget (and the theatre will make profit from selling the booze at the bar)- it is co-incidence really that the bar manager is my FIL.

OP posts:
ButterpieBride · 18/08/2010 10:57

Not sure we can afford that- if we could, we would have a free bar anyway.

OP posts:
TrillianAstra · 18/08/2010 11:00

If it's just a coincidence that the bar manager is your FIL, and if he's not doing you a favour or anything, you have to treat it as you would any other business transaction. Tell them that you will be needing x amount of wine, beer, and other drinks and that you expect certainstandards. It would be extremely unprofessional of him to ignore your requests when you are the customer here.

TheHeathenOfSuburbia · 18/08/2010 11:32

So, the wedding issue is a bit of an aside, really, isn't it...

The real question here is, how much stock does a bar need to cope with 150 people celebrating for ten hours?

Wow. Well, it's clearly a lot more than ten bottles of wine.

OkieCokie · 18/08/2010 11:37

You may just have to buy some additional yourself to be on the safe side.

SagacityNell · 18/08/2010 11:40

On a normal night out from 8ish until 12 ish. My wine drinking friend will have a bottle to herself. More if its a special night out which again is only an hour or 2 longer.

My beer drinking friend will have 5/6 cans/pints on a normal night out. For a wedding/all day thing he will have more.

You have enough alcohol for 10 of my friends. Now unless we are all lushes and drink like fish you have seriously miscalculated!

ANd class has nothing to do with how much you drink Wink

ZinglebertBembledank · 18/08/2010 11:46

If you google, you can find catering advice websites that have a general rule of thumb type calculations. Sorry I don't have time to search for you!

for example, Leith's Cookery Bible has guidelines for how many meat/canapes/sandwiches/cakes/cheese/whatever for catering for large numbers. Can't find anything about drinks but it will be out there!

And 1/2 a bottle of wine is nowhere near enough for an all day do.

ZinglebertBembledank · 18/08/2010 11:49

For example:

Frugal Bride

But this is an American website. I once went to a lovely American/English wedding across the pond where the caterers grossly underestimated how much the English guests were likely to consume at the bar... Smile

BaggedandTagged · 18/08/2010 11:55

Question: Is it a sit down meal?

If you're not providing wine with the meal, I would suggest to FIL that he allows people to buy wine by the bottle over the bar - otherwise people will keep getting up during the meal to queue at the bar and it's far more efficient/ social just to sell it by the bottle and let tables agree to buy a few bottles between them.

For my wedding (150) I catered 3/4 bottle of champagne and a bottle of wine per head and then we had a bar after the meal for which the bill was about £1500 so I assume everyone had about 3 drinks.

Despite the photos indicating a high level of general inebriation, I had A LOT of wine/champagne left over if that helps- close to 30% of it- but I also underestimated the number of pregnant people!

moragbellingham · 18/08/2010 11:58

The last thing you want to do is to be heading off in search of more booze on your wedding day.

However, I have been to a wedding where every single guest took a bottle back to the hotel on a coach - bit of a shame for the B&G and they were happily distributing it!

I would think most people drinking wine can drink a bottle at least during the day.

ZinglebertBembledank · 18/08/2010 12:17

Morag is right. The American caterers had to go out to the off-licence. twice. Smile

gingermarmalade · 18/08/2010 22:30

Like you I am also planning our wedding. We are buying all the drink for ours and this is our list for 120 people

18 bottles of fizz
60 bottles of wine for during food.

200 pimms and lemonade for arrival drinks
240 pt of cider
288 pt of beer
120 pt of lager
60 bottles of wine
3 bottles of vodka
3 bottles of whisky
1 bottle of jack daniels, spiced rum, malibu and gin

As you can guess most of our guests our drinkers and the reception starts at 3pm till midnight.

loopyloops · 18/08/2010 22:37

Ginger's sounds more like ours was.

However, our friends got married 6 weeks later (same venue, same band, whole other thread....) and they bought the alcohol we didn't use.

The bar should be able to get it on sale or return, but anyway, this isn't your problem. Go to FIL with a list of what you think you will need, and ask him to make sure it's available.

this calculator will help you figure out what you might need. I'd say Ginger above has got quite a lot, probably more than you would need, but the last thing you want is for the paying bar to run dry. That would be a nightmare.

If FIL won't do this, I'd ask if it is ok therefore for you to either provide your own or get a bar rental service. Lots of these don't charge but the drinks prices are quite high. Much better than running out of booze though.

moragbellingham · 19/08/2010 16:01

Anyone seen Four Wedding US?
Is the "cocktail hour" after the ceremony catching on here (UK)?

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