Can anyone help with alcohol/DIY bar

[littlemissM92]

Hi doing own bar at our wedding by that i mean we are buying all alcohol and having staff to work it but it will be much cheaper than if we used a brewery etc

I'm really struggling to know how much of everything to get ??

We are having
Red wine
White wine
Prosecco

2 or 3 lagers corona, Stella and bud probably

Spirits

Gin
Barcardi
Vodka
Whisky
Malibu

Ciders
Normal and fruit bummers
Koppaberg or old mount cider

Then jaeger and tequila

80 guests .. all can most Definitely drink to put it politely!

Any help with amounts would be great

Do add in a decent alcohol free choice - if you have drivers - there are some really good alcohol free beers out there, Heineken or Erdinger are really good, I'd go becks blue as a last resort!

We stocked our own bar for our wedding in July. Quantity wise I'm afraid the more you have the more complex it gets. I would advise a more limited bar selection so you know you won't be left with loads of random half bottles of spirits etc.

Other than that I would say ring a local wine supplier who does sale or return. We did this and it was great since they take back full bottles so long as the labels are intact. Means you can over order and just send it back if you've tonnes left.

We had 82 day and an additional 120 in the evening. We had a more limited selection as we had an open bar, but we worked on:
-2 red and 2 white on each table (9 tables)
-1 red and 1 white per half of day numbers behind bar
-1 bottle prosecco per day person. This lasted absolutely all night so was plenty, even with speeches and using it for welcome drinks etc.
-2 barrels John Smiths (132 pints so 1.5-2 times day numbers. One barrel went back)
-3 barrels Carlsberg (198 pints so 2-3 times day numbers. All went)
-"spare" carlsberg and smiths in cans so it doesn't go off if we open the pack. Used 12 cans of carlsberg and all the Smith's)
-we limited spirits to just those who had specifically asked. We didn't advertise it, if they asked then they got it. Only gin and vodka though.
-150 Bottles of cider. We used maybe a third of this. But since it's bottles it won't go off. Glad we didn't get it on tap!
-Elderflower cordial on tap on the bar (in those big killer dispenser things).
-I can't remember quantities of soft drinks but we had just Diet Coke and lemonade. Loads of bottles of each since we knew it would be used after the event.
-Small 250-500ml bottles of sloe gin etc on each table for people to help themselves, plus some set aside.

My best advice is have a sit down and work out roughly what you think people would drink (i.e. "Dave doesn't like cider, he only drinks Corona), whether you think they will drink a lot or not much and whether their other half etc is driving or not drinking for whatever reason. Doing this we worked out that we didn't need cider on tap and that actually, Carlsberg would be a better choice than Stella despite it not being what we originally planned.

We worked on roughly 1 drink/ hour for each guest. This was actually a huge over estimate for the day time, but come the evening it was an under estimate. We had hardly finished a barrel of Carlsberg by 6pm when the meal finished. By 10pm (evening lot arrived at 7) we were well into the third and approaching the cans rapidly. We are very glad we didn't listen to a single word the drinks supplier said about only needing two barrels of Carlsberg!!

I think people drink less if they have to pay for it, unless it's very cheap - especially if having to buy soft drinks for youngsters / relatives, which can mount up.

Tesco will do sale or return.
They also do glass hire.
Id go fir wine, beer, lager, cider, soft drinks, g&t and pimms. :)

I like a Pimms.

I presume you are having it in a licensed establishment, if not you'll need a temporary license to sell alcohol. We used to have to get one for various school events....

Have you got a license to sell alcohol? You can get a temporary one, but someone on your team definitely needs one

Great minds!

I think having done our own DIY wedding, that you have much too much choice and maybe think about how you're going to charge for it/liscence etc.

We did! (For free)
Prosecco for the canapés/toasts
Lots of wine with dinner red and white
Pimms as a welcome drink
Apple and elderflower fizz for the non alco option
Some little french beers

Then we hired a bar from the local pub- stuck £500 behind it and told our guest when it was gone, it was a pay bar. We roughly paid for 2 drinks per person and had boozed them right up during the day.

The bar had the usual spirits and mixers, local ale and cider.

It was perfect.

Please not Bud.

It really is the most pissy of al the crap lagers and you can get much nicer for your money.

(Ditto pp re licensing etc, maybe a token system to get round it, if that is legal?)

I really don't think you should buy booze and then charge for it, a lot of guests will be whispering bad things about this. So either buy booze and give it away or hire a bar for the night.
We bought loads for our evening do and gave it away. We bought kegs of bitter (lots of blokes seem to like this), bottles of beer, prosecco and had wine on tables and then bought things like sambucca and tequila for hardcore to do shots! Also second getting some nice sparkling elderflower or similar for the few that will drive and lemonade/coke if any children.

Wow there's some seriously arsey comments on here.

Yes obviously we have a lisence
Yes we are buying from a supermarket then charging for it but not at £4 a bottle / glass!!! Hence the subsidised. We have enough staff don't need a till as people working for us have a brain it's not rocket science. Obviously we wouldn't be choosing bud if we thought it was shit, luckily we and our friends like it. Very odd unhelpful comments but would like to say thank you to all the helpful comments

And the tacky comment ?! Obviously I know my wedding guests better than you all seem too think you do and I know they will be far happier with paying our prices than proper bar prices that it what u call a rip off. To the poster who asked about free drinks there will be reception drinks for each guest (2 each) then 3 bottles of wine on each table and champagne for toasts. Thanks for those who are trying to make me feel shit about my choices but I think when I read back it will be spot on

The more variety you have, the more people will drink. Keep it simple: red wine, white wine, larger, real ale?, whiskey, vodka + mixers.

Of the 80 guests - are sure they are all hard drinkers - no one driving, pregnant etc?

That's basically what we are having yes all big drinkers no one driving we are putting on transport no one pregnant so far

That is a huge choice. Do you really need all those spirits and shot drinks? Also, what is a fruit bummer?

This looks like people are going to get seriously pissed. I wouldn't fancy cleaning up after your wedding.

I would swap one of the lagers for some decent bottled beer. Also, have a decent selection of grown up soft drinks for the drivers.

Cross posted about non drinkers.

Sorry, didn't mean to make you feel bad. If you are selling at cheap prices to just cover cost then that's a very sensible option. For some reason I was assuming you would be charging full price, my mistake.
I would remember to get some nice non alcoholic drink, someone may feel like they've had enough booze!!
Enjoy your day.

You definitely need some ale! And preferably not something crap like John Smith's - consider contacting one of the breweries for some kegs - eg Hook Norton, Badger, Butcombe, Wickwar. Or if you don't want kegs then bottles or cans of IPA would be fine too. But don't make ale drinkers have lager or wine.

Thanks for the apology. Yes we are literally charging £1.50 per drink que the ' why charge at all if only that much ' comments but it's toncover costs not to make money on anyone! Like I said I know my guests very well and I know they will like the selection we are getting. Thanks for all your input x

I would be more than happy with a cheap paid bar like you describe - I've only ever been to one wedding with a free bar so would never expect it.

Still think you need some real ale though 🍺

Ha it's not a no i just don't know what to get we Defo aren't getting barrels kegs etc what's IPA? Pale ale?

Dont forget to arrange a decent float for the staff. Everyone will be paying in notes at the start of the night so a hefty pile of poind coins, 50ps and fivers locked up somewhere safe.

Lidl and Aldi do a cheaper Pimms drink, jugs or dispensers of that with a few lagers can work well as a welcome drink.

IPA is India Pale Ale.

I think Wilko sell home brew kits for pale ale.