Free bar.. Thoughts?

completely confused · 06-08-2016 05:43PM #1

Has anyone been to/had a wedding with a free bar?

We're in the very early stages of planning. One of the venues we really like doesn't charge a corkage to bring in drink. It feels like it'd be mad not to take advantage of this and I love the idea of doing a free bar for guests.However, I have no idea what this would cost/ whether it'd end up being too stressful? If be really worried about running out. We're looking at roughly 100 guests.

Would an option be to do free booze for a part of the night e.g. After the meal? Or would it just be too messy?

Any experience greatly appreciated!

Mech1 · 06-08-2016 05:49PM

Feckin great idea! can I come?

machiavellianme · 06-08-2016 05:49PM

Had a similarly sized wedding and had a free bar early on.
Everyone got a drink on arrival and for toasting but we also put 500 behind the bar before dinner and people helped themselves. It amounted to a couple of drinks per person as many of our guests were teetotalers. Got a lot of positive responses on it and people still mention it three years later as it's quite rare.

Just stipulate no ridiculous doubles etc or top shelf drinks to the bar staff and go for it. Especially if it's not going to cost too much. It's a nice thing to do (if you can afford it) although it isn't necessary.

harr · 06-08-2016 05:52PM

completely confused wrote: »

Has anyone been to/had a wedding with a free bar?

We're in the very early stages of planning. One of the venues we really like doesn't charge a corkage to bring in drink. It feels like it'd be mad not to take advantage of this and I love the idea of doing a free bar for guests.However, I have no idea what this would cost/ whether it'd end up being too stressful? If be really worried about running out. We're looking at roughly 100 guests.

Would an option be to do free booze for a part of the night e.g. After the meal? Or would it just be too messy?

Any experience greatly appreciated!

I was at two weddings which involved a free bar and to be honest some guests just take the piss and it can get messy...maybe at dinner give everyone a round or two but having a free bar can get messy..
Another thing is when a venue tells you it has no corkage fee that is normally just for wine at the dinner not regular bar drinks..I have never seen a venue letting you bring your own beer and spirits unless of course the venue has no bar facility's

completely confused · 06-08-2016 06:01PM

Thanks for the replies.

As we'd be supplying the drink ourselves, we'd only be bringing in the basics aka no 50 year old whiskies etc.

This venue is definitely no corkage for all drinks. It's one of these places where you rent the place out for the weekend for a pretty hefty price! There is an option for a pay bar too but it's completely up to you.

I was thinking that if I kept it free only after the meal then at least people won't be completely wrecked before they even eat!?

drunkmonkey · 06-08-2016 06:07PM

Nope, maybe if your having a quick one in the pub nearest the church before heading to hotel but not the wedding bar itself.
We had hot whiskey and port reception, didn't charge us anything for doing it we just supplied the whiskey and port. Paid for a drink for everyone in the pub between the church and hotel.

jcd5971 · 06-08-2016 06:08PM

Are group?

Mainly a mix of of say late 30's 40's with a few younger age I'd say go for it.

Mainly early 30's late 20's forget it, chaos will be your reward.

Why not have a drink on arrival drink with meal and one for toast. That way you can budget for 3 drinks free per head and still get kudos for the gesture

Addle · 06-08-2016 06:12PM

Great idea.
So what if you run out.
It's a generous gesture and guests can use the venues bar if they want more than they've been given.

harr · 06-08-2016 06:20PM

completely confused wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

As we'd be supplying the drink ourselves, we'd only be bringing in the basics aka no 50 year old whiskies etc.

This venue is definitely no corkage for all drinks. It's one of these places where you rent the place out for the weekend for a pretty hefty price! There is an option for a pay bar too but it's completely up to you.

I was thinking that if I kept it free only after the meal then at least people won't be completely wrecked before they even eat!?

I would go for the pay bar ..rather than you trying to supply the bar for the night...wedding stressful enough without having to worry about running out of drink...as others have mentioned maye a free drink when people arrive at venue with you supplying the drink for that...

dori_dormer · 06-08-2016 06:50PM

We had it at our wedding for 2 hrs after dinner ( plus dinner drinks) no one knew before hand and no one knew when it would finsih. We only had one person abuse it and he was 21. But we didn't provide the drink ourselves so we didn't run out of drink

Dial Hard · 06-08-2016 07:10PM

We had a free bar from arrival at the venue until dinner, maybe an hour and a half, two hours? We also supplied all the wine at dinner and a toast drink. Only one person got really blotto and tbh, he was the one person I'd have pegged to act the ass even if we'd had no free drink.

"Know your audience" is really the best piece of advice on this one. If you know it's a crowd who are going to take the piss, then I'd err on the side of a paid bar and just do the "normal" free drinks.

GingerLily · 06-08-2016 07:54PM

Our venue is exactly the same but after lots of thought I just amnt bothered buying and carrying all the drink physically! We're doing prosecco reception (beer options) wine and toast drink, and then we're getting a bar after the meal.

We're having a BYOB second day too and will use up all the left over booze then! I'm more excited about that I think!

newacc2015 · 06-08-2016 07:59PM

harr wrote: »

I would go for the pay bar ..rather than you trying to supply the bar for the night...wedding stressful enough without having to worry about running out of drink

You could buy drink from a supermarket that will let you return it unopened.

Another way of doing this is ordering all your alcohol online. Due to distant selling law. You are entitled to return any item brought online within 14 days of delivery to the merchant eg you could buy all your drink online with O'Briens and return the unopened alcohol.

elperello · 06-08-2016 08:48PM

A free bar for wine and beer can be really relaxing and actually reduce problems of over consumption. There are no "rounds" as you can't actually buy someone a drink if it's available without charge. People tend to stick to what is available free and don't start drinking spirits too early. As others have said if you put a time limit on it your friends will be grateful for what they have got. Any reasonable person will seamlessly move on to paying for their drink.

zoobizoo · 07-08-2016 10:57AM

Do sale or return at your local off license. What isn't consumed is returned

Ask them how much of each drink you'd need for your numbers

Don't remember any guests getting any messier than a normal wedding

miezekatze · 07-08-2016 11:09AM

Most weddings I've been to had a free bar, but I'm from another country where this is more common than here. People there usually get a deal with a supplier where they order more than they need and are allowed to return any unopened bottles for a refund. Maybe talk to some places and see if they would agree to something like that?

Tbh I've seen more people getting seriously drunk at Irish weddings with a pay bar than I have at weddings in my home country that had a free bar, but most people will be fairly drunk by the end of the night.

jcd5971 · 07-08-2016 11:00PM

zoobizoo wrote:

Do sale or return at your local off license. What isn't consumed is returned

Most places don't do sale or return on that kind of scale

carolinespring · 08-08-2016 07:30PM

I think it would depend on your crowd. We had a free bar for our wedding. We had 78 guest but all where early 30's to mid 40's with a couple of older guests. So no hassle at all. They did drink steady all during the reception and party. The only guest who did over do it was a chap in his mid 50's who did get very drunk. We had a bar tender so it wasn't self our which I would think could have got messy.

I have been to a few wedding with free bar and to be honest haven't seen any problems but with a large crowd it could be different.

Malari · 08-08-2016 07:44PM

We had a free bar for the meal and party afterwards, no restrictions, about 50 odd guests. We weren't allowed bring in our own drink so just used what the venue had. I think it went down well, no issues.

Milly33 · 08-08-2016 08:01PM

Your not getting married in Cork are you!! We had more or less the same senario with the bar. There was no corkage but we still had to supply the wine, and also we had to supply the bar..

For the wine we just had it there if anyone wanted it. We had as much as you would like for dinner. Same goes for bubbles you could have what you like.. For the bar then, because we were paying for the drink ourselfs (and honestly we could not cover all this ourselfs) we charged a small price for a drink. A drink now was a drink like vodka and coke was just a drink.. Soft drinks were free..

We also brought some drinks ourselfs like tequila we just marked it that it was ours so if anyone wanted a shot they didnt pay for it..If you can afford it then, tis a lovely idea to do for guest as they do put an awfull lot of effort going to your day.So tis nice to be nice but then if ye cannot afford to pay for the entire bar then just asked what could cover it..

SarahMollie · 09-08-2016 11:36AM

I was at 2 foreign weddings outside of Ireland this year, both of which had free bars because it's typically cheaper to do abroad, and also since people were making the effort to travel, the couples wanted to ensure people had a lovely time.

But no good deed goes unpunished. There was at least 1 spectacular puking incident at each wedding, where the person in question (not the same person at both weddings btw!!!) puked everywhere and then passed out.

I think guests really appreciate it, but you need to keep some sort of lid on it, like maybe free until midnight, or free beer/wine only or something.

athtrasna · 09-08-2016 11:40AM

I think free bars are a bad idea, when people don't pay they'll leave a drink down on one table and go dance then just go get another drink instead of finding the old one. Like one of the other posters said, charge a small fee, people will appreciate the subsidy and won't abuse it.

baby and crumble · 09-08-2016 11:42AM

it's already annoying me that I have to pay for wine and a prossecco reception at my wedding, so I wouldn't be a fan! But I have a specific attitude to alcohol that tends not to go down well in Ireland.

helimachoptor · 09-08-2016 11:44AM

I was at a wedding a few years back (parents are very wealthy)

But once people realised it was a free bar quite a few got stupid

Atlantic Dawn · 09-08-2016 11:45AM

At 100 guests you would likely be looking at an average running pace of 2 drinks an hour, that factors in those who will swig a pint for an hour and those who will need one every 20 minutes and those inbetween. So most places your average drink will be €5-€6 a pint so a budget of €1200 an hour for your free bar and your laughing...well your wedding guests are :pac:

SarahMollie · 09-08-2016 11:47AM

athtrasna wrote: »

I think free bars are a bad idea, when people don't pay they'll leave a drink down on one table and go dance then just go get another drink instead of finding the old one. Like one of the other posters said, charge a small fee, people will appreciate the subsidy and won't abuse it.

This is actually a good point - if the free bar seems limitless, people don't watch their drinks in the same way. For example, they put their drink down on the table, ramble off the the bathroom, when they get back they're not sure which of the dozen or so half full drinks on the table are theirs, so they just get a new one.

Story Bud? · 09-08-2016 11:47AM

Been to a few weddings with free bar and they were never taken advantage of.

One of those was a bar with a generous tab, the groom fully expected it to run out but it never did. Unless your friends are pricks (I'm sure they're not!) then they won't take the piss out of you.

That said, I know there were people caught taking closed bottles of wine from the server's table at one wedding a friend of mine was working at, and bringing them to their rooms which is beyond the beyond of scumbaggery but I doubt that happens all that often.

SarahMollie · 09-08-2016 11:50AM

Story Bud? wrote: »

Been to a few weddings with free bar and they were never taken advantage of.

One of those was a bar with a generous tab, the groom fully expected it to run out but it never did. Unless your friends are pricks (I'm sure they're not!) then they won't take the piss out of you.

That said, I know there were people caught taking closed bottles of wine from the server's table at one wedding a friend of mine was working at, and bringing them to their rooms which is beyond the beyond of scumbaggery but I doubt that happens all that often.

Humm, I don't know, like I said I've been to a few now and although some got out of hand, I know people didnt view it like "taking advantage".... they were just having a good time. Once people have a few drinks and they're in great spirits, they tend to want to keep going.

Harika · 09-08-2016 11:51AM

I think free bars are quite common outside of Ireland. Was at weddings in Tunisia and Austria where the wine was flowing all night long for free. At the dinner your glass gets topped up always and when the bar opens around midnight, there was unlimited alcohol until the end, as one of the party guests took over the barman's job. They paid a flat rate of 50 Euros per person for venue, rooms, food and drinks at a Castle. So there were no picnic tables on a parking space.

So it was less expansive, that what we paid at our wedding in Cork with 0.5 bottles of wine per person.

bmwguy · 09-08-2016 11:55AM

What about a subsidised bar? 2 Euro a drink or half price or something and you pick up the balance

EagererBeaver · 09-08-2016 11:57AM

jcd5971 wrote: »

Most places don't do sale or return on that kind of scale

If they've any sense whatsoever they will.

Free bar.. Thoughts?

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