Stocking bar for marquee wedding - 150

citybaker · 13-05-2012 10:15PM #1

Hi

I am looking for some advice on how much drink I need to stock a bar. We have the wine and champagne for the reception drinks and dinner but after dinner need to organise the bar ourselves. So far we have for 150 people (at least 60% are heavy drinkers):

5 kegs heineken
3 kegs guinness
100 cans of bulmers
10 bottles of vodka
10 whisky
3 bacardi
3 brandy
5 gin

After that I get a bit lost, i.e how much soft drinks and other spirits.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks

bp · 14-05-2012 09:38AM

I would stock up on bottles of the usuals - Coke, Diet Coke, 7-Up and maybe some orange juice. Get the biggest bottles you can (plastic) and then people can get from those.

I would also suggest some pink lemonade for non-drinkers who want a nice looking drink for toasting (coke in a champagne glass mightn't look the best).

don't forget plenty of ice.

Sleepy · 14-05-2012 09:52AM

You'll also need ice / lemons / limes.

A few bottles of Tonic Water, Soda, Ginger Ale, Bitter Lemon, Sparkling Water

Senna · 14-05-2012 01:35PM

Is this a free bar? You have nearly €7000 of drink at bar prices already.

If i was stocking a bar and with out knowing the clientèle, i would cut down on the whisky, 5 bottles is enough for 150 people. I'd replace them with southern, JD or Morgans, the 3 of them out sell whisky combined.
I'd also add something for alco-pop drinkers, WKD would be a safe choice.
Again without knowing the people, i'd have something for shots, most weddings head that way sooner or later.

If it is a free bar, dont worry about covering every drink, if people are getting it for free, they'll find something they will drink.

Sleepy · 14-05-2012 01:40PM

Oh, extra wine too: lots of people like to stay on the one drink for the night so if they've had wine with dinner, will want it from the bar too.

lazygal · 14-05-2012 03:08PM

Are you getting this on sale or return OP? It sounds like a LOT of booze. A friend of mine had a marquee wedding and supplied wine, champagne and beer for the night. She had 140 but only went through a keg of Heiniken and the same again of Guinness. She had a couple of bottles of spirits under the bar with mixers for people who really wanted something else, but most people stayed on wine for the night.

She had a bottle of wine per person and half a bottle of champagne, and ended up with a fair amount left over. Hers was quite a boozy wedding, just wondering how boozy (and possibly messy?!) your guests might be?

Mr Magners · 14-05-2012 03:19PM

As above, I'd suggest approaching a good local independent off-licence and tell them what you're organising. A lot of them will supply stuff on a sale or return. They'll also have experience of supplying events like this previously so acan guide you on the smaller poits and things you might forget.

Where are you based?

Plazaman · 14-05-2012 03:36PM

Thats a huge amount of drink for 150 people.

You have the equivilent there of about 720 pints, 660 spirit measures and your 100 cans.

Exactly how heavy are your heavy drinkers?

As previously suggested, a word with your supplier/local off licence might give you a better idea of quanitities. With that amount I'm sure most will do a return policy for unopened bottles, crates etc. Why not ask could you get a delivery system with them so at around 9.30pm that evening if you see you're running short on say vodka but have a ton of whiskey left, can they deliver more or do an exchange? A lot of towns have delivery vans for this purpose or just Mr Taximan will do the job for you.

citybaker · 14-05-2012 09:04PM

Thanks so much, am relieved that sounds like too much to be honest. My fear is running out of drink as we are in a tent in the middle of nowhere.

I will get in touch with a local off - licence to see about sale and return. The kegs are sale and return.

Thanks again!

Stocking bar for marquee wedding - 150

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