Food and Beverage minimum

[DissygirlMA]

Hello, I'm confused by the F&B minimum of $100 pp. In researching custom weddings I found different menus with pp costs and costs for bar bills. Do I add those together to reach the $100 minimum? Or is it in addition.

For example, if I had 40 guests and wanted a sit-down meal plus open bar for 1-hour, if that adds up to $100 pp have I met the minimum?

Is there a separate fee to rent a specific reception location other than the ballrooms available? Like the Atlantic Dance Hall? Thank you for your advice, JM

 

[ahutton]

Your $100pp is a total of your appetizers (if you have some set up for a coctail type time) your dinner and your beverages (both soft and bar). I don't remember if the cake was also included in that, or if it was dessert if you served that was included and cake was not - it has been a while.

Some locations have a venue charge, others don't. Some will waive them if you meet a per person minimum, others won't. Those are things my sales manager went through with me in the earliest stages of planning - picking our location and dates.

 

[marn913]

The food and beverage minimum is the total for all food (appetizers + meal) + drinks + cake -- this is all before tax and gratuity. It isn't very hard at all to make the minimum when you add it all together. Also, you may want to look into having your bar billed on consumption. That way you only pay for the drinks your guests actually have and you can offer an open bar the whole time if you'd like (if you only have it for one hour (say the cocktail hour), you may actually miss your own open bar. We got to the reception after out bride/groom pictures at the very end of the cocktail hour. We had 35 guests and estimated 4 drinks per person ($5 each), and prepayed for this amount in our final budget. After the wedding they will calculate the actual cost of the drinks consumed and bill you EXACTLY what you owe - we got a refund of almost $100. Our bar bill for our entire 5 hour event was just over $500 (we barely drank enough to avoid the $100 bartender charge. This is as opposed to paying approximately $40/person for 5 hours of open bar!!! I think they just conveniently "leave out" the bill on consumption option because they want to push the bar packages which are absolutely insanely priced. Hope this helps.

Marne
06-16-03
WP/LS

 

[Fantasia Sam]

For most venues Disney charge you by Food and Beverage minimums rather than charge you for room hire.

Yup all your drinks whatever package you decide on is included in the F&B minimum and your EM will help you decide which will be the best package for your guests. We've gone for the following drinks package for 40 people:

Pre-reception - punch (this was a set amount as it has to be made up before hand)
Toast - Fairy Tale Cuvee Champagne - 7 bottles
Meal - Red and White Wine to be table served
Rest of the reception - hosted bar, billing per drink, house brands

Soft drinks served throughout ofcourse. As Marne says I think a Hosted Bar will work out cheaper even if you have it starting from the pre-reception hour unless of course your guests are real heavy drinkers

Also just wanted to add that if you decide on holding an Illuminations Dessert Party then this is also included in the $100 per person minimum but it has to be (unless told otherwise) held on the day of your wedding.

I had no problem hitting my F&B minimums.

 

[DissygirlMA]

WOW! So I still have $5000-$6000 to "spend" to reach the minimum....besides the ceremony fee the whole wedding is basically accounted for right there....
A budget of $10,000 in the Boston area was going to make for a very 'frugal' affair....why not have the fairy tale AND have your guests entertained as well! now if I could just convince the groom!

 

[Kismetdreams]

Dissygirl,

To give you an idea of our budgeting, so you can have it working in your head.

Approx. $119 pp--For that, we are having:

-Fruit and Cheese trays at pre-reception
-Meal which includes appetizer, salad, entree, veggie and starch plus rolls and butter and such.
-Cinderella Slipper Dessert
-Cake
-Open Bar for 5 hours

The prices are approx because we are offering beef, chicken or vegetarian, and they are priced differently.

Do keep in mind that the $119 is then taxed at 6.5% and then service charged 20%, so basically, it comes out to be around $150 pp after all that. And the tax and service charge DO NOT count toward minimiums.

Also, some venues have a higher or lower F&B min. depending on the location and time of reception.

HTH!

 

[Fantasia Sam]

Originally posted by DissygirlMA
WOW! So I still have $5000-$6000 to "spend" to reach the minimum....besides the ceremony fee the whole wedding is basically accounted for right there....
A budget of $10,000 in the Boston area was going to make for a very 'frugal' affair....why not have the fairy tale AND have your guests entertained as well! now if I could just convince the groom!

Exactly Dissygirl but believe me it doesn't take long to spend that $5-6K

Good Luck with convincing the Groom