Hosted or Package Bar?

[Rustyflwr3]

Hello!
I am at a loss as to what to do with the bars during our cocktail hour and reception. We are thinking to have an open bar during cocktail hour, serve wine, water and soft drinks during the reception, and have either an open bar or serve coffee during our post reception celebration at the Sorcerer Hat. My question is, should we do a hosted bar or a packaged bar? A lot of my family will not be drinking alcoholic beverages; however, some others may and very well could drink enough for themselves and a few others We are leaning towards a packaged bar, but I was curious to find out what others have done! Any experiences or opinions are most appreciated!! Thank you!

Jessica

 

[happylalagirl]

I would have been interested in that also... could you please explain the difference between the two? Thanks.

Diane

 

[Rustyflwr3]

In short, a packaged bar is billing per person. Based on how many hours you want the bar open, there is a certain amount of money you pay per person. A hosted bar is where you are billed per drink.

Jessica

 

[Laurafoster]

I was working out mine yesterday by looking at the prices per drink etc. I worked out that i have several family members who will drink quite a bit, even though some may drink less. Im going to go for a package beer and wine bar for my reception.

 

[penlanspice]

I'm going billing too. Many people for the Uk are big drinkers!! Well our family are anyway! LOL. We have a 7 hour open bar and it worked out that everyone needs to drink around 1 1/2 beers or 1 spirit per hour. I'm sure we will save money.
Remember you can close the bar early (if you leave at say 8pm, whats the point in paying for a bar until 8pm)? also you can stop the bar during dinner.

 

[pixie08]

I have been stuggling with this as well. On the one hand with package bar you know EXACTLY what it is going to cost...on the other hand that price could be around $50 per person if you do the bar for the duration of the reception(full liqour premium/call).

With the package bar your guest are extremely limited (ie: no champagne except for the toast which you need to pay extra, only certain liquor beer and wine, no frozen drinks no martini type drinks)

So i think the thing is you have to make a list...each drink is like $5-7 a pop so each person needs to drink 8 drinks to get your money's worth. If you have many heavy drinkers that may be a good deal for you (you gotta watch out for those brits ) but if you try to make a list ok these are the heavy drinkers and these are the light drinkers/avg drinkers/don't drink at all on one side then see which is the longer list. that may help determine your decision.

For me I think it will come down to lack of variety as i have some picky people, some heavy drinkers but some who just don't drink at all. Anyway sorry for the ramble this is just how i understood it and I could be wrong about my approach

 

[Rustyflwr3]

Thanks everyone! We are still undecided, but I appreciate the help Im glad time is on our side!

Jessica

 

[penlanspice]

Just to mention we made sure that everyone would be catered for on the drinks side, we asked to have cider and peach schnapps put in and they let us do it.
Our big drinkers far out weigh the non drinkers so it works for us.

 

[pixie08]

Just to mention we made sure that everyone would be catered for on the drinks side, we asked to have cider and peach schnapps put in and they let us do it.
Our big drinkers far out weigh the non drinkers so it works for us.

Just out od curiosity did they charge you extra for this or did they just let you add a few things in?

 

[Rustyflwr3]

I was wondering the same thing Mary!

 

[penlanspice]

Please don't quote me on this to your WP as I know some brides say "someone on the disboards/disneymooners said" I really don't want my WP coming back to me and taking it away.

I did get the extras added for free! My WP did say there would be an extra charge but nothing is showing up on my BEO. So im happy