Serve Wine & Beer Only to Save on Wedding Booze

This post is part of a recurring series here on BSB where we share wedding budget tips to help you save money on your wedding! You can access all the wedding budget tips on a single page for your convenience and future reference. In this post, we’re talking about how to save on your wedding reception alcohol.

Wedding Budget Tip #24:

Serve only wine & beer – skip the pricey open bar.

We all know that alcohol is something that can quickly bust your budget, especially if you offer a ton of options.

Do yourself (and your budget) a big favor and opt for only wine and beer. Skipping the open bar can save you thousands on your wedding booze. You can always splurge a little on the types of beer or wine you provide and still save yourself a bunch of cash.

Cutting back in this way will still allow you to provide your guests with drinks to celebrate the festive occasion while reigning in the overall spend. Your guests will be more than happy and thankful to have whatever libations you’re able to provide. Don’t overextend yourself by offering a huge amount of variety. Depending on the size of your overall budget, that money may be better spent in other areas.

Not sure how much booze you’ll need? Check out this awesome breakdown to calculate how much alcohol you’ll need to serve for your reception.

Tricks to save on your wedding booze

For my wedding in 2009, we purchased our wedding wine from Trader Joe’s (yep, Two Buck Chuck) and we served it at our reception. In order to keep our savviness a secret, we created custom wedding wine labels as a special detail! None of our guests needed to know we’d been so frugal with our wine choice!

This is one of my absolute favorite tips! I even shared it with the world when I appeared on Good Morning America with Strahan & Sara!

So you see, it’s totally possible to plan a frugal, fabulous, and FUN wedding. You just have to get a bit creative and cut costs where you can. Luckily, the bar is an area that is simple to save in by offering fewer options and choosing varieties that are affordable.

Save on Bar Costs by only Offering Wine & Beer

Want to save on your beer? Try shopping at a discount seller or wholesale store like Costco or Sam’s Club. If you want to get really creative or savvy, you could consider home-brewing beer for the wedding.

If you feel really strongly about offering a liquor option to your guests, perhaps you could consider adding in a signature cocktail or two to the bar offerings. In fact, if you’re interested in offering a signature cocktail for your wedding reception, we’ve rounded up a few great ideas that you can check out in the post below:

Wedding Budget Tip #20: Craft a Signature Cocktail for Your Wedding

I hope this tip inspires you to think outside the box when it comes to your wedding booze offerings! Happy saving and please drink responsibly.

So tell us: are you serving only wine and beer at your reception? or are you splurging on an open bar?

Join us in our community to chat more about wedding budgets and more!