Wedding Forum - Venue bar prices - UPDATE :D...

Hiya,

H2B and I both think the prices of drinks at the bar in the evening are a real issue. We went to an evening do recently and everyone was talking about the bar prices and complaining. His friend said he bought a bottle of house wine and one pint of larger and it was £31.

We've found 2 venues available on our date, in our area (previous issues with the Army have left us very limited) and both have very expensive bar prices. We're going to meet the people at our favourite one tomorrow, the package price is really good, but the bar prices are not.

Has anyone had any luck at getting their venue to reduce bar prices? What do you guys think of the issue of bar prices in the evening? The place tomorrow is £20 bottle of house wine, £4.10 ish per pint. Bear in mind that it is Surrey. Would you find that unreasonable? Thank you!! xx
___________________________________UPDATE___________________________________________________________________
Hello everyone, Thank you for your responses below. I've just had an email from the venue, after the wedding co-ordinator spoke to the general managed, they have offered to take 20% off all bar prices for us!!!!! How amazing is that?!?!!! I'm so excited!! Just need H2B to answer his phone so I can tell him.... so I thought I'd tell you guys first :D So awesome, I think we're going to confirm it now!!

Oh, and they're going to change our mulled wine welcome drink to mulled cider, as I'm a Devonian :D :D :D SO so excited now, 6 and a half months, and we're finally getting some things sorted!!! xxxx

I find that most wedding type venues charge more for drinks so if I was a guest I'd take that into account with the amount of spends I take with me for the day x

£4.10 is rather a lot for a pint.
We are having our evening do in a club so club prices!!!
I've told them they'd better get loads of booze in for the evening as my H2B is originally from N Ireland and his friends and family will be there and boy, do they know how to party!!!

We are going to a Wedding in July and know that the Hotel where the reception is being held will be pricey on drinks.
But, we are going because we want to help the Happy Couple celebrate so we either shut up and pay the prices or don't drink as much??

Why do people think its acceptable to moan at someone else's party??

Don't worry about it and do what YOU want!!!


:-)

They charge a fortune as soon as they know it's for a wedding. My sister got married last year with the reception being held in a hotel, the bar was around the same £4 a pint but...downstairs at the normal bar a pint was £2!!! Absolutely ridiculous!! It's part of the reason we've chosen to have ours in a marquee and provide some beer, wine and fizz and allow those who want to drink spirits etc to bring them along with them...everyone is better off that way I think. I've been to a few weddings recently with expensive bars and I always expect it when I go so I don't think guests mind that much. I wouldn't worry about it, go with the place you love the most.x

There's a couple venues I won't consider due to the high prices behind the bar :(

The bar is not raising its prices for the wedding, they are its normal prices!! Its ridiculous really. A can of coke, normal, bog standard can of coke is £3.30. Betond ridiculous. The trouble is we only have 2 places to choose from and they are both the same. Any reasonable places around us are already booked for Christmas parties, and all the other places are too expensive on everything else as well as the drinks.

We're going to see them tonight. We're going to tell them that we love the place, we're happy with everything, but the one thing stopping us booking it is the bar price. Just see what we can do and hope for the best. The troubleis I know my Dad will not be happy with the high prces at all. He hates paying £3 a pint... :(

When going to wedding I take extra money as drinks are always more in hotels and i would never moan at an wedding about price of drinks, you have just had a 3 course meal and few drinks for free, sorry but I don't care if the bar price is high at the our venue at end of the day it my dream venue and I wouldn't change it or not have it just because the bar price are a bit high, it's only for an couple hour out of the whole day guest are only going to spend a lot of money if they are going to be silly drinking.

I disagree that venues charge extra for weddings TBH. Some do; others don't. The ones we looked at were the same price regardless; our food and drink costs are exactly the same as if we'd just gone to eat at the restaurant independently.

Surrey is an expensive county; I live near Surrey, and our search area included Surrey, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, and central London. I found that the bar prices at the venues we looked at were much of a muchness, and didn't find them extortionate, considering a pint at a cheap chain pub in my home town is £3, and elsewhere, at nicer pubs, around £4.

Our venue is very pricey as far as the bar goes: £4.50 a pint, £24 for a bottle of wine, and cocktails start at £8-9 and go up to £15. We're putting money behind the bar to be spent on soft drinks, single measures of certain spirits, wine by the glass, and beer. If guests want anything else they'll need to pay, but that way, the prices shouldn't hit people too hard.

As a guest at a wedding, I would expect to be paying up to £5 a pint, and up to £6 for a standard (175ml) glass of wine; I'd expect a single spirit and mixer to be anything from £6-8, doubles £8 plus, etc. So the prices at your venue wouldn't bother me at all.

Do see if they can come up with slightly better prices though; if you don't ask, you won't know!

We're not 100% sure yet, but I think about £2500; that's for 90-100 guests, around 10% of whom won't be drinking alcohol, and it will start at the start of the evening reception (ie people can't just wander up during the day to get extra drinks).

I think if your budget is more limited, a welcome drink is a really nice idea, as that way, everyone gets a drink; otherwise, some people who are 'quicker off the mark' may get 2 drinks, and someone else might miss out; but, I wouldn't go for a 'classic' welcome drink (like buck's fizz), I'd go for more standard drinks (eg wine and lager). That's definitely something you could look into, and you may be able to negotiate a deal.

It is pricey, but I sorta wish ours was a little more pricey to discourage some people from getting wrecked :-/

I must admit, we've smuggled in vodka to various functions however, at some places coke and lemonade is nearly as expensive as an alcoholic drink, so not as worthwhile so we don't bother.

.also, at one wedding we went to where we were stopping at the hotel, sil2b bought a bottle of the hotels house wine, then kept taking the bottle up to the room And refilling it from a box of wine up there...quite ingenious.

Xx

How about seeing if the venue will do a punch or cocktail? People won't know how strong it is (or isn't!) and will enjoy a fruity taste without taking out a mortgage for a cocktail. Speak to the venue - they might be restricted what they can do through the official lines in terms of drinks, but they may be able to buy in punch ingredients as a special request (and make it from supermarket vodka etc, maybe?). You don't ask, you don't get

Thanks for all the thoughts guys. I'm pleased I'm not the only one worrying about it, but also pleased to hear that people kind of expect it.

We went and had a look around last night and we were really honest with them. We told them that we love the place, we are really happy with everything, but the one thing stopping us from booking and that is the bar prices. She was really good. I was expecting a flat "they are the prices" response. But she was really understanding and said she'll talk to the general manager and see what can be done. She said we could probably bring in a keg of beer from a local brewery and sell it at a price to just cover the cost!! That is amazing as I know the brewery and I know their beer is good at great prices :) So we're waiting for her to get back to us with definite answers, but I was really encouraged that she didn't just say no. I'll let you know what the outcome is.

That's really good hun that you managed to get them to work out a solution to the issue rather than them just saying that they are the prices, coz they could have easily just said that. Though by working a way to lower the prices, they're gaining your business, whereas otherwise you could have gone somewhere else, so it's whether places will risk you going with a different place or not.
I remember at my sister's wedding, she has hers in a quite posh style hotel, she managed to get a good package deal, but the bar prices were still pretty high. People did have a moan about the prices, yeah, but they still paid them xxx

Thats great news about the bar prices - well done :O)

That's awesome, well done!