High spirits

When it came to deciding whether or not to include alcohol at our reception, we did not hesitate to shout a resounding, "YES!"

I don't drink much. At the most, I'll have one drink a week. However, it is easy for me to recall the greatest reception I have ever been to... the one with the open bar. None of us had much, but we had enough to make whatever music began to play sound like the exact song we wanted to hear.

There will be about 100 guests at our reception. I'm pretty sure that some of them may not be partaking in our "spirited" festivities. But still, I figure it best to count them in, just in case we have a couple of bottomless alcohol pits.

The following is a fair estimate of what the average reception of 100 would require. This list is provided by weddingchannel.com.

Standard Contents of a Full Bar		Quantities We Suggest You Order (per 100 guests)
Beer		2 cases
White wine		1.5 cases
Red wine		1 case
Champagne		1.5 cases
Vodka		6 liters
Gin		3 liters
Sweet vermouth		2 bottles
Dry vermouth		2 bottles
Scotch		3 liters
Bourbon		2 liters
Whiskey		2 liters
Rum		2 liters
Tequila		1 liter

Now, I plan on tweaking this list a bit, since no one but me seems to drink champagne and I don't know anyone that drinks vermouth. I'm afraid I don't even know what that stuff goes into (shows what a drinker I am).

One little hitch that I have to consider is that we will also be having a coffee bar. I intend to make these work together as best as I can. For example, in place of the vermouths, we will probably have some kahlua and bailey's irish creme available and invite our guests to add it to their coffee.

My problem is allowing the alcohol bar take over the coffee bar. Perhaps I could open them at different times? The reception starts at 8 and I am fully debating whether or not we will be having savory foods. If we decide to forgo the expensive food and just serve sweets, then our cocktail hour could include the serving of our signature drink along with some biscotti and pirouline cookies. Hmm, after I type that out, it sounds like a great way to start out a dessert reception.

If we had the coffee bar open from 8 pm to 9 pm-ish and opened the alcohol bar at 9-ish to the end of the reception, that sounds pretty reasonable to me.

On the other hand, if I serve just desserts, I'm sure my guests are likely to get sick and drunk very quickly.

Oh my, what a pickle.