Why don't more people pay by corkage fees?

[vinxy]

To us it seems like it will be a lot cheaper. Is there something we are miscalculating.

 

We have about 50 guests.

 

Open bar for 4 hours after tax and service fees will be about 90 per person. So that is $4500.

 

We'd estimate that each guest will consume an average of 5 alcoholic drinks and 2 non alcohol. Alcoholic drinks after service run an average of about 10 and about 5 for no alcohol. So that is 50*5*10 + 50*2*5 or a total of $3000.

 

We are figuring if we do corkage to buy about 10 bottles of liquor plus 10 bottles wine. That is a total of about 350 drinks or 100 more then we estimate our need to be. Cost at liquor store will be 30 for each liquor and 15 per wine or $450. Hotel gets $25 a bottle so that is $500. The total is then only $950. We can add beer for about another $300.

 

Downside is our bar will be a little more limited but we can also go as top shelf as we want without too much cost. And with 10 bottles, you should be able to make most drinks. Overall though it seems so much cheaper . I don't understand why nobody else does this. Hotel is giving us free mixers and is also providing soda and water at no charge.

 

We are doing it at the Hilton and reasonable corkage fees was the biggest selling point in the future husband's eyes.

[starchild]

I'm no Cabo bride but for us, the per person alcohol fee was nowhere near as exorbitant as yours so it wasn't even an issue. Yikes that is pricey for drinks alone!

 

Maybe some Cabo brides can chime in...

[melglnh2o]

I am also doing corkage fee because it was a considerable cost savings for us as well. For open bar it was going to cost us (NOT including tax and service charge) $20 per person per hour. We are expecting about 100 people. That is $10K in just alcohol (using 5 hours). When I first met with the wedding coordinator she didn't mention the corkage fee until I asked about it. She said that they don't usually offer it as an option because this is the area where they can make a lot of money. I'd say!!

[Maura]

My FI's best friend owns a wine and tequila import/export business and graciously offered to provide both for our wedding day. The Westin in Cabo charges a corkage fee, but if you fight them on it, they will either lower it or nix it completely. Basically my FMIL told our WC that we would take the whole wedding elsewhere if she didnt get rid of the corkage fee and some other BS fees, like charging me to bring my photographer... I feel like since we are already having all the wine and tequila provided, maybe we should go to the Costco in Cabo the day we get down there and buy the rest of our liquor there. The open bar price is expensive, and not really worth it IMHO, but FI's friends drink like fish at weddings, so we figure no matter what we do, we better have a lot of alcohol on hand. Obviously then you need to hire a person to serve the drinks, and I dont know how they do it at the Hilton, but I believe at the Westin, it's $90/hr per bartender -- but don't quote me 100% on that, I'd have to check the stuff the WC sent me.

[Mango Deck]

Hi ladies.

From a vendor point of view...

WC's don't offer it because..guess what?... There's the big bux. jeje

Restaurant wise, it's cheaper FOR YOU, but our costs are higher (Of course, you're looking what's good FOR YOU).

Usually, the fees go from $15 to $40, depending number of guests, the place, the hours you're hiring. Be careful, some places charge You depending on the brand You bring and they won't let you know. i.e. If you bring a Bottom Shelf brand (Cuervo Gold Tequila, Charro TeKillYa, Bacardi Gold Rum) they charge the regular fee; but if you bring somehting on the alley of Patron Tequila, Grey Gose Vodka, Ketel One Vodka, Chateau Petrousse Wine, SOME of the places charge on the price of THAT particular bottle.

I hope this was helpful.

Cheers

[marip123]

We have been wondering what to do regarding open bar vs. wine at the tables and corkage fees. I did get a price for one type of wine, and this wine plus the corkage fee and service fee and tax was comparable to just buying the wine there. It was a little cheaper, but it seems we can argue this, so we might look into the corkage again. Right now we're thinking a three hour open bar with no wine at the table. The jump from 3 to 4 hours is huge in terms of money, so that's why we were thinking of 3 hours of open bar.

 

I was also trying to get our coordinator to do a bar they offered last year of only margaritas, daquiris, pina coladas, beer, wine, juice, soda, and water. That's really all we need, but she wouldn't budge. Maybe if I have my dad call her?

[vinxy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by marip123 We have been wondering what to do regarding open bar vs. wine at the tables and corkage fees. I did get a price for one type of wine, and this wine plus the corkage fee and service fee and tax was comparable to just buying the wine there. It was a little cheaper, but it seems we can argue this, so we might look into the corkage again. Right now we're thinking a three hour open bar with no wine at the table. The jump from 3 to 4 hours is huge in terms of money, so that's why we were thinking of 3 hours of open bar. I was also trying to get our coordinator to do a bar they offered last year of only margaritas, daquiris, pina coladas, beer, wine, juice, soda, and water. That's really all we need, but she wouldn't budge. Maybe if I have my dad call her?

With wine it doesn't make much difference. Because with wine you are only getting about 6 glasses to a bottle or you can buy a bottle for $30 or so. So you could pay by the glass or bottle and it will be about the same.

The big difference is with liquor. One bottle makes 20-30 drinks. These are drinks that probably cost over $10 each after tax and service charge. So you can pay almost $300 for individual drinks or a $25 corkage fee.

Because the corkage fee is the same for wine and liquor, liquor becomes much cheaper to drink. Hopefully our guest will prefer high end hard liquor.

[cheese_diva]

We were at an AI so my comments aren't relevant to your corkage fee question but just as an observation, I don't believe any of our guests drank wine while in Cabo.. it was mostly margaritas and beer.

 

You could always do a signature drink and many guests would order that because it would be fun and special for your wedding.

[Maura]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vinxy With wine it doesn't make much difference. Because with wine you are only getting about 6 glasses to a bottle or you can buy a bottle for $30 or so. So you could pay by the glass or bottle and it will be about the same. The big difference is with liquor. One bottle makes 20-30 drinks. These are drinks that probably cost over $10 each after tax and service charge. So you can pay almost $300 for individual drinks or a $25 corkage fee. Because the corkage fee is the same for wine and liquor, liquor becomes much cheaper to drink. Hopefully our guest will prefer high end hard liquor.

That is a REALLY good point. We have yet to haggle over the menu and liquor, but I will definitely keep this in mind when it comes time -- maybe if we only offer a few choices of hard liquor, we can keep the alcohol price down.

[jean-marcus]

ya. paying the corkage fee and bringing in your own boozaroonie is one of the best ways to save money. think about all that extra stuff you can use that money for that you save.... like buying 3,000 lottery tickets hahahahah... i mean invest that money... RIGHT?