Follow the process, and, for most, will cost about $15-20 for alcohol for a premium bar after you get your returns credited.

1. HIRE A WEDDING BARTENDER.  We recommend 11th Hour as a bartender because they consistently do a great job serving, making the bar fun, and they save you money by only opening what you need.  

2. CREATE YOUR BAR MENU/DRINK LIST WITH YOUR BARTENDING COMPANY. Note that signature cocktails are a great way to make the bar fun, save you some money, and speed up the service. From this, your bartender will then send you a "shopping list".

3. BUY YOUR ALCOHOL. We recommend Prestige in Westmont, (630) 963-9733, prestigewestmont@gmail.com,  http://www.prestigewestmont.com/ with the shopping list.  They will arrange drop off and pickup.  When they pick up, they will credit you back for all items not opened.  For most, this works out to be about 30% of the total initial order.

A few notes:
  • We have price checked Prestige against Binny's and found their alcohol prices to be similar.  Most tell us that the convenience of pickup/delivery outweighs the small price difference.
  • Binny's will deliver, but they don't pickup. (Drivers stop working when store closes.). Also, often times their delivery windows are too broad and don't insure that you'll get the alcohol to the bar on time.
  • You're welcome to bring in your own alcohol, just make sure to have a plan for how to get the alcohol to the venue after noon and out at the end of the night.  
  • Choosing the right bartending company is very important. We've seen that when couples have hired "bar" bartenders, that they opened way too much alcohol making it unreturnable. 
  • Kegs are a bust.  We had a few receptions with kegs. In all cases, couples carried out almost full kegs at the end of the night.  People don't drink as much beer as you may expect at weddings.  (For one wedding, the bartender said she poured less than 10 draft beers the entire night!)