Where to Buy Affordable Alcohol to Stock Your DIY Wedding Bar

Finding a venue that allows you to BYOB is one of the savviest ways to save money on your wedding budget. The best thing about purchasing your own alcohol to serve at your wedding is that you have more control over the cost per bottle. Setting up a DIY Wedding Bar can save you massively– many event spaces mark up alcohol by 40%!

When buying your own wedding alcohol, you’ll likely spend less than going through your caterer who charges restaurant markup prices. Planning and arranging your own wedding bar allows you to entertain for a fraction of that cost. You can be extra savvy about what you spend on your wedding booze by shopping at stores that offer discounted or affordable alcohol options!

Affordable Booze Options for Your Wedding Bar

You can easily stick to wine and beer for your celebration since this should please everyone and will be easy to serve than an open bar with mixed drinks. If you’d like to still partake in the traditional champagne toast, feel free to add that in as well. With that in mind, you could select 2 reds and 2 whites plus champagne or sparkling wine at mixed price points if you’d like! If you don’t consider yourself a wine connoisseur, you may just decide to go with what you enjoy.

If you decide to add in hard liquor, offering a couple of signature drinks can be a way to reign in costs. Rather than stocking a full open bar with lots of mixers and a variety of liquors, offering a few signature cocktails that offer guests a hard option is great.

Where to Shop for Alcohol for Your DIY Wedding Bar

Want to know where to find affordable booze for your big day bar? Check out these savvy resources!

BevMo

For those on the West Coast, we recommend checking out Beverages and More (BevMo) to stock your DIY wedding bar. They’ve got a wide selection of booze at affordable prices.

To save even more money by purchasing your own alcohol, try to do so during the BevMo 5-cent wine sale! We highly suggest you take advantage of this sale to buy your wedding booze if possible. It’s a great deal and they offer it 3 or 4 times a year!

BevMo will even store all the wine for you so you don’t have to worry about it, and if you spend over $500 you’ll even get free delivery. Another bonus of BevMo is that they will take back any unopened bottles so you can return what you don’t end up using! It’s better to have too much than too little, right?

BevMo even has a beverage calculator that will tell you how many bottles you’ll need based on the number of people and the length of the event that people would be drinking. For example, a wedding reception for 100 people that lasts 4 hours, with half drinking wine and half drinking beer, they estimate 5 drinks per guest or 500 total drinks. They even recommend quantities to purchase; ie 50 x 750ml bottles of Wine and 42 x 6-packs of Beer.

Trader Joe’s

Trader Joe’s is a great spot to stock up on wine for your DIY Wedding Bar, especially if you’re on a *super* tight budget. Many couples have taken advantage of the savviest wedding wine hack around– serving Two Buck Chuck! Its formal name, Charles Shaw, is sold at Trader Joe’s and has been lovingly known as Two Buck Chuck for decades. It’s honestly not bad– and is a perfectly acceptable bottle to serve at your wedding reception.

Want to disguise your budget-savviness from your guests? Consider adding custom wine labels to your bottles to cover up the brand name– your guests will be none the wiser.

Costco

Costco

Costco is a great place to stock your bar, whether for your home or your wedding! A savvy tip is that many name brand liquors you know white label their products under Costco’s Kirkland Signature store brand, so you can snag quality liquor at a better price. Some examples: Kirkland bourbon and rum are made by Jim Beam, Kirkland vodka is made by Grey Goose, and Kirkland tequila is made at Cielo.

Costco is actually the largest retailer of wine in the entire country, so you’ll also find plenty of vino there. Plus, their wine prices are generally 10-20% less than you’ll find them elsewhere. Add some cases of Kirkland Signature beer and you’ll get all your budget-savvy booze in one stop! PS– you can also snag empty wine crates that are left as part of the display aisle at Costco for completely free. So not only can you score affordable wedding alcohol, but you could use some of those free wooden wine crates as wedding decor!

One thing to know is that Costco booze is non-refundable and non-returnable. So be prepared to hold onto any extras, or you could always give them as gifts!

Pro-tip, in some states, you don’t even need a Costco membership to shop their liquor store. If you’re a resident of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Texas, and Vermont, you’re allowed to purchase wine, beer, and spirits from Costco without a membership.

Total Wine

Another affordable alcohol supplier is Total Wine & More, known as America’s Wine Superstore^® and the country‘s largest independent retailer of fine wine. They have over 200 superstores across 27 states and continue to grow, and they even offer wedding consultations in select stores. During a complimentary wedding consultation, a certified wine professional will make recommended selections for your celebration– you’ll even get to take part in a sampling!

Another great resource to check out that will be helpful in organizing your DIY wedding bar is their drink planner. You can also browse alcohol deals from Total Wine right on their website.

Drizly

Drizly

If you’re looking to save time and money on selecting and arranging your wedding booze, consider this service from Drizly. The online liquor delivery app recently rolled out what they are calling their “White Glove Wedding Service” which promises to make arranging your own wedding alcohol a breeze. White Glove takes care of everything drink-related for your event– from selecting alcohol based on your needs to delivery on the day of your celebration! Instead of a completely DIY wedding bar, you get some professional assistance.

The process is super simple. Share your budget, theme, size, and preferences via a quick form. A dedicated Drizly event concierge will reach out to craft your order within 24 hours and share a proposal. Once you reach an agreed order, they’ll help coordinate delivery, and even remain on standby on the day of the wedding. In case you have any leftovers, they’ll even help send back anything you don’t use that can be returned. If you’re looking for convenience, Drizly could be a great option for you!

Are you providing your own alcohol? If so, where will you purchase it? Share your savvy finds with other couples in our Community! 

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