Alcohol at the reception

I don't think it's tacky, but this option or cash bars are pretty common in my area. Can you offer guests the ability to purchase liquor if they are so inclined?

ETA: We are doing similar but nixing wine and doing Margaritas instead.

How many guests do you have and how much does your venue charge per beer/glass of wine? I think beer and wine should be enough. Why must there be hard liquor at weddings?!?

That's an option we've been considering too, and I was wondering the exact same thing! I'd imagine though at our age (near 30), our family and peers won't expect to get hammed at our wedding. As long as it's common in your area, I'd imagine it's fine.

Cait, you're right. The guests I'm inviting aren't college kids and shouldn't be doing shots at the bar... Just read a thread on here about wedding horror stories and do not want my guests to feel my wedding was a horror story, lots of them were complaints about cash bars.

I think you're totally fine doing what you're doing.

Also, there IS the option to tell the bartenders no shots. That is very, very common around here if that's what your worried about.

I think I am going to do free beer and wine, cash bar for harder stuff. People should be ok with that I think? I might buy a few rounds of shots for everyone for a bit of fun but I don't want people going crazy, mostly for the cost factor.

Jess & Sean, I didn't even think of telling the bartender no shots! Great idea! Hard Liquor is the same price as house wine....

They should DEFINITELY accommodate that request! Good luck!

I think you're fine with anything you decide. My one word of advice is if you do have a cash bar for the liquor, just make it clear. I once attended a wedding where that wasn't clear. When I ordered my first drink, I was pretty surprised that I had to pay. But, I was completely fine sticking to wine the rest of the night.

We had beer and wine only and I didn't hear anyone complain. People actually said it was one of the best weddings they've been to. I think they just appreciate any form of open bar

Laudie, could you let me know how much your venue charged for a beer/glass of wine and what your total bar cost came out to be?

Tina I have no idea honestly because our whole bill included sodas and stuff. Our wine was close to $3000 and we bought 6 cases I think. We got married at a winery so we were required to purchase 1 case for every 25 people.

My wedding was a little different because we had a family friend who owns a restaurant cater and he doesnt normally cater with his restaurant. I want to say a beer was $4 or $5 a bottle (but that's normal for CA)

I see many weddings with beer and wine only. And many of the venues where I work don't even pour shots, even with an open bar.

Beer and wine only is fine. It is common in my area to only serve beer and wine. I have told my bartenders no shots and most of my guests will drink beer and wine over liquor but we still have just in case.

If you'd like to serve hard liquor, you can always tell you bar staff NO shots. My friend did this for her wedding... Unfortunately one bartender did decide to pour shots, but she didn't have to foot the bill for those since she made it very clear!

Check with your venue, mine had a very strict "no shots" policy so it may not be a concern.