Alcohol ettiquette

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Thanks for the tips! I'm not worried about overbuying because I love wine and the rest of my family loves beer haha. We are having two signature cocktails so if I skimp on anything, it will be liquor. I don't think many people will drink it, but we wanted the fun drinks anyway. We still have to hire a bartender, get liquor liability insurance, and pay for an extra hour at the venue to have the alcohol, so it still adds up unfortunately.

I agree with many others, I would put the alcohol options on the wedding website. Included with my invitations I also put in a details card that told guest how to RSVP, where the hotel block is, how many seats are reserved for them, etc. Some of the things are also already on my website. Not sure when your wedding is or if you already sent out invites, but if you add a details card this would be another way to convey the message. Also, if you have a DJ, maybe they could announce where to find drinks. The way our venue is setup is the DJ and dance floor is upstairs and the bar will be downstairs. I told my DJ to make sure throughout the night to remind people to get their drinks.

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Not sure where you plan on buying your liquor from, but Sam's Club and Costco buys back unopened liquor. I am having an open bar and buying all the liquor from Costco because it's a lot cheaper. I will probably over buy as well because I'll be scared we might run out of something.

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Oh sweet. I don't think our Sam's Club can even sell liquor... Just beer. I wonder if they take back unopened cases of beer?

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I think they do!

There are many couples who do not have help financially who manage to afford an open bar for their guests. DH and I did not have an endless supply of money when it came to planning and paying for our wedding however, we felt like it was our choice to host our wedding celebration and out of respect to our guests they should not be thrust with the responsibility to cover part of the bill. As such, we limited our guest list to the number of people that we could afford to host completely.

View Quoted Comment I don’t care how you want to insult me for pointing this out, but the major difference will be your guests will be waited on by the same staff serving drinks to the rest of the hotel bar. It will likely take them longer to get served.

View Quoted Comment Why would I insult you? Anyway, there will probably be about 20 people at our wedding reception that will want drinks. I think the hotel staff can hang.

I’m lucky enough to have parents that are willing and able to pay for my wedding, but don’t let people tell you it’s tacky or rude! We’ve been to open bar weddings, cash bar weddings, and even weddings where they gave us tickets for two drinks and after that it was a cash bar. Do what you’re able!!

Also, wedding website to let your guests know!

I really think cash bars are more common than these forums make them out to be, and I don't think it's that tacky (coming from someone who is having an open bar because it was important to US, for OUR party specifically). I wouldn't put it on the invite but I would mention it somewhere on your wedding website if you have one.

Also, if you're worried about people finding the bar because of its location you could make a cute sign directing people to the bar that you can put in your reception space.

View Quoted Comment Agreed! 🙌 thank you for saying this!