Bar Options

It’s not rude to offer signature cocktails and then beer/wine, people do that a lot now.
What my venue told me I’d I could give a certain amount and then designate a person, so when we get close to that amount the venue will go to the person and ask if we want to add some more.
I think if you give enough so people can have a couple of drinks and then the bar becomes cash bar, that will be fine.

Do not ask guests to pay for their drinks (or dinner/entertainment). Provide what you can afford. If you have beer/wine only, have a wide variety of nonalcoholic options for those who don't like beer/wine.


Use your favors budget toward beverages. Go through your budget and list your top 3 priorities of what you want to spend your money on and eliminate/skimp what you don't care about to afford what is most important.

This is considered a consumption bar and is actually a pretty common option for weddings. You can always still have an “open” bar and just not cap your tab (we did this for our welcome dinner since consumption bar was the only option).


I’ve been to plenty of weddings that just do wine/beer and a signature drink. I think switching to cash bar can get confusing though. What are you supposed to tell your guests? “First $5000 is on us then you pay!”
If you don’t tell your guests, those who hit the bar right away will get free drinks, but the others that take their time (like your family and wedding party who usually have to take photos during cocktail hour) might have to pay for their drinks? Seems a bit unfair.
How many guests do you expect? How long is your cocktail hour and reception? If you want the best bang for buck— just do wine and beer cans.

Beer, wine and your signature drinks is totally wine. That's what my brother-in-law did for his wedding. I definitely wouldn't do a cash bar though. Your guests shouldn't be required to pay for anything at your wedding.

You can ask your venue if they will charge wine by the bottle instead of by the glass. Most places should do this. It will save you a little money.. say 25$ a bottle- 5 glasses in a bottle. $5 a glass instead of $7. Those are just rough estimates. Every time they open a bottle you get charged for it even if only 1 glass is drank out of it. If this is something they will agree to I would Limit your wine options. So at the end of the night you don’t have 6 different types of bottles opened. If your family and friends are more red drinkers do 2 reds and 1 white or vice versa or 2 of each. No need to have 6 wine options when your doing a consumption tab by the bottle or you will end up wasting the money you were trying to save. (Ps I have worked in events and as a bartender for over 10 years)

I've been to several weddings that did beer, wine, and a signature cocktail or two. I don't think it's rude at all.

Not rude. signature cocktails is cool

This is exactly what our venue did, and they were super cryptic about it to begin with so I didn’t even understand that this was what the deal was until after we had already signed the contract 😕 initially they were actually saying we couldn’t even put a cap on it, and it was $7 per beer and $10 per glass of wine. PLUS a 20% service fee and 6.25% tax. Absolutely ridiculous.


We put I think around $2200 into the bar (was going to be $2000 but we came up with a little extra at the end so we put it in there) which was about 2 drinks per person (we had 98 guests but several don’t drink.) We had a lunch reception and ended up only serving wine (the venue gave us an even harder time like I said, and would only let us put a limit if we only had one type of alcohol, so we went with wine...) but so our tab took us into all but the last hour of the reception which was fine. By then most people had at least a drink or two on us and didn’t seem to mind paying for another if they wanted.

I’d recommend basically putting in as much as you can afford without it being a financial hardship on you. You should treat your guests as much as you can afford to, but if your guests really care about you they won’t want you going into debt over their alcohol lol.

So I got a lot of heat on here about that when I was planning our wedding. I think it is a great idea. I paid a certain amount and then once that ran out it had turned into a cash bar, I end up getting a lot of my money back and was so happy. I think it helped that we had waters and teas on the tables too; to include we had a champagne toast. We only paid for sodas, beer and wine. Mixed drinks was on the guests.

I also had on our wedding invitations "Cash Bar". Just they would know it was cash and also they needed ID if it was required. It turned out great everything was beautiful and no one complained about it and again I end up getting a lot of money back because they did not go through it like that.

I think it's a know your crowd situation. In our families, if there is alcohol at a wedding, it's an open bar, so asking people to pay for alcohol would seem off to both of our families. If your crowd is receptive to it switching to a cash bar in the middle, then you can do beer/wine/signature until your tab is run up and then switch. Like all etiquette, it's a matter of knowing your crowd.

Beer, wine, and a signature cocktail or two is completely fine! Could you just have then keep the tab running all night and pay whatever the amount is at the end of the night? Cash bars are not ideal, as guests should not be asked to pay for anything.

I went to a wedding recently where the cocktail hour was the only thing that was open. For the reception it was a cash bar, which was totally fine. They set it up so they would keep a tab open for you and at the end they would email you a receipt (they had the Square software). You're still treating your guests, but you don't have to feel responsible for people drinking too much. If they know they have to pay for their own they will sip slowly and truly enjoy your day, not drink too much and get sloppy.

Beer, wine and signature drink is more than fine.

Just let people know up front they will need to bring cash. Depending on your guest I think if financially possible you should cover 1-2 drinks per person.

We’re doing this for our wedding also. At first it made me nervous because I didn’t want to be stunned by a $5000+ bar tab at the end of the night on top of the catering bill. We are going to offer 2-3 different beers ($4), a red wine ($5), a white wine ($5), and 2-3 different liquors ($7). We are putting a hefty amount towards the bar tab & honestly I don’t think it will run out and even need to switch over to cash. It also made me not feel as bad that the drinks were reasonably priced so even if guests had to pay for 1-2 drinks out of pocket, they wouldn’t be spending more than $14 (since we will be covering the entire tip for the bartender).

We're just providing wine/beer and maybe a signature cocktail for our guests, I don't think it's rude at all.