Bar or no bar

If you can afford it, do it. I am personally not a fan of a cash bar but understand a full bar isn't always realistic either. I would say beer and wine at the least.

Reserved family doesn't have to partake and from my experience, the party groups keep it civilized until later in the evening, after most of the "older" or "conservative" crowd heads out.

Personally I think having the bar is a good idea. Give people the option to decide if they would like to drink alcohol or not. You could also check with your venue to see if you can put a limit on it too. For example, no alcohol after a certain time or only do beer and wine of a certain amount or something like that.

I vote having a consumption bar! That way your drinkers can enjoy your wedding and you only pay for what they actually order the day of. The more reserved don't have to drink if they don't want to. Create a good experience for your guests!

Have the bar. It should be an option for those who want to drink. For those who don’t, no one is forcing them.

I'd have a bar, for sure. Even if some people don't drink, it doesn't punish the ones that do. I'd hire a bartender and offer at least beer & wine.

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Exactly this.

I say bar! Sorry dry wedding people. Is your wedding reception late afternoon/evening? Open bar if you can afford it, wine and beer with a couple signature drinks if you find it more affordable, beer and wine if you NEED to save money.
I do NOT recommend a cash bar but if it's between cash bar or no bar, then cash bar. Hopefully you don't have to do cash bar!!

If you're lucky enough to bring in your own liquor it's cheaper. Go with a good amount of beer, some inexpensive red and white wine, and three or four different hard liquors, some mixers. Don't go crazy with options.

View Quoted Comment Yeah hoping to be eating supper around 5 or 6

All the weddings my friends had we're cash bars, meaning people pay for their own drinks. Frankly if you're worried about people getting rowdy a cash bar saves you money and discourages over drinking, I think it's a good compromise in general.
There's also the option to limit the menu to only having wine and beers, you get to customize the flavors of the wine and beer to your tastes and go with your food, which is nice. You could do a hard liquor signature drink with this option too.
You can have open bar only for cocktail hour, you might want to do wine/beer for dinner though. Additionally you could limit the hours the bar is open too.
You can do open bar and attempt to limit how many drinks people can have, you'd need to discuss that with the bar tender.
There's the option of the bar closing once the tab reached a predetermined bill.
And despite what anyone says you can do a dry wedding. I am having a dry wedding. I can't drink for medical reasons and grew up with alcoholics, the first part of recovery they beat it into you do not need to drink to have fun, and that is true. People will say dry weddings end sooner but that also saves you from chasing people out at the end of the night and you don't need to worry about those who drank a bit much driving.
So there's the run down on a handful of options, like I said cash bar is a good compromise if you're unsure and saves money.

Definitely have at least wine and beer. In my opinion a cash bar doesn’t deter people from getting rowdy, it just pushes the cost of your event onto your guests.

Go with what you can afford. Go basic on the booze, some beer and wine maybe, but more soda and water. Once the booze is gone it's gone

Some of the people we are inviting are definitely on the conservative side, but my FH & I do like to have a drink every now and then so there will be alcohol. These people can just choose from other options we will be providing. I say it's your wedding, go with what feels right for you two.

View Quoted Comment Yup. Another vote for this.

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Agreed with many above. My FH's father doesn't drink and his mom will have maybe one or two glasses of wine on holidays/birthdays. His whole family doesn't drink that much. Doesn't mean the ones who do can't have alcohol! Beer, wine, & maybe a signature cocktail with a hired bartender is easy enough and won't be as costly as open-bar!

I wanted a bar but ended up going against it because knowing our crowd, only some would drink but definitely not enough to get my money's worth for the bar. so instead, our venue let us bring our own to leave on tables. in my culture, cognac is heavily emphasized at weddings and most people would rather the alcohol at their table already. we are also letting people bring their own - we will provide some but it's just wine and cognac, which is not exactly everyone's drink of choice.