Bartenders only doing cash bar?

I would see if they can total up the cost and then have them bill you whatever the cost would be. I wouldn't ask your guests to pay for their drinks.

I would ask the bartenders if they would be willing to do a consumption bar. That is, they would run a tab for everything that is consumed, then you would pay the bill at the end of the evening.

As long as you are paying for everything this makes no sense.

Contrary to popular opinion, consumption bar is not economical for you, only for the vendor. There is zero oversight to be held accountable for accurately charging for drinks and bottles opened. For example, you or a guest gets a drink, set it down to dance or use the restroom and the waitstaff clears it from the table or you decide you don’t like the drink. Then you/guest go back to the bar for a new drink and you are now charged for 2 full drinks. The same when they charge you for opening bottles but only one serving was poured. Neither is economical at all for a client. Cash bar is a huge inconvenience for guests, etiquette aside, because a majority of people in the current generation don’t carry cash and bartenders who do cash bars don’t have electronic payment systems. There is no reason at all why a vendor would do cash bar or consumption only unless they were greedy and contributing to the overcharging that the Wedding Industry Complex is known for.


Where are you located? Because most cities have countless bartender services even if they don’t advertise for weddings. Take a look at Yelp and Eventective.com and inquire about open bar flat per person fees. You $x pay per person for the entire day and it is a fraction of the price of consumption and there is absolute oversight so you are not over charged.

View Quoted Comment I will look into that. My FH husband called and said she specifically said she only does cash bars, but he told me it's $500 for the tab, so I'm not sure what that's means. I am going to tell him all this info to see if there's any way we can have it so our guests aren't paying.

Ask your caterer or venue to recommend bartenders who will do what you're looking for.

View Quoted Comment

I would be super worried about that, because with cash only how are you keeping track of amounts consumed and the running bill total. This sounds very unprofessional.