byob .. any brides had to do this ?

I did this! Well, my venue had alcohol but they let us bring our own too on top of the wine they already provided. In my culture it’s normal and in my culture we only do cognac. So a bottle of cognac and wine on every table.
They did allow us to have a bar if we wanted or do whatever. We told people we have alcohol but they can bring their own if they had something they’d prefer to drink

We chose a BYOB venue. A bartender will be provided along with all the mixers and garnishes. We plan to go to Costco to get the alcohol and we’re keeping it simple. A Chardonnay and light beer for cocktail hour. Same for the reception plus a vodka, tequila, and cognac. And champagne for the toasts. We just have to bring all the alcohol the day before at the wedding rehearsal. It is one more thing to think about, but will save us money.

I've seen a lot of people do this. The biggest thing most of them mention is making sure you have enough servings for everyone. There're calculators online that can help with that if you just google it.

I chose a BYOB venue. It saved us so much! Even after renting a bar and hiring a bar tender. But we only did beer and wine. We had a small guest list so i was able to go through each guest and decide if they were a beer or wine person. Then I calculated 5 drinks per person (2 drinks the 1st hr, 1 drink every hour after) and bought that much of each. We did 4 beers and 4 wines (2 red 2 white).
I also had cocktails for cocktail hr which I premixed at home and put in dispensers. Figured 2 drinks per person and calculated how many bottles to buy.
It did take a little work on the front end but we spent about $600 on serving drinks (alcohol and nonalcoholic), and had lots left over to take home, whereas if we chose a venue that provided alcohol we would have spent easily over 2 grand.

I am doing BYOB. We are going to costco a week before and stocking up!

Many catering companies provide bartenders with the option of you supplying alcohol or they can bring it in. Talk to your caterer to see what your options are and go from there.