Cash Bar, Open Bar or a Combination of The Two

In my area the most common thing, the only thing I have seen is a "serve-yourself bar". Where you take cans, bottles and/or kegs of beer, wine, and champagne and have it available for your guests to serve themselves. Though if you have teenagers at your wedding or people who drink and drive you can be held liable. In my area you don't need a liquor license to serve any of these things.

I don't mind a cash bar, as long as they take CC because like many I don't carry cash often. I also, never been to a wedding with a cash bar- I have been to a wedding where we were pretty close with the bride and groom and they made it loud and clear they were having an open bar all night to everyone (midnight was when it ended) and by 10ish we all had to start paying for our own drinks. I guess they ran out of funds because we drink that much? That was a little weird, because if I were to make a big deal about having an open bar- I would go all out to make sure that wouldn't happen or have a CC on file just in case my guests guzzled more than expected.

I personally wouldn't have one because FI and myself are both social drinkers and our friends and family are too, so to have a reception with no alcohol is out of the norm- at least for my group of people.

If you and your FI don't drink then maybe provide only wine and beer per budget allows and have a cash bar for the heavier drinkers. Or if you just can't afford it period- then oh well, I'm sure you budgeted as much as you can and it just won't happen. Don't stress about it. Do what feels right for you and FH and your bank account.

In my area Toonie bars, which are essentially a cash bar, but the drink are two dollars and the groom and bride buy the alcohol for the event are very popular and are expected. So that is what we are doing.

@Hayley..So the bride & groom buy it then charge the guests at a discounted rate? That sounds messed up.

I believe you do what you can afford. If you budgeted all you can and the food, DJ, etc, ate up your budget and you can't afford a open bar then fine. That wouldn't bother me. I rather the money be put towards the food and DJ, and pay for my drinks.

Just something else to add... at my venue we were required to get our own ABC License because we were buying and providing the alcohol. If we were planning on charging guests for it, that required a different type of license. Just so you know.

My grandmother threatened to not come if I didn't have an open bar.

I don't think it's necessarily tacky (a lot of our friends lectured us about doing it to save cost) but it's what we want. Our vision of the wedding is throwing an awesome party for the people we love. We wouldn't make people come to a party and pay us, so we won't make them come to a wedding and do it.

We did tell the bartenders to put out a tip jar though. Over 80 percent of our guests are service industry people and they will tip for a stiff drink.

I had no idea this topic was a "hot" one. As stated in my OP, i did do a search but maybe i didn't check enough of the links to find something up to date.

I'm really surprised by the strong opinions.

I've never been to an open bar wedding. I've been to weddings where drink tickets are sold at a fraction of the cost. I just expect to pay for drinks at weddings.

The last wedding i went to it was a cash bar and we paid full price for drinks, and i know the newlywed couple could afford an open bar. I don’t know what made them decide to have full cash bar.

In my opinion, there's also the liability aspect to serving people as much alcohol as they want. Not only will some of your guests drink far too much, but as hosts, we're also responsible for our guests well being. If i had an open bar, i could not, in good conscience, have my guests find their own way home. I would need to have taxi vouchers or drivers on hand.

My plan is to provide wine for our guests (2 bottles per table) and a cash bar. Having a dry wedding would not go over well with our families. lol.

@Snarky - Toonie bars are quite common here at wedding. I've seen those a few times, or the $2 drink tickets.

I agree with Emmy.. i'm as anti-cash bar as they get. I have been to several cash bar receptions & the atmosphere at those compared to open bar are COMPLETELY different. Like others have mentioned a lot of people do not carry cash on them anymore. How are they suppose to know they need to bring cash for drinks? Generally the more alcohol that flows the more fun people are having on the dance floor. That is exactly what we want our reception to be.. A party with the dance floor full. We are also paying for a shuttle service to transport guests from our reception to a hotel if they choose to book a room- -no drinking & driving!!

I actually never expect a wedding to be open bar, so I always bring my wallet (which I bring everywhere, anyways). So when its open in any capacity, I'm pleasantly surprised! What's common in your area? In your circle?

We're doing a limited open bar: beer, wine, and a drink. Most of our guests are old enough to handle their alcohol and it being free won't make them go hog wild. I've been to dry weddings (not a fan, honestly), cash bars, and limited open. Limited open rocked lol

@Jana-That's great that you're providing shuttle service. I've never seen anyone do that before. That will allow a lot of people to relax and enjoy you wedding.

I'm wondering if there's a different look on the cash bar vs open bar based on country. I've heard a few people say it depends on the region-I'm from Alberta, Canada, and i don't think open bars are common here; not in my experience anyway.

That is fine Snarky, your opinion does not matter to me. Think what you want to think.

I have never been to a wedding with an open bar. No one in my immediate circle would ever expect an open bar. I knew that. Actually, my coworker got married last year and guests even had to pay for soda.

I paid for soda. People paid cash for alcohol.

In my social circle, this is the norm. You know your guests best.

(I also did not get a super expensive dress....really my biggest expense was food)

there have been a couple of threads here talking about how people would rather have cash bar than no bar.

This thread was started only to distract us from WWLauren's lecture thread and Mrs. Mayes bachelorette party!

We are providing beer and wine with the option of a cash bar for hard alcohol. Mostly all of our family members are wine/beer drinkers anyway.

If anything, it will be a cash bar last minute. I don't think we are going to have the money though. If we could afford it, we would have had 2 drinks covered per person then a cash bar.

We are having a limited bar during cocktail hour (champagne, beer, wine, non alcky drinks) into the reception. But we will have the option of cash bar for those that want to buy mixed drinks.

We are having an open bar. Our package includes it. It's great to offer an open bar to your guests if you can afford it, but it doesn't bother me to attend a reception with a cash bar only. I always bring cash to a wedding for the dollar dance, etc.

Our food package through out venue comes with 5 hour open bar. I think open bar is better if you are able to fit it in your budget. I figure people are already coming from all over, probably had some travel expense, will probably have expense of staying at a hotel and a gift. I don't want to make them pay for drinks too. If a cash bar is all you can do I would try to let people know somehow. Maybe not directly on invites, but wedding websites are less formal where you can add extra info like that.