Consumption Bar - what to do once consumed?

Unlike a full open bar per person, a consumption bar is per drink with no way to keep any of it in check. You could easily have an astronomical bill at the end compared to a much smaller (in comparison) bill for regular open bar.


If you offer alcohol for cocktail hour and cut it off entirely before dinner you will have some angry guests leaving early. Do not make your guests pay for their own drinks either.
Adjust your budget to cover a regular open bar that is charged per person (skip favors and programs, cut back on florals by going through Costco or Fiftyflowers, less bridesmaids/groomsmen if you have not already asked them, not so fancy invites, get a grocery store cake, cut back on or skip other items as you need to make room in the budget). This will be less headache for you and your guests will thank you for being a gracious host.

How many guests are you having? How many hours of open bar? $20k seems pretty high for a bar tab. Unless you’re popping Dom and doing shots of 1942...


We had our wedding in HCOL area and hosted an open bar with top shelf liquor for our 180 guests (around 150 were adults of legal drinking age) and it was less than $8k. We hosted a consumption beer/wine bar (open bar wasn’t an option) for our Welcome Dinner for around 80ish people and it was less than $2k for 3 hours. We hosted another consumption bar with top shelf liquor (again, only option available) for our after party. For around 110 people and 3 hours, it was around $3500.
Could you possibly do beer and wine only? That may stretch your $4k to last longer than cocktail hour.
I’ve gone to weddings that had capped bar tabs— when it switched in the middle of service, it caused a lot of confusion. Also will your venue be able to accept credit card from your guests? I rarely bring cash to a wedding so if they only accept cash, many may not have cash to pay for their drinks.

Many guests will leave early if they have to pay for anything from their own pockets

We had this exact same situation! Once the cap was hit, they converted it into a cash bar. Luckily our tab ended up lasting until like the last hour of the reception though, so it was just the last hour that it ended up being a cash bar. We weren’t over by the bar at all so we had no idea what happened but we asked some friends what happened when it switched (VERY close friends who I know would be honest with us about what happened and how it was received lol) and they said basically the bartenders just put up a list of prices for the drinks so it was obvious now that it was a cash bar. They said they didn’t mind and no one else seemed to, since it seemed like everyone had gotten at least a drink or 2 on us already so if they really wanted 1 more in the last hour then it wasn’t a big deal to get it themselves

Definitely don't make them pay for something at your wedding. The point of the reception is to thank your guests for attending which doesn't include them covering the cost for anything. Also I would think a consumption bar would actually be more expensive. What kind of bar are you having that would be $20k because that's insane? My advice would be to limit what is served to beer and wine rather than asking guests to purchase their drinks.

View Quoted Comment Some all inclusive venues have expensive food/beverage minimums that are higher than an outside catering company so that is a possibility..but still incredibly expensive unless you are a celebrity with bottomless pockets.


Agree that it is never ok to make guests pay for anything at the reception.

I'm not a drinker but I know that many will leave early in that situation. Especially, if your wedding is sunday through Thursday evening.

We're talking about potentially doing a ticketed bar or paying for the alcohol in advance to help keep costs down but either way our guests would not be footing the bill. Is there a required food and beverage minimum and that's why the bar is so high?

Been to a couple of weddings like this.


Bar is open but once the limit is reached the venue places out signs indicating it was now a cash bar for alcohol but soft drinks were still available. Good way to help limit those that tend to overindulge with free alcohol.

I am totally nosy and want to know what kind of bar service this will be!
Bar cost was part of our criteria for picking a venue. The highest cost of open bar we checked was $30/pp, so for our 100 guest count it would be $3k. Most were $15-20/pp.
Personally I would pick a different venue.

View Quoted Comment Ours is $65 per guest. We have 250 guests contracted so it’s about 17K plus tax, then we have to pay for additional bartender / service because we have over 100 guests so that’s additional.

View Quoted Comment Wow! How much is catering? I thought DC vendors were expensive!!!

View Quoted Comment Our passed appetizers are about 12K and then main course will depend what option the guest selects but ranges from 70-85 a plate between chicken and steak. Our total wedding (outside vendors included) is around 65K.

Are you even allowed that many guests right now?

View Quoted Comment It’s crazy the big range of prices in different area!

A cash bar isn’t a good look and doesn’t make guests feel as relaxed. You’re spending a lot of money, I’d keep an open bar and look for a different venue or cut costs elsewhere.

Based on the numbers you've provided, my gut is that yours is a pretty high end wedding; as a guest it would be very unexpected that it would switch to a cash bar. Would your venue let you do wine and beer only or some other set of limited offerings at a cost that you can cover? As a guest, I'd much prefer/not be surprised by a limited open bar than by a bar that switches midway through to cash, especially at an otherwise more luxurious wedding.

We were guests at an otherwise very high end wedding -- with lots of extras that weren't really focused on the guests (e.g., two different drone videographers, multiple favors, etc.) -- but with a completely cash bar (including soda, etc.).... Yeah, that didn't go over well with guests as it just seemed completely inconsistent.

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I'd try to cut costs elsewhere (i.e. only offer chicken and no steak, fewer passed appetizers, etc.) to make sure you can have an open bar and don't have to switch to cash bar partway through. Even if just limiting to wine and beer is better than suddenly switching. If I were a guest, I would assume the transition to having to pay meant that it was time for me to leave the reception.

Have you thought about buying vouchers and giving like 2 or 3 to the guests? Anything after they would have to pay for. So if it’s $10 a drink then you can buy 400 drinks and disburse them between the guests, and who doesn’t drink can leave them on the table or at the bar for someone else to grab.


I thought about doing this because we were looking at $15,000 in drinks, but we actually found a venue that allows us to bring our own liquor and they provide the bartenders.