Open bar but no mixed drinks

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If you are going to have liquor, and some sort of "bartender", I think you can at least do simple drinks with liquids you will likely already have at your wedding. Coke, Juice, Club Soda... etc. I would find it odd that there was liquor available, but only if you take it as a shot and not even as a basic mixed drink.

We had an open bar and served shots. Tequila shots. We're mexican, and it's tradition. We had a bartender. We have been told by everyone that went to our wedding that it was the most fun wedding they have ever been to. Nobody got out of control, and there were no issues.

Granted - we also offered transportation and some people were able to stay at the venue.

View Quoted Comment Thank you, this was helpful. Our family’s are not ones to get so drunk they do stupid stuff, so I am not worried about things getting out of hand. With our wedding budget only being $3,000 we are trying our best to keep things diy but still elegant at the same time. We are having it at our beach house so if anyone can’t drive they can stay or we will have options for Uber drivers.

View Quoted Comment I don’t think we will advertise it, but if someone asks for one they can have it made I guess. Our families will figure it out one way or another. Haha

View Quoted Comment We are not actually using a venue we are useing our beach front property, trying to save money anywhere we can, but still making this day special.

View Quoted Comment That’s why we don’t want an outside venue because we want to do things the way we see and shots are kind of a part of that. We are not drunks but at the weddings the men in his family all toast 1 or 2 shots together to celebrate, not to get plastered. 😊

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I get it, you're going to do this anyway, so I'll say it again - be sure to purchase liability insurance. You don't have a venue or bartender to limit your exposure. If anyone were to get hurt you could be sued personally especially if a guest were to cause an accident on the way home.

We are having an open bar without a bartender since were having close friends and family only. If you have a large number of people then probably wouldnt do it without bartender. I also really advise against liquor if youre doing open bar, especially if youre wanting to save money. People can get way too drunk on liquor without a bartender to prevent over pouring, not to mention it will cost alot without someone monitoring it. We are doing beer and wine only and since we got it from Total Wine, its only costing us $600 for 75 people.

I don’t know why some people have to be all negative and mean about a simple question. I will take your advise, but the question was about having mixed drinks or not. There will be a cop at the reception to make sure nothing gets too crazy. And We will be having shots anyway because let’s face it just because you drink shots does not mean you are going to go off and destroy the world. We have what we need for having an open bar, we have talked with the police department and the city and all that, trust me we are thinking it all out and being safe so there is no need to “say it again”. Thank you all for the Advice.

View Quoted Comment We are haveing a very very small wedding, family and close friends. We will be having someone to pour and keep it monitored, but they are not very skill at the art of actual mixed drinks like making a martini haha so I wasn’t sure if that was a common thing people get at weddings and would miss.

View Quoted Comment I dont think theyll care, youre providing free booze lol I would just make sure they know not to expect mix drinks by having a "bar menu" sign for them to see that clearly says beer, wine, signature drink: whatever, shots: blah, blah, blah and it shouldnt be an issue.

View Quoted Comment Thank you, I never thought about doing a bar menu. I think this is what we will go with.

Nobody will miss mixed drinks. Since budget is a concern, I’d skip shots & just offer beer/wine/champagne. Like other people said, I also recommend a licensed bartender (we had one at our venue for only 15 guests). If the guys really need to do shots, bring a flask with enough for about one shot each. Guests can easily over-celebrate at weddings. 🤪

View Quoted Comment Here are some cute ideas I had pulled for my own for inspiration and (cuz I was bored lol):

We are having an open bar. Out venue allows us to provide all the alcohol. We must use their bartender. The bartender is around $35/hour which is pretty reasonable. We planned on having one signature drink, beer, wine and mixed(wells) drink. I think that should be enough. As long as you have an experienced bartender you should be fine. A bartender is a good idea because that won't serve to people if they are too drunk. It's your wedding do what you think is necessary and affordable for you! That's all that matters