Drink tickets?

I would give everyone two drink tickets at their table seat. That's usually enough to get someone through a meal and toasts and still be able to drive home.

If they want to get drunk they can pay for drinks at the cash bar as they would any other public place. Also, I think people who are only expecting to have a couple drinks appreciate that they don't need to pay for them and those who drink more don't necessarily expect to be able to drink on your dime.

I've also heard of issue with venues 'reaching the $ limit' super early on.

Of all these ideas, the one I would find least burdensome as the couplehosting and the one that would make me happiest as a guest is the "open" beer, wine, and signature cocktail (maybe two- his would be intense and hers would be fruity and sweet) for the duration of the reception. If you can only do beer and wine all night, then that works too.

While we are providing all the alcohol at our wedding along with two signature drinks their are a lot of people who dont have the budget to provide drinks to their guests ALL NIGHT long..

If your venue allowed... I would suggest to buy a certain amount of alcohol or beer and serve that till it runs out-- so say you want to budget $1000 buy that much boose and take it to your venue -- once it runs out have them serve the rest of their stock at a price. My brother did this and it worked very well the guest were happy with a few free drinks and then had no problem paying for the rest.

I dont think the ticket idea is tacky either.. some people are way over sensitive especially when they try telling you to pay for everyone when they arnt even having alcohol

I don't think it's rude. Or tacky. We're thinking about doing the same thing. It's way better than a cash bar in my opinion. Plus, people can't really expect people to have an open bar the whole time. I think it's a happy medium.

My opinion, it's extremely Tacky. Not trying to be rude- it is an honest question and this is my honest answer.

Better to have cash bar at the end of the night. Or, better yet, just do open beer and wine for the whole night.

My guests are all staying overnight at the resort and I am going to put tiny liquor bottles and stuff in their welcome bags because my venue won't allow us to bring our own and they charge like $6/drink. Hopefully people will pre game or post game, and with the mini fridge they can bring their own beer etc. Anything I can do to take the edge off the bill

Definitely ask your venue if they have any bar packages. $2000 seems more than enough to last a couple hours for your guest count. Offering just beer and wine but charging for liquor is a good idea. Our venue includes an open bar for 4 hours (I think $17 a person for the bar). We aren't having a full open bar, just 3 beer choices, rum, vodka and all the mixers. Soda, ice tea, coffee and water will be free all night and served. Once the 4 hours are up, it changes to a cash bar. I explained this on my wedding website. But to answer your question, I wouldn't have a problem with drink tickets.

I don't think it's tacky at all - and so what if people find out that you're on a budget. The economy sucks and people know it. Because of budget restraints (and we're DIY'ing the food),we're having iced tea, lemonade, water, a coupe of kegs of home-brewed beer and probably no more than 60-70 bottles of wine that we're purchasing in bulk. Once we're out, we're out.

I'm also a nondrinker, so to reply to someone's comment earlier - as a nondrinker, I would just give my tickets to my date (FH) or someone else. No big deal.

This is ALWAYS a heated discussion.

Personally, I've been to at least 10 weddings. Almost all of those were CASH BAR. THE WHOLE TIME. One was a free beer and wine, and the other was open bar but only because it was the only thing important to the groom.

It's all about where you're from. I don't feel tickets are telling people how many drinks they can have, it's more or less saying "Hey, everyone gets this many free ones and then you have to pay"

Personally I kind of hate how the mentality is "Alcohol should be free at a wedding" What? You can't have fun without it? You can't drink something else? Sure, when I throw a party I may have alcohol for my guests, but once it's out it's out, I'm not going to run to the store to buy more and I'm not going to worry about it if I have other beverages to serve. As long as there's always something to drink, it's not rude to have someone pay for their own beverage if that's what they really want.

For example: I throw a party and have beer, but Sally over here hates beer and wants gin and tonic instead but I don't have that. As a host, am I obligated to go out and buy her liquor? Absolutely not.

I agree. Most of the gatherings that I host don't involve hard alcohol - only beer and wine. And even then, most people bring their own anyways regardless of what we have.

I went to a cash-bar wedding recently - no big deal. My best friend's wedding had absolutely no alcohol except for the toast. No big deal. I've been to weddings where there was alcohol. No big deal.

Your friends will know what kind of drinker you are. If you hang around with a lot of drinkers, yes - you might be expected. But my friends know I don't drink so they wouldn't be surprised if I had no alcohol or cash bar. I'm not paying for other people to get totally drunk.

I think these preferences can be cultural and geographical as far as what is acceptable and is the norm. I would never personally do a cash bar and I don't think tickets have a place at a formal wedding but this is a decision all of us have to make based on budget, acceptability level and social circle. We're all from different regions and backgrounds. I wouldn't be offended if someone handed out tickets but I might think "What's up with THIS?!" and then forget it entirely. You can ask for an inventory of what was served...if they are charging you by the drink they will have records.

One trick to save $$ (I had an employer who did this) is to not serve alcohol at the table. That might save you a few hundred bucks. If you do have alcohol at the table, you can ask them not to do "pour service" which means that the waiters won't go around filling up glasses unless requested by the guest.

Just a few extra thoughts that I haven't seen posted yet.

Please let us know what you decide. I'm struggling with the same questions myself.

Ignoring the tacky issue (ugh I hate that word), you might want to talk to your venue. Even if you did drink tickets, this doesn't 100% solve your problem because drinks cost radically different amounts. For example, a domestic beer may only be $3 or $4, but a martini closer to $7 or $8. So you might give your 150 guests two drink tickets each, but depending on what your guests order, that might actually be more than what your allowance is. Or way less.

Hopefully you your venue is trustworthy enough to keep accurate track of what your guests order, but I agree that this can be a problem with some places. You could always ask for an itemized receipt--but again, nothing to guarantee that the bartenders won't ring in drinks they don't actually make.

Not tacky at all.

I plan on doing the same thing; I plan on giving each invited guest a number of drink tickets. Its the best way to keep your costs down and some venues actually give you a deal (say 1 drink is $7.50 they give a discounted price of $6.00 that's a huge difference for the budget conscious bride) and as someone pointed out you friends should be happy to be there for you not the drinks they will be having.

I think that regardless of whether or not anyone thinks its tacky, i just think its logistically more difficult, especially if one of your goals is to keep the bartender honest.

its the venue's job to keep the bartender accountable, and if the venue is providing the alcohol that's being served, then i imagine they count up how much was used.

you didn't mention what your alcohol budget is, but i think its best to tell your venue how much you want to spend on alcohol and see what options they offer you.

I live in an area where open bar (wine, beer and liquor) is the norm. But no, I don't think it's tacky. The people footing the bill have the right to determine how much, if any, alcohol is served to the guests. It wouldn't bother me at all to have one or two drink tickets and then pay for the rest. You don't HAVE to drink at a wedding to have a good time.

This is such a judgmental group! Unbelievable.. I am planning on having drink tickets and a champagne toast. Pretty sure offering 3 free drinks isnt tacky! Not everyone is rich and wants to waste there money on others getting drunk like most of these stuck up ladies!

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Actually, we are doing this and it is not rude or tacky. I am not telling guests how much they can drink- I'm just telling them how much we can afford to provide to them. Once they spend their 3 drink tickets, they can chose to pay for their own drinks if they chose at the bar. I have been to 25+ weddings, some were cash, some were open, some were tickets- what you need to remember is the couple can do whatever they want that day- if a guest is offended they don't need to come or drink. I've been at a wedding where guests petitioned the bride to change the keg brand because they didn't like it. Those guests are rude and unappreciative. I've also seen people order 3 drinks, forget where they put them and then go get more. If you want to get blitzed go ahead, I just won't pay for it. This is a wedding and I'm not a millionaire. NO, giving tickets is not rude and it is in NO WAY telling people how much they can drink- it is simply saying, we can afford to provide this much alcohol- Enjoy our wedding! Dry weddings are not more acceptable than cash bars- either is fine- you can do what you like as your guests are there for you. This is actually very clear if you read the wedding etiquette books.

View Quoted Comment So people can order for an hour free and then pay, or have 5 drink tickets? Most people don’t slam 5 drinks in an hour so I feel that 5 tickets is way less tacky then a cash bar after an hour. That’s tacky. And if you love the bride and groom 5 drinks should be enough. Unless you’re an alcoholic.