Drinks/ hosted? non hosted?

Bridezilla site......what??? Is this a first? No one was attacking you OP. You happened to bring up a very contentious topic.

I did open beer, wine and soda and did a signature cocktail. It was cheaper than a full open bar and people LOVED LOVED LOVED The signature cocktail, it was the talk of the town! Please don't do a cash bar, no one wants to go to get a drink and realize "I don't have cash and they don't take cards."

You can say we are bridezillas but at least people will have fun at our well hosted weddings.

I do agree with everyone on not charging your guest for alcohol. But I do feel like alcohol is an important factor. I've worked with many of my friends to cut their alcohol cost yet offer a variety. I don't mean this in any advertising mean I do event bartending and basically direct all beverage to keep cost really low. If you want you can contact me directly and I can help

Ummm, you were given some really good advice. How do you host people in your home? Do you have a jar out or do you invoice them after the fact?

You are hosting a party. If you cannot properly host a party. Elope.

I normally don't comment on these threads but OP, do you realize how rude you sound? "After that, they are on their own" Tranlsation, "I don't give a flying F%$% about my closest family and friends having a good time and being properly hosted, even though they took time and money out of their lives to come celebrate my wedding". That's just not how it's done...

Who wants to bet OP will have a honey fund because she's too cheap to pay for her own vacation as well?

Sorry not sorry-- you're just mad we called you out for being cheap. Have fun at your not-fun wedding and enjoy all of the guests talking behind your back.

I also can't afford to pay for food AND booze for 100 people. I'm not made of money!!!!!!!!!11

So we're inviting 65. And hosting 65. Fully. Because we love them.

Oh, we're going to be personal, are we?

Nah, people will have a great time at my wedding, and since I'm a pretty awesome person, I'm sure they won't be surprised by my relationship with FH. Probably because I'm giving them an open bar, a ton of free food, hours of dancing, and then, when they're done having a great time at my *properly* hosted wedding, they can go party all night in Fort Lauderdale.

Dana, Dana, Dana...

You asked for advice. You got advice you didn't like. Then you decided that the people here are mean because they didn't tell you what you wanted to hear.

Happens like every day.

So do what you want! Put two bottles of wine on each table and then make people pay for drinks. I promise your family will be talking about it for years. Maybe not to you....

Hi! I honestly didn't read all the comments because there were too many. I totally get both sides of pay or not pay for guests. We are doing our wedding on a budget and simply can not afford a wedding and free alcohol for the world. We are letting our guests know that beer and wine will be provided but no hard liquor. They can purchase mixed drinks if they would like. We are pre-purchasing X amount of wine and X amount of beer. When it's gone our guests can purchase more. This worked out great at my friends wedding! There are a lot of younger people and it's turns into a nightmare if someone "accidentally" drinks too much.

I hope this helps!

Tara...read the comments

Haha I just don't understand why alcohol is such a big deal. It's a party with food and cake and dancing and people will have fun. If you're the type of person who will throw a fit if you don't get free booze all night then do I want you at my wedding?

Not that I'm anti alcohol. But I think it's wrong that people make it so damn important. Like life or death

Aly, none of your guests will "throw a fit" over you not serving alcohol or doing a cash bar. But they will, in all likelihood, talk about it to other guests behind your back. No one is going to complain about anything in a wedding to the bride's face, but the majority of people will discuss it elsewhere. ETA: And it's not generally in a commending manner.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy alcohol. And I know it really contributes to a festive atmosphere. It's just sad to me that not having it means people will talk negatively about your wedding. We haven't yet decided the whole alcohol question. But I REALLY don't like people not so graciously implying that you're a terrible host if you don't have open bar. Every couple is different. In these forums there seems to be the general understanding that everyone's wedding is different, and that's ok. Except on this subject there seems to be only judgement. Just sad.

I understand where you're coming from - I felt the same way for a while during my solely-lurking period (I was actually a bit too timid to comment or post). After watching the forums for a while, I realized why all the women here get so irritated with these kinds of posts: they're seen far too often. I'm sure you're already aware that these hot button threads get posted at least multiple times a week, if not per day. When the regulars to the forums see these things constantly appear, their tolerance for the issue drastically drops and their answers become more and more blunt. It would be easily solved by the OPs doing a quick topic search, but rarely does that happen. Hence the bluntness and what is perceived to be "judgement."

I just like to refer to this list when people talk about cash bars https://www.thrillist.com/lifestyle/nation/13-obligatory-grown-up-parties-ranked-by-how-much-they-suck

No Veronica. You are being rude. You want your guest to give up a Saturday to watch you and your FH, pay to travel, pay for a gift, and you wont even pay for their drinks?!

@salisblah my sister was married in Wisconsin. She had open beer and wine. It was fine. You're being strange.