Forced hosted bar

Our venue was kind of like this. With our initial package we got 1.5 hours of open bar, then we could add on for each hour or choose to close the bar. If we chose to close the bar, no drinks would be available except the water pitchers on the tables and the coffee served with dessert.

Every venue that I looked at that served alcohol had open bar for the full event as a standard part of the package.

That is really interesting. When we looked at venues, they were all open bar. What venue is this?

View Quoted Comment Open bar is a hosted bar


We are cheap and wanted an all cash bar... not hosted

View Quoted Comment Thank you for your input!

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Oh my bad. I misread it

I believe a hosted bar is the same as an open bar (had to Google it!). Assuming this is correct, this is fairly common, as it is considered rude to make guests pay for anything at a wedding reception. Also, many venues used specifically for large events like weddings to not have the cash register systems found in restaurant bars, etc.

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The general consensus is that cash bar is rude to ask your guests to open their wallets at a party you are hosting, even in your own home. Cut the guest list or something else to be able to afford drinks for everyone. Or do you not want alcohol at all? Because the other alternative is not serve any because it is 100% optional.

View Quoted Comment Yes, this is what I’m discovering about weddings!!
Who knew?!?

Thanks for your input!

View Quoted Comment It will help to think of a wedding as a large party you are throwing.

I thought a hosted bar was a consumption bar? But anyway, many venues don't allow cash bars because they're rude and they make the venue look bad in addition to making the bride and groom look cheap. Guests shouldn't have to open up their wallets at a wedding reception for any reason.

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Also many states have laws against alcohol being sold at private events which puts the couple hosting under liability if anything goes wrong during or following the event

Yes our venue has different bar packages that we can choose. We aren’t able to bring in our own alchohol.

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Yes, another good point!

It's not considered good manners to make your guests pay for any part of your wedding, including paying for their own drinks. It might be cheaper to host a beer/wine open bar, and just that. It would be considered good hosting.

You’ve already heard and read about cash bars not being the preferred option. Although, conversely, i think it’s rude and disrespectful when guests blow through an open bar by taking a few sips of a drink, setting it down somewhere, forgetting and then going back to the bar for a new one. Unfortunately that’s common with open bars because people are less “protective” of a drink that they didn’t purchase themselves. So, I honestly hate that part and I’m not looking forward to it. Lol!. But, given that you don’t even have an option to put a dollar amount cap on the open bar timeframe, are you fine with hosting beer and wine only? Also is it a daytime or evening wedding?

Is there a beer/wine only option? That's what we're doing and it's about $1500 cheaper than a full hosted bar with liquor