Is open bar to cash bar Ok?

Your guests shouldn't pay for anything at your wedding. You could offer beer and wine and/or a signature drink to help keep the costs down. But don't have a cash bar, especially when you had an open bar most of the night. This is confusing and guests may stock up on the free drinks leading to overconsumption.

Don't switch. That's not cool. Guests shouldn't come out of pocket to enjoy your wedding. talk to your vendor about beer/wine the full night. Should be a pretty comparable cost to what you're considering.

Thank you. I was reading other threads and saw similar comments.

I would be really confused as a guest.

Personally, no I wouldn't like that. Why do open for a certain time then cash bar? If it's budget concerns maybe opt for beer and wine and forego liquor options, or keep it simple and do a signature drink to keep costs down. Most people I know who've attended a wedding with a cash bar do not speak highly of it.

Just serve wine, beer, and maybe a signature drink. Please don’t have a cash bar.

I think it will confuse guests to switch. Maybe cut down to just wine and beer?

Don’t switch that’s weird. Try to do a consumption bar and maybe see if you can close the bar during dinner? That will help people consume less but again still weird.

After a few comments and reading other threads on cash bars, I am going to have an open bar all night. I'm new at all wedding related things and this website and users are so helpful with honest opinions. Thank you

View Quoted Comment Props to Lydia for listening to constructive criticism! It’s pretty rare that this happens, so good on you, Lydia!

Switching to a cash bar is a bad idea. People may stock up on drinks before the deadline which can lead to a messy night and no guest should have to get their wallet out at a wedding. Personally I wouldn't take any money with me unless I knew in advance.

Glad you're taking on advice . Look into just doing beer/wine or beer/wine/signature drinks if you need to cut down the bar costs

No, it would confuse guests. It's unfair to guests to get free drinks at first and then others who go to get a drink later and have to pay in general. It's also not right to make guests pay for anything at the wedding you're hosting. They've already spent a lot of time and money to attend, so don't make them pay for drinks (or anything) on top of that.

Cut back in other areas (skip save the dates, have more basic invitations, skip flowers, skip favors, skip programs, have less decor, skip a photo book or other "extras", etc.) to save up in order to properly host guests at your wedding

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I would definitely switch what you're serving instead of who is paying for it, that would be confusing and a little rude.

we're on a tight budget too so we're doing wine/sangria and beer only. its helping us save a lot of money while still having the alcohol flowing all afternoon.

You can also consider closing your bar for a certain amount of time. Our cocktail hour/reception will be 5.5 hours, but our bar will only be 5 hours. We're closing it for the first half hour of the reception, during intros and toasts. No one should be up at the bar during those things anyway and everyone will have champagne at their place setting. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I also think it would be fine to have a last call half an hour before the reception ends. With those two things, you could get away with paying for 5 hours for a 6 hour reception.