Letting guests know about open bar

I've never had anyone specify that they're having an open bar (but then again every wedding I've been to has been open bar). I don't think it's necessary to tell your guests.

I WOULD SO THEY CAN PLAN THEIR DESIGNATED DRIVER ETC.

edit** sorry for the caps lol

We're having an open bar and are not advertising it anywhere. It's the norm in our area of the country, so our guests likely already expect this.

I've seen some adorable signs on Etsy that you can put on the bar, like "you can dance - alcohol" or "tonight's drinks are free and tomorrow's stories will be priceless"!

We put it on our FAQ section of our wedding website. We got married at a winery so there wasn’t liquor because they didn’t have a liquor license. We let guests know there would be open wine and beer.

Guests hope (and sometimes expect) an open bar so I don't think it needs to be mentioned. You could put it on your FAQs on your wedding website if you think it's needed.

That is a good question that I have been debating myself! I guess it comes down to personal decision whether to tell guests or not.

We didn’t notify people if there was an open bar coming, but a couple people did ask and so we just told them. (Like they were going to come if we didn’t have one?!? LOL.

The one thing we are doing, in hopes of avoiding long lines caused by people asking the bartender 30 questions about what’s available is hosting a bar menu.

We had a modified open bar, beer wine, cocktail. Free to our guests. We didn't make a point to tell people. I think most people know to have a plan when going to a wedding.

I personally have never attended a wedding that didn't have an open bar, but that may just be a PA/WV thing. The only place I can think to tactfully include it is under your FAQ on your wedding website, as PPs have suggested.

I don’t think you need to mention it anywhere, but if you want to, your website would be the place to do it.

I don't think you need to advertise that you are having an open bar. That's generally an assumption unless someone says otherwise (maybe not the full part, but wine/beer at minimum). You can just have a sign at the bar letting people know.

I don't think you need to tell anyone. I know when I go to a wedding I just assume there will be an open bar. I've never been to a wedding where we had to pay for drinks.

I think it’s assumed. I would only say something if it was a cash bar. I think they should know they need a designated driver anyway if they plan to drink. We are having beer and wine only and providing a shuttle back to our blocked hotels.

We'll may say something in our welcome note "Our wedding will have an open bar we rec commend taking Lyft to the venue..." or something along those lines. But as other's have said, a heads up is more important for a cash bar.

I on our wedding website. It isnt a full open bar so I basically said beer wine and sodas are on us, if you want any mixed drinks you will need to purchase them at the hotel bar.

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We're providing shuttle service to and from the hotel so I hope they utilize that and not drive, but good point!

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That's a great idea!

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Cash bars aren't unusual where I live. I have actually only been to 1 open bar wedding. It is more common based on my experience to have a one hour open bar during cocktail hour followed by a cash bar the rest of the night which is why a few people have told me guests should know it's open bar all night so they don't stop going to the bar after cocktail hour ends. But I think word of mouth and a sign at the bar should suffice.

View Quoted Comment Gotcha. Then it'll be a nice surprise for your guests when they arrive! A little sign and word of mouth will suffice. You could also put it on your website in an FAQ section since it's more uncommon in your area than others.

About half our guests will be coming from the UK where an “open bar” is a very uncommon and a consumption bar rather than the set up we have where we pay per the person. My SO is a little nervous that some of his friends will have the consumption bar in mind and only get a drink or 2 rather than really take advantage of it. We are planning to put on our wedding website that all the drinks are on us and using word of mouth to explain to our Scottish guests there’s no need to be shy about ordering more than one lol.