Liquor for reception

That was my first thought, @oliviap is switching from liquor to wine/beer sounds really bad. I can add another type of beer, I left a decent amount of room in my budget for alcohol. thanks @kate!

Thats a good idea to just have 2 signature cocktails, that way everyone has an option for what they like and it still keeps it fairly simple. I will definitely go with that.

So I'm gathering, 2 signature cocktails served the whole time, add a third beer, one white wine and one red wine. To me that sounds pretty reasonable for choices. Thank you ladies! My gut was telling me cutting off liquor during reception wasn't right so I'm glad I checked.

OP I would expand the beer and wine choices as well- for wine have a sweet and dry type for both red and white; for beer- select a few different kinds (3-4 maybe). Its going to be hard to please everyone's tastes but if you expand a little bit I think you will cover the good range. At our wedding DH and I had 4 wines (2 white, 1 red and a blush) and 3 different kinds of beer. We had a full open bar as well but from what our venue coordinator told us after- most people drank the wine, beer and wine slushies, hardly anyone ordered a mixed drink.

Please serve the alcohol the entire night. Talk to your bartender about last call and be sure to have pitchers of water available throughout the night and no one should be a mess. I did three signature cocktails with three different liquors (tequila, whiskey, and rum), 2 signature shots (tequila and whiskey), 3 wines, and 2 beers. We had a lot of good reviews from guests about our bar and we were able to keep the bar open until 30 minutes before the end of the reception.

So either way I need to at least expand my wine and beer choices. From the sounds of it for it to be properly hosted all choices need to be served all night and they need more choices.

@Mandi would you of not served liquor at all and added to the beer and wine list if you did it over again? I guess now it's got me thinking if I should even have liquor and just put that money towards more wine and beer. or is that not proper either? haha this is a little harder than I thought it would be deciding

@MrsBdeG thank you! I will certainly talk to our bartender and keep the water flowing!

@windowschick definitely not converting to a cash bar, my FH and I are paying the whole tab for everyone. That's why when the lady at wine and spirits asked me I was a little taken back, We had never even thought about only serving it for part of the reception and she claimed that's what a lot of couples do. So that's why I wanted to check with WW cause I know you guys will tell me thats not proper hosting!

OP, we didn't have that option with our venue- they only offered full bar packages. However, if they had given us the option I would have just chosen wine, beer and the wine slushies (or in your case 2 signature cocktails). It sounds like in your case by limiting to those types of items, you can offer a bigger variety to your guests. Try to cover more than one taste- for the wines offer at least one sweet and one dry for red and white wine, and if you can add a blush wine in there too; for the beer offer a light beer, maybe a craft style beer and a seasonal. DH and I live in St. Louis so most popular around here are Anheuser-Busch products, but we tried to offer at least one other brand not made by AB.

That is one good thing with our venue it is completely our choice for what is served and where we get it from. And I still like the idea to offer at least 2 signature cocktails, I feel like we are covering more preferences that way.

We are doing 2 signature drinks Jack & Coke, Vodka Cranberry, then we have Riesling, Moscato, Merlot and Cab. Then 4 beers, Corona, Great Lakes, Angry Orchard, Bud Light.

I also got some fireball for shots only 2 bottles.. when its gone its gone.

I limited the liquor to 2 but went heavy on Beer & Wine.

Will have open bar for cocktail hour, it will reopen when dinner is served and will stop about 30 minutes before everything ends. We got event liability and host liquor liability insurance for $2 million through Progressive for about $255 just to cover ourselves.

We did 4 beers, 4 wines and 2 signature drinks all night.

If you're not doing liquor all night, I would add atleast a blush wine & another beer plus 2 signature cocktails.

We are doing signature drinks plus beer and wine, that may be a good compromise for you

I'd suggest serving liquor all night or not at all. We will probably just do beer and wine. Having a couple signature drinks is a great compromise though!

I don't understand why people are so paternalistic about other people drinking. Its not your job to babysit your guests, let them drink and self-police their own behavior if need.

I would serve it all night. We are having an open bar and when our time is up my reception place is allowing us to finish the night with cash bar but by that time we know for sure everyone will have had enough

I feel like the general rule is that whatever you decide for your open bar, stick with that all night, otherwise it can get confusing for guests. But I think the couple signature cocktails with wine and beer is a great option, especially if you try and have those cocktails be super different to allow for more variety!