NOT Having an Open Bar at Our Formal Wedding... Thoughts?

Nobody will care about the keepsakes and nobody wants a photobooth over an open bar. I would cancel those and switch to the open bar.

Since I'm a vegetarian, your meal upgrade would go unnoticed by me and I also don't like to take those photo booth style pictures, so I would prefer a drink or two for sure. Nobody got wasted or too drunk at my wedding at all and the open bar was very helpful to keep people dancing all night. I literally just got a wedding invite that says 'dry wedding' on it, so I'm currently really salty about the cash bar/dry wedding thing. Please provide drinks all night

To be honest, as a guest I would be more annoyed about having to open my wallet to pay for drinks and would care less about filet mignon entrees (also due to my braces and unable to eat filet mignon), a photo booth rental or keepsake frames that I will likely either leave behind or trash.

I attended a wedding that had an hour open bar that then switched to cash bar. It was extremely confusing to guests - I would definitely not recommend this.

I'd definitely choose cocktails over a keepsake frame & a photo booth. Maybe shoot for a consumption bar? Some venues also offer an option to just do a couple of signature drinks/shots then beer/wine. That could be more budget friendly! Generally at weddings people are looking for food, booze, and dancing. I think everything else is optional!

The meal options would be filet mignon, salmon, and vegetarian. For my FH, doing chicken over beef isn't an option.

Everyone on here will immediately say how rude it is. I don't believe it's necessarily rude because where I am it's pretty common to have a cash bar and I have been to many weddings with cash bars. (At my wedding I am having full open bar but that's because it's part of my venue package). If a cash bar is what you and FH discussed and both agreed upon don't second guess yourself. If possible to do a consumption bar though, maybe consider that?

I'm thinking that it will be a memorable night for all your guests and that your wedding will be talked about for years to come.

Are you going to do drink tickets too to make sure each person gets just one glass of wine with their dinner?

For those mentioning consumption bar after, can anyone relay about how much I can expect to spend for 135 guests for 4-4.5 hours?

Yikes. I can't tell you how many photobooth prints and "keepsakes" I've thrown in the trash when cleaning up weddings. No one cares about those. But they will sure as hell care about a cash bar...if you have the budget available, allocate it to the booze, not to the landfill fillers.

I would much rather have free booze than a "keepsake" that really doesn't pertain to me.

No one will care about your keepsake frame favors or how unique they may be to you. Open bar or do a consumption bar if you don't think people will drink much.

Sarah- I'm glad you asked this... I think you've been overthinking it because deep down you know it just doesn't feel right...

Please don't do a cash bar. Trust me- as a guest, I would MUCH prefer an open bar over a photobooth and frames. If you're concerned about cost, go the Wine & Beer route- perfectly, 100% acceptable and lovely.

Hand made photo frames and disposable cameras. lol. Great ideas, Nicole...

@Nicole - I do not see any rude comments here

Nicole, who was rude? Literally no one.

Also I think the idea of having disposable cameras on the tables died in 1995. Can you even get those developed anymore?

"You don't need alcohol to have a good time" says the 20 year old.

You don't need running shoes to run but it fucking helps.

Also you can't call us names.

Nobody wants photo booth rental & keepsake frames. They want gin.

Cash bars are very tacky when guests are coming a long way just to celebrate with you. We opted for beer and wine only with a signature drink (mojito) available during cocktail hour only. We paid for 100 of them and when they were gone that was it. We skipped the champagne toast because you can just toast with whatever is in hand and I would skip the wine with dinner. People will usually say yes when wine or champagne comes around and they may not even drink it. Consumption bar is the way to go.