Open bar, cash bar, buffet, or plated meals

View Quoted Comment Great ideas

Your guests should never have to pay for anything at your wedding. Open bar is always best. If you want to save money, so beer and wine only.
Plated dinners are always nicer than a buffet.

Hey- I agree with plated during these times. My fiancé & myself are going through the high costs of a full bar at the moment, I agree with most that a cash bar is not the best option. We are currently looking into supplying the liquor, beer & wine ourselves & finding a bar with staff rental. I think my planner found a place that will actually do it after many who insist on supplying as well. Maybe this could be an option if you want to check out. We haven’t ran the numbers but are assuming it has to cut costs in some way

View Quoted Comment I agree with all of this. Host pay guests do not.

View Quoted Comment YES TO ALL OF THESE. Nobody cares about those things. Cut some fat in terms of +1 and guests nobody will miss. And a good DJ is NOT a compromise BTW. Rent your veil, jewelry, etc.
Do not make your guests pay for the event other than a gift and and maybe a hotel-if they open their wallets at the actual event they will resent it forever.

My opinion is that cash bars are not rude if somebody is coming there to celebrate with you getting married then they should be respectful of your budget. A wedding is not for people to get drunk and drink it’s to celebrate the couple and have a good conversation good fun if they feel that it’s rude of you to do a cash bar then that’s on them. Honestly do whatever you think is best for my wedding we are having an open bar but that’s because our budget allowed for it if we did not have the money then it would be a cash bar and maybe I would just offer some wine and go out to a local clubhouse and get bulk of wine bottles.

View Quoted Comment I just feel like it's best for the host to budget appropriately by prioritizing things or cutting the guest list. It's always possible to avoid a cash bar.


I also don't get where cash bars started. We would never ask guests to pay for their own food or chip in for the music or flowers.

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Every etiquette book says provide what you can afford as a proper host and not offer what you can't. But never make your guests pay their own food/drinks.

View Quoted Comment Yeah I completely agree with this

I would try to compromise with 2 drink vouchers per each person over 21 (if in the US). Then they can pay for anything past that.

Most weddings I’ve been to that had a bar, had the bar only open during cocktail hour then the rest of the night you had to pay cash.

Is there anyway to do a open bar for maybe during the first two hours and then move to cash bar? I just think you shouldn’t ask guests to pay for their drinks. But maybe you can offer it for part of the night after the open bar runs out. Or only do open bar during cocktail hour then move to cash bar. Also played dinner is definitely better during covid even though we are having a buffet. We are having servers and guests wear gloves too.

View Quoted Comment The way a lot of people see it, is since you’re hosting the event, you shouldn’t expect people to pay anything for it. Just like if you were to host a party at your house, you wouldn’t charge people for their drinks even if they’re coming to celebrate you

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Cash bar is asking them to pay for their drinks. Serve what you can afford. If that means one beer, one wine, one mixed drink choice in addition to sodas, then do that but do not have a cash option at any time. Cut other expenses elsewhere that are not important.

View Quoted Comment In addition to the other good suggedtions on where to cut, you could probably do buffet over plated and use the savings to pay for alcohol

View Quoted Comment Yes I know what a cash bar is. Lol but thanks

We are doing a open bar and buffet style with servers/attendants to actually serve the food. The attendants will be wearing masks and gloves. My venue doesn’t offer plated dinners but it does come with a bar and a bartender so, all we have to do is provide the liquor...etc. We’re planning on having beer, wine and 2 signature cocktails to keep our alcohol costs low.

Soooo.... ladies my FH and I have decided with you guys help to do a open bar with the guest list set at 100 with the including plus 1. Also I cut on my flowers and using fake flowers instead of real ones so we could afford a plated meals. Thank you so much for all of your help it really does take a village you guys. ❤️

We changed ours to Plated Dinner. The wedding package we picked came with open bar.

View Quoted Comment Guests who get invited to an event you are hosting should never ever have to open their wallets. It poor etiquettes when guests have to pay to be there. If the host can't afford to pay for the basics for the guests such as food or drinks then they need to make cuts to their event, rather it be cutting guest list, flowers, decor, wedding favors. It's has nothing to do with people coming to get drunk or them being disrespectful of your budget, it's about celebrating within your means while being a good host and that is by providing the basics for your guests.