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Dedicated June 2015

Open Bar during Cocktail Hour

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Amanda, on January 13, 2015 at 9:40 AM

Posted in Planning 26

My mom has graciously offered to pay for an open bar for the first 45 minutes of the wedding reception. Since we're getting married at 7:30 and the reception is starting immediately after, the first 45 minutes or so of the reception will be similar in style to a cocktail hour since we'll be encouraging people to find their seats and mingling a little bit before we begin the festivities. I'm just trying to iron out how to do this. Do we put a sign on the bar saying something? Should we give people a ticket of some sort. We're afraid that if we make an announcement that a lot of people will take advantage and that's not really the point. Advise Please!!

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26 Comments

Celia Milton · on January 13, 2015 at 5:47 PM
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A cocktail style party with limited cocktails and a cash bar.

No.

Do wine, beer, champagne, passed trays of a small sig drink.

And by 8:00? Those people are going to be ravenous.
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Dedicated June 2015
Amanda · on January 13, 2015 at 5:52 PM
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We're having a very informally structured wedding. We're getting married at 8pm on a patio, so we aren't serving dinner, but having more food than you could shake a stick at. Carving station, dessert bar/station, stone oven pizza, sliders, mini hot dogs and the list goes on. At 3 drinks per person at $8/drink I didn't think it was a horrible compromise. After having met the coordinator, there's a good chance that we'll end up matching my moms contribution and just do open bar.

@Melissa, this restaurant is known for its imported wines (I love wine) and most of their liquors are premium, that's why its so expensive. Beer would be the cheapest thing on the list and liquor would be next.
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Celia Milton · on January 13, 2015 at 5:59 PM
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That sounds wildly different. I like it.
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Dedicated June 2015
Amanda · on January 13, 2015 at 6:01 PM
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Thanks @Celia!
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Master January 2015
Janeen · on January 13, 2015 at 6:05 PM
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Yeah I'm honestly surprised by the cost of the bar. My full open bar with top shelf for 100 people is only $25 a person. That's WEIRD lol.
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Expert September 2014
jnissa · on January 13, 2015 at 8:19 PM
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Open bar prices can vary widely by venue. It's a profit center so venues will price it based on what they think they can get away with so what's $30 at one venue can easily be twice that at another venue. I paid $61 per person for open bar for 5 hours and consumption after that, so that's about what I paid for 125 people.
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