Open Bar Stress

I've seen several posts on here as well about this very subject. Our plan right now is to have an open bar for a few hours and set a $ limit on what we want to spend on it. Once that limit is reached then that's it. The venue is giving us champagne for toasting purposes.

Im doing a toonie bar ($2 drinks) witch is cheap in my area. the avrage drink price when going out is $7 and some places i looked at were closer to $10.

there is also going to be wine at the table

Are your guests big drinkers? If so then I'd go the cash bar route. Cash bar is better than no bar at all IMO.

Does the hotel not offer soda with the meal? It'd be nice to have another option available for your guests during dinner rather than just having water.

Does the hotel offer a package where drinks are charged on consumption? If so, you could tell them to allow drinks up until a certain amount is spent, then switch to cash. People (usually) understand you can't afford to have an open bar all night.

Our venue allows us to BYO, but I'm assuming since you're at a hotel, they won't allow this. You could do just wine service at dinner (have the servers actually serve the guests, or place 1 red, 1 white bottle on each table), and the rest be an all-cash bar if you really want to keep it open throughout the night.

We are doing free beer only. And this may be just me but I refuse to have an open bar and have people get trashed on my dime and @ my wedding. If they want to get hammered it will be on their dime. But that's just my opinion.

We are having just wine and beer but we are able to bring our own alcohol into the venue, which was something we kind of looked for when choosing our venue. You could also buy one keg and let people know if they want to drink that specific beer then it is paid for and otherwise it is a cash bar for alcohol. But I think that I am in the minority here in that cash bars don't bother me.

We were gonna do a limited open bar...but as we get closer and things are still needing to be paid, the bar is the last thing on my mind.

So we will now just have an open bar...but free soda, water, and juice..plus a champagne toast at midnight.

we have already started slowly letting people know so they are not surprised, and everyone is like, oh well. No big deal.

I went to 2 weddings this summer and both were cash bar. We even had to buy our own sodas, and no one complained.

gotta do what fits your wallet

I feel your pain Tina. One place we were seriously considering was going to be $66 per person for a 4 hour open bar. We would have sucked it up and paid it because an open bar was important to my husband...but it was crazy to me! We lucked out and our top pick venue opened up and we were able to do a 5-hr premium open bar for a little over $1K through our caterers.

Pretty much every wedding i have been to has been a cash bar. Usually with maybe an open bar at first with a set price or time but then we always pay. I think nothing of it. One wedding i was in the bride did the same thing but the bridal party was allowed to drink free all night...so that was awesome. All i needed was the matchy matchy clothes i was wearing to prove i was in the bridal party. : )

I might need to look into setting a limit for the bar and when that is reached it switches over. My thing is you pay for all people to drink but not all people will.

@Kimi, I would say that no the guests are big drinkers, but there are a few off the top of my head that I know can put some liquor away! And no they don't offer soda with the meal.. just water, tea and coffee. The soda is in with the bar prices. Which I want to try to pay for at least for dinner time.

@Ashley, no BYO which would be a great alternative but no such luck!

@Caitlin, what is a toonie bar? never heard of it.

Oh and I also have to think about if I do open bar I would be responsible if something were to happen on the guests way home.

We are not big drinkers and being that our wedding reception is a small one that is being held at a Brizilian Steakhouse private room. We are only going to have bottles of champagne for the toasting, but there is a full bar available if my guest so choose to buy.

Although my guest list isn't huge I have a handful of guest that will drink the entire bar dry (so serious) We are going with the option of setting a limit once it's up it's up. If I switch to cash bar I have to pay for a cashier too. So I'm opting out of that. If they drink it all up then free champagne, water, and tea it is.

We are doing a consumption bar. So once the limit is met, then it becomes a cash bar. Most of our guests don't drink, so if they few that do drink all that money up, then they can buy the rest of their drinks, that's what we did. Could you do a consumption bar? Its usually a lot cheaper than the per person price!

My FH's parents are graciously paying for beer, wine, and soda for our guests. We might add a fountain of fuzzy navels or something along those lines.

For those who wish to drink liquor we will be giving them the option of a cash bar. We have found that at other friends' weddings there has been a problem with people getting too rowdy when there is an open bar. People drink more when they do not have to pay for the alcohol and therefore we feel that in order for things to not get out of hand, we are not going to be providing the open bar.

Also the Wedding Party is going to be drinking for free as a gift to them and that way they will not have to carry around money. The only issue I forsee happening with this is if they start getting drinks for their dates, etc. so I'm not sure how this would be handled as of yet.

This is a HUGE debate on WW. All I'm going to say is we're having an open bar (I cut expenses in other places so I could do this)- In my opinion, the reception is all about my guests having a good time. However, that's just MY opinion. Good luck~

Also, where are you from that it would be your responsibility if something happens to your guests after they've been drinking? In most places, it is the caterer or liquor provider (whoever employs the bartender or supplied the liquor) that is responsible if something happens.

We did a cash bar. In my area it's the norm. Besides me and my DH don't drink and neither do our families. I also wasn't going to spend money on alcohol when that money could go towards a fantastic meal. For me a wedding and reception is a time to celebrate and if you need to be wasted to celebrate my wedding then stay home.

W/ regards to liability - you are not liable if your guests drink/drive. Check your hotel contract - there's usually clause in there called "Indemnification". It means that if something does come up and the hotel gets sued b/c of something that happened at your event, they'll handle it.

Even if not - the hotel is likely requiring that you use their alcohol w/ their bartenders. That removes the liability from you and puts it on them. It's up to their bartender to cut someone off (if that needs to happen).

@ Ashley, the event lady at the hotel already informed me that I would be liable if it was an open bar, because essentially I am providing them the alcohol. Has anyone done or is thinking of doing the "signature" drink? Not sure if my venue would do it but curious as to know how well it worked?

Would it help if you closed the open bar for an hour during dinner and toasts? You probably won't have very many people getting up while you're having toasts, father/daughter dance, first dance, etc.

Don't take this the wrong way, but if the hotel told you that you would be legally responsible, I would think there is something sketchy about that. What state do you live in? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it is always the person who is serving the alcohol, or the establishment who owns the alcohol being served that is legally responsible. I've been a bartender for a lot of years and I am always legally responsible for the people whom I serve, which is why I also have the responsibility to cut people off, etc. I could be wrong, but I find that strange.