Open Bar Stress

We are having an open bar for 4 hours. We are also having our reception in a hotel ballroom. and actually, we are having it at the five diamond Fairmont Scottsdale Resort in Scottsdale, AZ and we are only having to pay $36 per person for the four hours and that includes beer, wine and hard alcohol.

Full open bar, we made sure when choosing our venue that we would be able to provide our guests with this, we even had to veto our favorite venue because the alcohol took them out of our price range. Our first concern throughout the planning process was our guests.

We're having a signature drink, beer, wine, soda, water at our cocktail hour, and then open bar for the reception. Around here, open bar is the norm. Cash bar or other option is rare.

If you can get away with a cash bar, and it's not out of the ordinary for your guests, then I say go for it.

Okay, if someone can talk about a cousin/uncle who is an alcoholic, so no one else can drink because he might be tempted, I'll have a complete row in Cash Bar Bingo...

I'm doing a cash bar - most of my dad's side of the family are VERY heavy drinkers! and i mean very heavy! they dont tend to get drunk very often but they sure drink a lot. We are providing some drinks so they dont have to buy everything - 1 welcome drink, 2 glasses of wine with dinner and 1 glass of champange for the toast. Appart from that they are going to have to pay for themselves. The first of my cousins to get married had an open bar and forgot to put a limit on it - £3000 ($4800US)! i just cant afford that or anyway near that - since FH and i have had to pay $3800 in flights - on top of all other wedding costs - to get married around our friends and family in the UK anyway.

I love how people who don't offer full bar aren't thinking about their guests.

Miss Tattoo, the ones who have limited budgets and spend their money on things like dres, flowers, decorations, venue, invitations rather than things the guests care about like food and alcohol are not thinking about their guests. I went to a wedding last December with a one hour open bar for about 75 people, I know for a FACT that the invitations cost $1,500 (it was the most important thing to the groom), tell me that bride and groom were thinking about their guests.

Glenn-Were other refreshments provided?

I don't like the idea that people who spend their money on other parts of their wedding aren't thinking about their guests. There are so many different reasons why there is a cash bar. I just attended a very large uber conservative religious wedding. They invited 500 people. 470 shows up. She spend quite a bit on her dress, decorations, the venue, photographer, etc. And she had cash bar. She doesn't believe in drinking and she came to a compromise with her husband. Instead of no bar whatsoever, they had cash bar. I don't see that as not caring about her guests.

And who cares if the wedding you went to only had one hour of open bar. Maybe alcohol wasn't important to her. It's not a requirement for a wedding. It's a bonus and guests should appreciate if it's free or not.

Okay, first I need to clear up something. I was mistaken on the beer cost. I am home now and I just pulled out the paper with prices for the liquor. Beer is $3.75. Wine is $5.00. Liquor is $5.75 for call and $6.50 for premium.

Second I would like to thank everyone for their input. I know this can be a touchy subject and people have strong opinions on what they feel is right. Wedding planning can just get so confusing!!

Cash bar is definitely better than no bar. (And I'm not a big drinker!) You said 4 hours - does that mean you're not having a cocktail hour? If you could supply anything, I'd say try to do it during cocktail hour, but if that's not happening, I'd say pay for drinks during whatever the first hour is. People are going to be going to the bar (unless you're having a ton of dances and toasts) during that time! Good luck!

I have to totally agree with Miss Tattoo. We are having beer/wine on us.( with a limit) anyone that wants anything stronger can pay for it themselves. I feel that I am providing them with great food/ live band/ and plenty of refreshments. I dont think that I am being selfish at all. I also would like to note that those that have said "they paid.... for the dress....for decoration..etc." well, my theory is this EVENT is for the bride/groom as well as for the guests. They BOTH should be happy. Why should the Bride sacrifice the wedding of her dreams so that people can have free alcohol....just my opinion