Open bar... the norm?!

I'm in Upstate New York and I've been to weddings with an open bar, cash bar and even a few dry weddings. So it's hard to say what the norm is in my neck of the woods.

I’m from the Midwest and open bars are 100% expected in my crowd. I’ve been to a few cash bar receptions and guests were definitely giving the side eye at them.

Every wedding I have been to has been a cash bar except for one.

I'm from Ohio and I have never been to a wedding with anything other than an open bar. The only exception was a cake and punch reception for my friend who is LDS.

I’m from New England and I can’t speak for the whole area, but I’ve never been to a wedding with open bar except once when a guest put $500 on the bar that lasted about an hour or so. Everyone I know expects to buy their own drinks with the exception of a champagne toast.

I could clarify I’m from North Dakota. We probably drink too much up here. It’s normal
to have farm receptions with BYOB and kegs. Open bar is definitely rare and not expected here!

Poor hosting isn't regional.

If you can't afford to feed/booze all of your guests for the entirety of your event, don't invite so many guests.

Its so ridiculously simple.

ETA Honestly, who cares what's "expected"? Personally, I wanted my guests to talk about my wedding as though it was the greatest event they'd ever been to in their lives, so I hosted them accordingly. If you're fine being the same as everyone else and underwhelming everyone that's your choice I guess....

Open bar, always. Even our quinceañeras, baby showers, baptisms, have open bars, paid for by the hosts. I thought cash bars were a joke. I think it's very rude to have guests pay for anything. People should only host the amount of people they can afford with an open bar, food, etc.

I’m from rural IL. I didn’t know open bar weddings were a thing until WW. Most of the weddings I’ve attended have been dry with a few cash bars sprinkled in here and there.

View Quoted Comment Agree! Wish I could "Like" this so many times.

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I am from Minnesota - Twin Cities - and I am 53 yrs old, I have 15 cousins one side, 17 on the other, been to many many weddings from the 70's, 80's and beyond. I would guess that 97% have been open bar.

My first wedding in 1994, second last October were both open.

View Quoted Comment I’m honestly very surprised by this! I live in ND and only know one person who has done an open bar. This is very interesting.

I haven’t been to that many weddings, but they’ve all been either dry or open. I’ve never been to a cash bar wedding. This spans TX, MN, Canada, and international.

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Oh you wacky North Dakotans!!!! (My son is at NDSU, fyi!) I will say this: My mom worked in the restaurant business and she was horrified at cash bars. When I got married the first time, my then future father in law wanted to distribute tickets (yes like a carnival) for drinks - everyone got two. I was horrified. My mom (my dad had passed) was like oh hell to the no. Maybe it is just my family having open bars!!! LOL!

I think this is a social circle thing more than a regional thing. I mean, if people didn't do cash bars with events then it wouldn't be an option. I am from CT and have been to weddings in a number of states. Most of my family members have had cash bars at their weddings, but my friend circle generally has open bars. It's probably some intersection of class, race, and geography that determines the "norm" in your circle - just like pretty much everything else.

I don't know if it's a metropolitan thing or an East Coast thing but I'm in DC and I've only ever been to 1 wedding that was NOT open bar. I've been to about 8 weddings throughout DC/MD/VA/PA//NJ/DE

As much as I can remember it’s been open bar...I only remember of course as far back as I was able to drink! But that’s been 20 years of weddings! (I’m old!)

I'm from the Chicago burbs (NW IL) and I've only ever been to one wedding with a cash bar and that was in Wisconsin where I now live. I'm in my 50's and have been to many weddings. Open bar is definitely the norm, and I can tell you that we left that cash bar reception pretty early.

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I agree with this. I grew up in the South, went to college in the Midwest and now live in California. I have been to weddings in each of those regions, but have only ever seen a cash bar once and that was one of the worst hosted weddings ever, not just because of the cash bar. That was the wedding that ruined buffets for me. I was never fond of them in general (not even restaurants that have them), but this particular wedding, she RAN OUT OF FOOD by the time my table got up there. I was so hangry. I vowed I would never do a buffet. Then I was so shocked to discover we had to actually BUY our own drinks. I had never heard of forcing your guests to spend money at your own wedding. I have since been to other weddings in CA where drinks were free, so I think this issue is more of a socioeconomic one than a regional one.

I live in Georgia, and have been to three weddings that were all dry. Ours will be fully open.