Open bar... the norm?!

I would like to add (as I have said in other threads) that as much as I am an open bar person, I don't care if it is a cash bar. What annoys me or makes me eye roll is: Bride boasts about her $5000 dress, we are served steak or chicken, a six piece band plays, beautiful and gorgeous venue, invites were costly plus there is a photo booth plus all that other stuff but a whiskey sour will cost you $4.50. That is what gets people.

View Quoted Comment $4.50 is a steal! I would still be annoyed even if I think it's cheap. In the DC area the avg cash bar wedding drink is $10 and maybe $7 for a beer? It is a turn off, especially with all of the extras as you listed!

Most weddings I've been to are open bar. I went to one that was open bar up to $1,000 then cash after. Ours will be beer and wine open, cash for liquor!

I’m from the Midwest too and I’d say open bar is the preferred/norm. Out of the weddings I’ve been to 2/3 have had an open bar and the 1/3 that didn’t people noticed and were a bit annoyed by it. At minimum beer and wine all night is better than cash. We are doing a full open bar mostly because I always thought that if you invite people to a formal gathering that you feed them and supply drinks.

I'm in Vegas and open bars definitely seem to be the norm here.

PA here. Open bar is the norm.

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Well maybe the few cash bars I have been to have been at VFW's - and here in Minnesota they are popular for receptions and drinks are STRONG and CHEAP. I mean - two are you are buzzing!!! One time my ex hubby were out for dinner at one and he had a brandy and coke and I could smell it across the table! I was like yowser I better drive!! LOL!

Definitely norm here in Wisconsin! Especially BERR! ❤️

Our package is 4 hours of unlimited 2 types of beer, 7 wine options, and soda / water. We will have 1 hour cash bar at the end. It’s $14/pp but we might add hard liquor for $3 more/pp

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As a Minnesota person I can agree with this 100%!!! LOL!

I’m from East Texas and around here people honestly don’t care either way.

Every wedding I have ever attended in NY, MA, and DE has been open bar. the only wedding that was not was in VA. It seems to be standard in the Northeast!

View Quoted Comment Oh we like to drink too and we will be having a fully open bar at my wedding. But yes every wedding that I can at least remember has been either cash or partially hosted, never a fully open bar.

Last year at my cousins they bought the first drink then we paid for the rest.
My dads wedding, 2 years ago, was beer and wine hosted but hard liquor you had to pay for.

I like it the Chicago suburbs and almost every wedding I have been to around here is open bar. My wedding is open bar as it was included in my package. You can do what you want its your wedding but I would put cash bar on your invitations =)

I'm from the Midwest as well and have only ever been to cash bars. And have been to lots of weddings of friends and family. The only open bar that I have been to was two states away and both bride and groom's family are absolutely loaded. It was really exciting to go to an open bar but the wedding was also really small compared to what I am used to. Where I live the weddings are all big! My wedding will have 300+ people and don't tell me to cut my guest list cause 95% are family and I can't just pick and choose what family can come to my wedding. Only a few people will be traveling more than three hours to my wedding. And usually weddings in family are more of reunion than anything else. So the people that are traveling are not just coming to see me get married but to also see the rest of the family. We are splurging and getting a couple of kegs, which is something that not a lot of people do around here. But everything else is cash bar.

I don't really care if most people thinks it's rude. If you don't want to open your wallet, then don't drink. I will have other non-alcoholic drinks for you. Think that you should take money away from the gift you are giving me because you have to pay for a drink, I don't care. I'm not getting married for the gifts anyways. Want to leave early, don't care either. I will still be dancing the night away.

If you guys judge peoples weddings on whether or not they have an open bar or cash bar, then you aren't very good friends. I go to weddings to show my support for the new couple. Not to get drunk.

I'm 48, and have been attending 2 to 4 weddings a year since i was 20 . I live in Ontario, Canada and have travelled to a few weddings throughout Canada, US and have been to a couple destnation weddings in Jamaica and Mexico, all weddings have been an open bar with the exception of 2 which were dry due to religious reasons, and 2 cash bar but that was when I was in my early 20s.

So, for me, open bar is the norm. I find it hard to believe it's regional.

My first wedding in 1996 was an open bar, and my second wedding last year was also an open bar.

H and I are now planning a blowout 50th birthday party for next year, as our birthdays are a week apart. First thing H said, it has to be an open bar. I have always thought it to be proper hosting.

Maybe it is a socio-economic, or social circle thing.

ETA: words

I live in Cincinnati OH and all the venues only offer host bars. The only place you could have a cash bar or a byob would be like in a cheap hall rental not an actual wedding venue. Every wedding I have been to is host bar. My FH is from Scotland and he said cash bar is the norm there though??

All the weddings I've been to have been open bar so it is definitely expected. When we booked our venue, cash bar wasn't even an option with the packages.

I have never been to a wedding that did not have an open bar.

The only time that I heard that open bars are not a thing is when my cousin married her H. He grew up in Scotland and weddings in Scotland do not have open bars. Her H and in new In laws told us the reason they do not have open bars is because they would drink the bar dry. They were all in shock that her in the US open bars are the norm!

I have only been to one wedding where there was a cash bar and I honestly didn't mind, but I was happy that I had cash on me, which is not the norm. I will be having full open bar at my wedding because that is how I want to thank my guests for coming, but I don't really bat an eye if I need to pay for my own alcohol. I am in NJ for reference.

Toronto, Canada - most of the weddings I've gone to had open bar. One was consumption bar (where host pays for drinks consumed instead of the per person rate for open bar) and one where they gave each guest 2 drink tickets.