Open bar - Wedding Party Only?

The only thing more rude than a cash bar is tiering your guests so that some of your guests get an open bar and others get a cash bar. That's rude AF.

No, no, no. Treat everyone equally.

Open bar is for everyone. This is SUPER RUDE. I would leave quickly if I discovered only some people got free drinks. Wow. One of our venues suggested this when we discussed alcohol options and I said absolutely not, and didn't even know it was a thing. Nobody should be paying for drinks PERIOD

I've been to weddings that have cash bars, but I've noticed it depends on the venues. I've also noticed it keeps people from getting out of control with their drinking. At the open bar weddings I've attended, the only alcoholic drinks you didn't have to pay for were the ones that were special for the bride and groom (tequila sunrises and white Russians in one case). But they also provided transportation from the hotel to venue to dissuade people from driving. I hope that helps

I think that is one of the worst ideas I have seen here so far. At least in the top 10.

Yeah this sounds rude to the rest of the guests. You should just do open beer, wine, etc for everyone.

God DAMN those people, trying to get drinks for their friends! The bararians.....

No. It's confusing and rude to the guests, the bartenders will be insane and annoyed if the venue even allows you to do this, your bar service will be slow, and everyone will be just pissed. Cash bars, in any form, are rude no matter where you live. Partial cash bars add the "what the fuck" factor as people try to figure it out, and if I found out that there was tiered service? I'd leave.

Seriously. And for the record, I've never seen a license plate that says, "Wisconsin; we all drink beer." Though if that's true, your bar tab, which could be consumption, will be lower anyway.

Everyone gets the same thing (beer and wine are just fine), no prefilled flasks (which may not even be allowed; I've seen venue staff tell guests they have to leave their flasks outside the venue; it presents a giant liability problem), no drink tickets, wristbands or special flower code.

ETA; people who pay for their drinks get drunk all the time; it's not a detterant at all.a

In about 1700 weddings, at all budget levels, I have seen two cash bars. One was at a nice hotel and the crowd was very, very unhappy and unprepared. The other was at a VFW, and I suspect that their liquor license had something to do with that (and I think most people did expect it there....)

Two other points; most of my venues do not allow shots anymore; not for the BP, not for anyone.

The only plan I've ever seen that even approaches this is to have a special bottle of champagne or other alcohol just for the couple.

Treat all of your wedding guests the same. Provide for all or scratch the idea.

"How can I make a cash bar even more tacky and rude...."

This is like saying 'so I want to serve chicken to our wedding guests because it's cheaper...but I want to serve Lobster to the bridal party. If anyone else wants Lobster though, they can pay the difference.

See how insane it sounds when you put it into any other context.

My opinion is open bar for everyone. Definitely no cash bar!

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I would say open bar for everyone or cash bar for everyone (which many people frown on). Anything in between sounds complicated and rude. If I were in your shoes I would just serve beer and wine for all.

I live in Wisconsin and drink a lot of beer...I never drink beer at weddings. When I'm drinking a lot I go for the liquor. Most people at our wedding full of Wisconsinites drank cocktails. Save up for an open bar, your guests will really appreciate it. ETA- also we did shots and it was super fun and nobody got ridiculous and ruined anything.

Ummm maybe this is just me but I would 100% walk out of a wedding if I found out the bride and groom were giving special treatment to just a few people but the rest of the wedding wasn’t important enough.

I'm just here for the comments.....

@mkebride, an full open bar at our venue was 4x the price as hosting soda/beer/wine. That is a huge difference. While I agree a full open bar is awesome, we certainly could not offer that.

Yeah...no. open bar for all or limit everything to beer wine and soda. No cash bar at all.

I don't like brandy or whiskey so I don't do those or Old Fashioned, which is another popular drink here. Give me all the beer or all the vodka please.

@ambrook - yeah, I guess I should've added if it's not in the budget to do the open bar, then just do beer and wine for everyone. Not host something different for the bridal party. I agree with you.

It's never been an issue because I have never, in my 56 1/2 years on this earth, ever been to a wedding where there wasn't an open bar for everyone. I never even heard of a cash bar before I joined WW.

I know some people say wine and beer for all is okay, and I don't have an issue with it. It's just that I have found that the cost of mixed drinks isn't much more (usually $1 or $2 more than the cost of a glass of wine. Maybe that's just NY. The point is 1. same drinks available for everyone, 2. no cash bar ever. If you think your guests are more inclined to drink beer, than do a bar where you pay on consumption, rather than a flat fee per head.