Open Bar....worth It?

Always open bar. Or at the very least beer/wine.

What are your options? You decide what to serve, your guests don't make that decision. Do not ever ask guests to pay for their own drinks. Consumption bar charges are not regulated and you could easily be billed tens of thousands alone. An open bar is priced per person and anything they want is available.

Serve what you can afford but also keep guests in mind. If they aren't wine drinkers, don't serve wine only.

Open bar is always worth it.

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Completely agree. Open bar is always preferred but if you have a limited budget, go for beer and wine. Definitely don't go with cash or consumption bars.

This depends heavily on your crowd. It sounds as though both sides of the families are drinkers, so having some form of alcohol would definitely be worth your money. But what type of alcohol would depend on what people drink. Are they all liquor drinkers? Or do they prefer beer? Wine? If the majority of them are beer drinkers, you could always do strictly beer and wine bar. Or, if there is a specialty drink that most members of the family drink, you could offer that as your signature drink on top of the beer and wine selections. Otherwise, if a large portion of people are liquor drinkers, an open bar might be the best bang for your buck.

Is it a budget issue? Or what is your hesitation for no having an open bar? If you can afford it, it's definitely the way to go. If not, then beer and wine with maybe one special cocktail would be a great compromise.

Whatever you decide it should be "open" in that no one should have to pay for drinks at your wedding, but the actual drinks you serve are up to you.

I’m leaning towards it’s 100% worth it. We are struggling to make the decision to do beer & wine or open bar which would include the beer & wine too. We are going to make it work.

Our venue has a beer & wine package but we’re opting to not buy it from them- not a lot of wine drinkers so that would be a waste. Instead we’re having a couple of signature drinks (fresh squeezed strawberry lemonade for mine & Malibu & Coke for him), various beers & will provide Jack, vodka, etc for those who don’t like Malibu. Venue provides soft drinks, mixers & water. We’ll also provide coffee from Dunkin Doughnuts to be available for the coffee drinkers.

Any option that doesn't require guests paying for their drinks is a good start. In terms of whether you go full open bar or have a limited selection on offer, this is quite a 'know your crowd' thing.

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Agree with this. Serve what your guests drink. If you don't know their preferences, ask them while you are planning.

Nothing matches the open bar. It is just amazing for guests. If you have it in the budget, do it

I am doing an open bar bc I did not want my guest to have to pay for drinks and I know my guests when it comes to me planning for my wedding. You have to know your guests when you are planning. If you do not want an open bar, you may want to do a package that is within you budget. Good Luck.

Yes, it is worth it. I am always team open bar (of any kind). Guests should never have to pay for their own drinks.

We were really back and forth with this too, but our venue includes top shelf open bar in our package. My FH doesn't drink and a lot of our family doesn't drink, so we were just going to do a beer/wine bar and offer the hard alcohol, but have the guests pay for that themselves or we were thinking of doing limited times for open bar and the rest is cash bar. People say never make your guests pay for their drinks, but if you are offering SOMETHING for them to drink, then they are making the choice to spend the money for something else. I think it really depends on the cost and your group. If you can afford open bar, do it. If not, consider your other options. Unless a guest says "I'll pay for the open bar," they can't really dictate what you do.

I think it depends on the formality of your event. If you're hosting a formal wedding, then an open bar is a must. For a semi-formal wedding, an open bar would be a good thing to have. For a casual wedding, beer & wine only is perfectly acceptable. The most important thing at the end of the day though, is that guests should not have to open up their wallets. If budget is the issue and you're not having a formal wedding, then it's perfectly fine to just serve beer, wine, and a couple of signature drinks, or even beer & wine only.

Unpopular opinion. We are paying for the beer and wine. Mixed drinks are cash pay. A lot of our group that drinks are beer drinkers. Like others said consider your audience.