Open bar

Most people will drink either beer or wine. And if they don't, they don't have to drink. It's becoming increasingly popular to offer a limited open bar with just beer and wine. Another option that could be a compromise if possible is having beer, wine, and 1 or 2 signature drinks. This will cut down on the types of alcohol that need to be available and therefore cut down on costs.

We weren’t allowed to serve liquor at our venue so we had beer and wine. Everybody was happy and plenty of people were drunk and had fun

Totally fine to just do beer and wine--nothing wrong with that.

Beer & wine are totally fine. And great if it helps the bank account too. If you really want to, offer 1 or 2 signature drinks. But not necessary.

Beer & wine are completely fine. Most people will be more than happy with those options. I’ve been to weddings with liquor options and a lot of people didn’t partake in it.

Our venue allows us to do open bar beer and wine with the option for cash bar for the rest. Maybe you can reach a compromise?

I assume you will have non alcoholic drinks as well. A compromise is to build a small menu of mixed drinks using the non alcoholic drinks you will be offering. Coke, lemonade, iced tea, and other sodas all mix well with rum, whiskey, and vodka. There’s a mixed drink using red wine, too, though I can’t remember. Choose one hard liquor and set a menu.

There's nothing cheap about doing beer and wine only. Like PP said, you can offer a couple of signature drinks if that makes you feel better.

I think a lot of people do beer & wine at their weddings. I’m with you though... I thought it would be rude to ask our guests to open their wallets at an event we invited them to and are hosting. If it’s within your budget, I would say definitely go for the open bar! I definitely wouldn’t break the bank for it though.

I think just beer and wine is fine if that's what you both decide to do. Ultimately I think it depends on how you're doing the bar. If the venue is supplying the alcohol or if you are. My FH and I are purchasing all of the alcohol for our wedding b/c it's going to be cheaper than having our venue supply it. We're doing a full open bar. We're using Total Wine as our vendor for this and they are giving us a huge discount because we're going to be buying in bulk. If you have a Total Wine near you check with them and see what kind of deal they can give you. It won't be as cheap as just doing beer and wine, but it'll save some money so you won't have to buy individual bottles of liquor at full price.

Or do a hour of liquor drinks then after that he is up you can go back to beer n wine.


We're doing wine n beer for our wedding because that's what most of our families drinks.

Hi Ashley! My fiance and I are doing an open bar as well but only beer and wine for the same reason. My advise to you: it's your wedding, stop worrying about everyone else. Plus, as a classy bride, you don't want to have liquor there and have a trashy wedding! 😉 Beer and wine are fine choices 👌

I am doing the same thing. My family says the best beer is free beer. I'm doing beer and wine coolers.

Alcohol isn’t always essential at a wedding. We’re doing beer and wine for 2 hours (as of now, it might change). Other than that they’re free to get any drinks they want after that or drink water. It’s not tacky , if that’s all you can afford.

We did open beer and wine and it was great. Guests could buy liquor or mixed drinks if they so chose (people were told this ahead of time) and as most of our guests preferred beer or wine to other drinks it was fine!
When we attend weddings with beer and wine only options I let H do the drinking bc I hate beer and wine so I stick with sodas and become the DD.

Beer and wine is easier than going broke to pay for it. We’re providing beer and wine and then anything else, guests can purchase with their own money.

There’s nothing wrong with just wine for beer. I feel like that’s everyone’s go-to anyway. I would just give a variety or beer and wine to make sure everyone is accommodated.

I dont see a problem with beer & wine. Until recently, most people did beer only in my area.
A compromise would be beer, wine and a signature drink or two.

I like your fiancé’s idea!

A good compromise might be beer, wine, and couple of specific cocktails. Moscow mules, whiskey/coke, vodka/soda are all pretty popular and easy cocktails that you could add that wouldn't break the bank. Then you would only need "fixings" for those specific things, not a full bar.