Open bar?

Serve what you can afford without guests ever having to open their wallets.

Depends on if your guests are drinkers. A lot of the younger people coming to our big wedding (cousins and friends) like to drink and would be pretty mad about a cash bar. We even asked catering directors about doing beer and wine and people having to pay for liquor drinks and she said prepare to have people talk crap about your wedding. Cash bars aren't really a thing where we are if you have more than 75 people in attendance

View Quoted Comment This. Guests shouldn’t have to pay for anything at a hosted event.

I agree with Jana - even if it's a beer and wine only open bar, I would serve whatever you can without your guests having to pay for anything.

You can also get creative with nonalcoholic drink choices which should be free to guests as well.

I mean, wedding wire did just post this on their IG today... 😂

I would definitely recommend having an open bar if you can. Just beer and wine or beer, wine, and signature cocktails would be fine. If cash bars are common in your area and you decide that you have to have a cash bar, at least pay for drinks during cocktail hour. Also, if your venue doesn't take credit cards, definitely don't do a cash bar. People will be annoyed about having to pay for drinks, but they'll be extra annoyed if they can't have any drinks because they don't have cash on them.

Agree with PPs -- cash bar is not the way to go.

Our venue had a lot of options to make an open bar more affordable. They charge by the hour, so one idea was to close it during formal dinner service, then reopen. We could also do cocktails for cocktail hour, then switch to beer and wine, or not do hard liquor at all.

If your venue allows you to bring in your own alcohol, that's usually a cheaper route.

Limiting the bar is a great idea so that you can provide for them at what you could afford

Cash bars are never the way to go. Serve what you can afford. If that's just wine and beer, then your guests will enjoy wine and beer!

Definitely open bar if it’s in your budget

View Quoted Comment 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Definitely NEVER a cash bar

View Quoted Comment This.
Offering just beer & wine, is fine if that helps your budget.

If you are in an area where every friend and family wedding did a cash bar... Go for it. Here it would be uncouth but some places it's the norm.


If everyone does a open bar, do an open bar you can afford.
Personally most the weddings I have been to are either bone dry or just provide alcohol for a toast. This is because my friends are either religious or broke and can't afford it.
The state I am in has strict liquor laws and you have to hire a bartender and it's expensive... Like more than my entire wedding budget expensive. We did sparkling apple juice for our toast which was $18 with no age restrictions or risk of screwing up and committing a felony. Also our guest had to drive for a half hour right after the toast and that was the really big nail in the coffin. We ended the wedding near a famous bar street in the afternoon tho so guest could get alcohol at 2 pm in the afternoon

No cash bar ever for any reason. Serve the drinks you can afford to serve, whether that's all alcohol or beer/wine or just soda/tea/water.


I don't personally have a problem with a cash bar just for top shelf liquor if a guest chooses to buy a whiskey or something.

Do what you can afford & feel is right. If you can only afford beer & wine, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. If you want to serve it, but can't afford an open bar no matter if it's only beer/wine then do the cash bar. Maybe you can have an open bar for only a limited time then it turns into a cash bar later, it all depends on you & what you'd be able to afford.

Personally, I find nothing wrong with there being a cash bar, probably because all the weddings I went to had one & no one really complained. It's just a matter of preference & what you feel is best.

View Quoted Comment We did the coffee, tea, water and sparkling apple raspberry juice for ours/ no bar. The tabc bar requirements would of been 3-5k and that was for okay alcohol. Self serve alcohol is illegal at the place where we were and so is alcohol being served by a non tabc bartender in this place with our guest count.

Cash bars just doesn't sit right with me. Serve what you can afford I think.

Open bar. Cash bars are so cheap and classless. Even just beer and wine is good if budget is super tight. But I would prioritize a full open bar over any extras like decorations, etc. guests care more about being hosted properly.