Open bar?

That depends on what you do have. It's it's a cash bar that's looked upon as tacky, unless it's at a place that only allows that. Are you doing a dry wedding?

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The venue only allows in house alcohol. They have a few different options; Open bar for $40 a person (165 guests is the capacity), you can put money down and once it runs out it turns to cash bar, or just doing a cash bar. If I do an open bar I will be over budget but I do think its a nice thing to have. Any suggestions?

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That's such a tough call. I"m having to buy it all for mine and I know how crazy it can get. 40 a person is a lot of money. It's to bad someone wouldn't step up and help you out.

I think an open bar is always the best choice, if the bride & groom can afford it. If not, other options are:

1. open bar - just beer & wine, other liquor for purchase.

2. open bar up to a certain amount - I was in a wedding in 2017, the couple could afford $2,000 worth of alcohol so that lasted two or so hours, then it went to a cash bar.

3. drink tickets - 1-2 drinks per person, this is typically looked down upon on wedding wire. I've personally never seen it done but it is better (to me) than a full cash bar or dry wedding.

We had an open wine and beer bar and it saved us like $10/guest. Guests paid for liquor if they wanted it
Is that an option that you could discuss with the venue?

I am going to discuss with the venue owner if perhaps I could do an open bar for only a few hours rather than the whole reception and see if that could cut down on the per person price.

Thank you again for commenting and help

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That sounds great! I will ask the venue owner about this Thank you!

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I am going to discuss with the venue owner if perhaps I could do an open bar for only a few hours rather than the whole reception and see if that could cut down on the per person price.

Thank you again for commenting and help

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I like the idea of an open bar for a certain amount of time

I'd do unlimited beer and wine at the very least!

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Thanks Cher! I like that idea!

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That's a really good idea! I hope they'll work with you on it.

You can try to have a limited open bar with wine and beer. Other liquors can be available for purchase if the guest want.

Providing any kind of hosted alcohol at all would be nice even if its not open bar

Unlimited beer and wine would be best. I know people have suggested an open bar up to a certain dollar limit but in my experience that results in guests getting extremely drunk quickly because they double up on drinks before the free ones run out. Just something to think about.

We are doing a limited bar. With 2 types of beer on tap and 2 types of wine that will be free. Any liquor guests will have to purchase themselves. This is the norm in our area too.

It's not tacky at all! It's really whatever you want and whatever your budget allows.

I've been to plenty of weddings that had just beer & wine, limited cocktails, cash bar or even dry.

I personally don't find cash bars tacky, I just think you should prepare your guests. I personally never carry cash so I would be unprepared lol.

View Quoted Comment We are doing a consumption bar because of the price per person it was coming out to like 10k for a full open bar. So we are having a tab and will add to it if we need to but I know my guests won’t drink 10k worth. Also if we don’t use all the tab we get the money back so at least we aren’t wasting it. To the guest it will appear to be open, only we will know that there’s a tab. I’d avoid doing an all cash bar, we went to a wedding last weekend and it was cash bar and we were pissed to find out when we got to the bar. There was no warning.

I would avoid a cash bar and drink tickets. Honestly to me drink tickets make it seem like a company event or something not a wedding so I would avoid those. I think all of the suggestions everyone has given on here are awesome! I’d go with whatever fits your budget best. 🙂

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I think it's better than no open bar for sure! As for people drinking super quickly knowing it's free in the beginning, I've never experienced this because the couple's didn't advertise it's only free to a certain amount. They just had a sign that said "drinks on us" with whatever is being served, then the bartenders switched it for a sign with prices when they hit their limit.