Serving beer

We're having a completely dry wedding. I think the only thing you may have to consider is how to convey that it won't be a completely open bar.

Yes, it's rude. People spent their time and money to come to your party, and you want them to spend more money while they're there? Your reception is a thank you to your guests for attending your ceremony, so they should not have to pay for anything.

If you don't have a big budget, cut your guest list until you can afford to provide food and drinks for everyone. People drinking and driving is always on the person that made that decision, regardless of who paid for the alcohol.

I agree that if you insist on serving everyone 1 beer and then doing a cash bar, you should convey that information so people can come prepared. I never carry cash, so if I was caught unaware by a cash bar, I'd take the cash out of my gift. If I knew there was a cash bar, I'd come prepared with my own alcohol.

It is rude because your guests should never have to pay for anything at your wedding. You don't have to do a full open bar, but at least serve beer and wine all night. Your bartender is responsible for cutting people off and it's not your job to police your guests. Part of planning a great wedding is knowing how many people you can afford to host and not exceeding that number on your guest list.

We are providing unlimited beer and wine only. No hard liquor.

It doesn't work that way. It's still on the venue if someone drives drunk - not on whoever is footing the bill. Most people can monitor themselves, and the bartender is there for those who can't. FH and I never drive to a wedding or other formal event, not worth the risk.

Find costs to cut in other places.

Yes, it is rude. Guests should be provided drinks free of charge. This can be beer and wine or beer and wine with hard liquor, but there needs to be something provided free of charge.

You haven’t been round here much have you? Yes, it’s rude.

Yep it is rude - please don't make your guests pay for anything at the wedding reception.

I'm planning on doing beer and wine. No liquor. But will follow a chart I found to decide how much to have available.

Well you should be able to trust your guests to not get overly drunk. Everyone who drinks is an adult, which means they’re responsible for their own actions.
I personally believe in an open bar that has at least beer and wine. Not everyone who drinks likes beer.

Thanks to all that gave me their input. Do not know much about weddings, that's why I posted the question. We are going to be serving beer and wine, just wanted to see what the typical guidelines for drinks.

View Quoted Comment By that right not everyone drinks beer or wine so where do you draw the line? As a bride and groom that drink neither I would go with a dry wedding before only serving that as alcohol.

I don’t drink beer and wine, but I’d be fine at an event that only served that. Im of the UO that I wouldn’t mind paying for a cocktail as long as beer and wine is covered, or I’d just be DD and not drink. Limiting everyone to 2 either way is pretty rude

Where I live people always get kegs and beer is free to everyone all night. I don’t know that I’ve ever been to a completely open bar wedding, but I don’t have family or friends with a lot of money, plus I’m in Wisconsin where a totally open bar might bankrupt you haha! But I’d advise doing free beer all night at least. If I had to pay for beer I would find it a little out of the ordinary.

I think if you are providing some drinks, you should be provided drinks for the evening. Having a professional bartender will take care of cutting people off if they've had enough.

Super rude. You’re not my babysitter - adults know how to drink and get home safely. If you’re worried about specific people then you can alert the bartender to watch out for the people who tend to drink too much. But the bartender will do that anyway and won’t overserve.
Honestly this whole “I don’t feel like paying for people to drink” is just rude. These people are taking time AND money to celebrate you, especially if they live out of town, the least you can do is budget one drink per person per hour.

View Quoted Comment It’s considered proper hosting to provide beer and wine. Liquor is great but optional. That’s the line 🤷🏻‍♀️

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I understand. And its not that I don't feel like paying for people to drink. I am just trying to stay within a budget. And there has to be a line drawn somewhere. So I think we will just have beer and wine. I don't think we will be able to have other liquor.

View Quoted Comment I totally get about the budget. I’m saving a lot of money as my venue let’s us purchase our own alcohol. We’re only doing a signature drink and otherwise just beer and wine. And that’s totally fine!

My FH and I were in a similar position, Shawna. If we had alcohol, we'd have been limiting it to two "drink tickets" per guest, followed by cash bar. It just wasn't in our budget and we couldn't cut many more guests without them being those who would be very hurt. We decided we'd rather have them grumpy about limited drinks than hurt over not being invited. BUT...the venue we've chosen actually doesn't provide any bar services, and neither does our caterer. So with it being cheaper to provide your own beverages, we've found we can actually follow the general rule of "1 drink per person per hour" and stay in budget if it's only beer and wine! When it runs out, it runs out.