Wedding Costs- Cash Bar or Open Bar?

_stephanie0

Hi Everyone!!

I have been looking on the web for some answers and I get answers all over the map, but the answers are really old. I would like some opinions. My fiance and I just got engaged a week ago so we are now looking at a budget. I am 22 he is 25 and we are renting, and paying for the wedding ourselves so we don't have a lot of money... We are trying to cut costs and I'm curious on your thoughts about booze...should we:

a) suck it up and have open bar
b) offer unlimited beer and wine, everything else you pay for
c) give 2 drink tickets then they buy their own
d) have a toonie bar

or other!!

also, any brides have other ways to cut costs? We are looking at around 100-120 guests (95% family members)

Thanks

KittieLea

I would go with unlimited beer and wine and have them pay for anything else.
Congrats by the way!

myfitnessval

My brother & SIL just got married in april and were also on a tight budget, they happened to have their reception at a place that had a bar on site which was perfect. we supplied champagne for the toast and free soda/tea/coffee/water and all other drinks guests paid for. and they were totally willing to pay judging by the hangovers the next morning lol.

Sarahsarahsarahk

Hey!! CONGRATS!! That is SO exciting! I am 23 and am getting married on March 23! We are having an open bar but youre right, it gets very expensive! I think offering unlimited beer and wine but guests pay for everything else would be a great way to do it if you're trying to cut costs. I know if I were a guest at a wedding that did that, I would be totally satisfied with that!!

Caffeinewitch

I've been to 10 weddings in the past 2 years. I can tell you a couple of things:
Weddings without booze need to give people a heads up
Weddings with booze that you pay for will be talked about in a bad way
Weddings with booze that is free will be remembered well even if the guests are drunk enough to forget.

trhjrh06

At my wedding we had a certain amount of fuzzy navels and whiskey sours available and you could drink as much of it as you wanted and then the rest everyone had to pay for.

And congratulations!
Good luck with the planning!

tedjr79

We did beer and wine ( 3 kegs and 60 bottles...big wedding) everything else people had to pay for...Worked out great.

Il_DaniD_lI

Toonie bar.

taylor5877

paying for your own in early 20's? hell, your guests are lucky you didn't send them a postcard with a pic from the JOP asking for "we just got married" presents.

Do what make the most financial sense.

ChevyChick88

I just got married a couple of months ago. This was also a difficult decision for us as we did not have unlimited funds. We did unlimited beer and everythig else was cash bar. We heard no complaints at all. As a matter of fact, this is they way it has been at 99.9% of the weddings I have been to, Good luck! And, Congrats!!!

maremare312

I would say to just provide beer and wine, don't even need to have a cash bar, mixed drinks aren't necessary.

SoViLicious

I went with unlimited beer and wine and cash bar. But my army of *****es (girlfriends) drank a ton of wine. A then end they all pooled together and got me a really nice gift.

Hellbent_Heidi

Personally, I find cash bar to be tacky, but it truly depends on what traditionally happens with weddings in your family and where you live.

Another option is just to have beer & wine, and no hard liquor at all. Depending on the venue, you probably have some less expensive options! If you're bringing in your own alcohol, you can do it a lot cheaper than if you go through a banquet hall where you have to buy it through them (or pay per head).

My wedding was at a place where they provided a bartender, but you brought you own stuff in. My father in law paid for all the booze, and he was able to return all unused bottles to the store he got them from (most stores will allow this as long as the seal isn't broken).

Edited to add CONGRATULATIONS...and if that's your engagement in your profile picture..that's a very romantic place to propose! Props to your man!

Rosered3333

Congratulations! I would do unlimited wine and beer and cash bar for other liquors. That will also help keep most people in line and out of the liquor.

Depending on the rules of your venue, you could talk with a liquor distributor and return any unused liquor after the reception.

Also, as a note, the website www.weddingwire.com was the best resource I could use for wedding planning. It's much more user friendly than The Knot and the vendors all have reviews there.

Good luck and have fun!

Im_NotPerfect

When planning our wedding, I learned this is a really regional thing so you're going to get a MARIAD of opinions.

Where I'm from (NE Wisconsin), we have open beer and cash bar for everything else. We ended up giving our wedding party some "tickets" for other drinks of they wanted, because we knew that not everyone drank beer, and we didn't have them charge our parents.

Felicia714

Congrats! I say go for the beer/wine... everything else they pay for!

azzkikin

My brother just got married this past weekend. They payed for it them selves too. One thing they did for the bar was to have it open for the first hour or a dollar amount which ever came first. then after that it was a cash bar. Also it depends on where you have the reception but some places will throw in the champagne and beer.

The ended up having two receptions to allow for different groups of guests to attend. One way they saved money was in place of start your life gifts from the family, they had family members pay for some parts of the day. Like paying for the flowers, splitting the booking rates on the reception halls, and we even had two photographers and video specialist in the family. So it helped cap the total spending to a point.

Hope this helps and congrats.

Troy

BanjoKd

My vote is a keg...maybe 2 if you can swing it....and one or two bottles of 2 buck chuck for each table. THEN it is what it is...cash bar after that. Since it's 95% family they should know that's all you can swing.

superpapa16

Weddings without booze need to give people a heads up
Weddings with booze that you pay for will be talked about in a bad way
Weddings with booze that is free will be remembered well even if the guests are drunk enough to forget.

^ This.

Erica0718

run off and elope and spend the money you would have spent on a big wedding on a house or a nice vaction just for the two of you.

Congrats!

_the_feniks_

Open bar = better wedding gift from your guests
Cash bar = gift certificate from your guests

iSteakers

We had a few kegs and then a red and white option for wine. That was free until it ran out (which it did not) and anything else people wanted was cash. We also provided free unlimited pop which was nice for people that may have had a flask or just wanted a drink without alcohol. It worked out very well. Providing beer and/or wine with dinner or something seems to be the most common thing I've been seeing in the last few years.

Michelle_Nicole

Congrats!! I am also recently engaged and my fiance and I are paying for our wedding ourselves at 24 and 27. Depends on where you have the reception for the bar, we found a place that had an open bar option in the dinner price that wasnt too expensive. If you cant find one fairly cheap I would go with beer and wine and the rest cash bar.

tuiccim

Best Wishes! I say offering beer and wine is sufficient on a budget.

LorinaLynn

Elope. :drinker:

paulaviki

It's funny how different countries gave different ways of doing things. Here in the UK it is rare to go to a wedding where the drinks are all free, at most weddings you get one post ceremony drink, wine with the meal (usually half a bottle per person) and a glass of bubbly for the toasts. But then it is always a normal bar where you have to pay for your own drinks.

Weddings cost enough without paying for all your guests drinks!!

TubbsMcGee

Either open bar or option B.

Guests enjoy free drinks!
Granted, it's YOUR day, and you shouldn't feel the need to be impressing people, but I think everyone would enjoy the celebration of you two getting hitched a lot more if they had free booze.

....or at least, that's what I have planned in the future. Destination wedding with just the 2 of us, giant reception when we come home to friends and family.

Congratulations!!!

bizorra

We had beer and wine made (it turned out INCREDIBLE, better than any other time I tried this) and had a cash bar. We chose our venue based on our need to have an affordable bar. Our venue did not charge a corking fee, and the drinks were $3-$5 each. We gave drink "tickets" to the wedding party, who ended up spending them on shots for the few late night stragglers.

The only time I ever felt "snippety" about a cash bar at a wedding was when a good friend of mine got married and spent the three months prior bragging about how little it was going to cost him and how awesome all the gifts were going to be :-/ No dinner, no booze, it was a fun time but left a bad taste in my mouth.

But free booze = crazy drunken party = hillarious stories and pictures = memorable night had by all!!

iSteakers

Also on your question about how to cut costs. I did a Vegas wedding with just parents and then a reception back home, but for the reception I picked a venue that had everything. We did an appetizer buffet which was more food than most people even wanted for a dinner and then that included a build your own sundae bar so we had no cake (this was a huge hit). I also made sure to pick a venue that had linens and a simple centerpiece so I didn't have to deal with anything like that or chair covers etc. I'm pretty low maintenance when it comes to this stuff though. I also used Etsy for things such as my flowers which were cheaper than a florist would have been and I get to keep them forever. I managed to get a HUGE bang for my buck because I didn't think it was worth it to spend loads of money on the wedding

morganhccstudent724

Weddings without booze need to give people a heads up
Weddings with booze that you pay for will be talked about in a bad way
Weddings with booze that is free will be remembered well even if the guests are drunk enough to forget.

^ This.

+2

sondrawolfe

You could have a "Cocktail Hour" with open bar for a period of time and then cash bar after that. I've been to weddings with all variations and have never been offended to pay for drinks. I would think your friends and family would under stand limited budget.