bar etiquette

[tresjoliecoco]

What do you think about cash bar vs. open bar? Our friends over at "the knot" tell us that it's not c-lassy to have guests pay for drinks. I agree in principle, but the suggested starting budget in their workbook is 30K. We're working with half of that.

One thing we're considering is doing a wine pour-- that way, they get drinks with dinner (and

Comments

[the_dah]

i totally wouldn't pass judgment on someone who had a cash bar, but one of our priorities is an open bar because the wedding we went to was the most fun ever mostly because of the open bar (the awesome people and dancing didn't hurt either!). it just depends on what your priorities are! if you don't really care about alcohol then don't do an open bar and put the money to something else

[livvylove]

Why not have a signature drink instead of an open bar? It should be cheaper just having one kind of drink instead of an open bar

[lizkayl]

This.

[sailorgarnet]

indeed.

[faerie_mistress]

Personally I have no problem with a cash bar, provided I'm forewarned. I'd get annoyed if I turned up and THEN found out I had to buy drinks, especially if I had no cash on me and no idea where the nearest ATM was. But that's just me.

[cme2694]

Personally I have no problem with a cash bar, provided I'm forewarned.

I agree with this. We don't usually have cash on us, and we'd be annoyed to find out that it's a cash bar when we got to the reception.

[etoilepb]

I am of the opinion that getting trashed does not a wedding make, and that my hosts are not under any obligation to provide me with booze.

That said, Miss Manners has lately been addressing this often and suggests serving punch -- both spiked and -un -- rather than going to a cash bar.

(For us, we're avoiding the bar for other reasons: half his family are teetotalers, and half of mine are alcoholics. The college friends can certainly live without for a day, as we're all closer to 30 than to 20. We're better off skipping the spirits. Though we are planning to have red and white wine around.)

[claripossum]

I am of the opinion that getting trashed does not a wedding make

Me too. I've heard too many horror stories...

[_lindz]

I don't think so at all! My guests are getting a glass of champagne for toasting, and then we're putting two bottles of wine on each table and the rest is cash-bar.

A co-workers sister just got married and spent $10,000 on open bar which is just INSANE.

[claripossum]

YIKES! I didn't have NEAR that amount for my entire wedding!

[chapstickqueen]

That's simply outrageous! An open bar for our 120 guests would have cost us about $2500 if we'd gone through our caterers. They must have paid extra for premium brands or something.

However, we asked to bring our own alcohol [caterers provided ice, garnishes, and mixers], and they let us. We spent $600 on great name brands AND got to keep the leftovers!

[calicohope]

Hate to hack this post, but did you guys have an open bar or beer/wine only? We're providing our own beer and wine for 100 guests and that's essientially what I budgeted, but I've been freaking out that it won't be enough.