Bar Options

View quoted message Oh for sure which is totally understandable

View quoted message If we were still paying for a venue we definitely would have had some type of cash bar. We have some guests that can drink a large amount.

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That makes total sense though that now you have the money to have an open bat with no having a venue and just in your backyard

For our original wedding plans we were going to do a blend of host/cash bar. Drinks would have been $7-8 and we were going to cover the extra $2-3 for drinks so guests only had to pay $5. We have now changed our plans and will be having a backyard wedding with a host bar. We have a guest list of 75, half of that list is kids or adults that don't drink. With saving money not paying for a venue, we have decided to cover drinks for our family/close friends.

We are doing a host bar where we pay a set amount per person. That way there is no shock with the bill and everyone can drink what they want. We have a few family members who won't drink much but lots of friends and family who will make up for it lol. Personally cash/toonie bar was never an option for us, most of our friends and family got married before us and had an open bar so I feel like it would be unfair if we got to drink for free at all of their weddings and then made them pay. It's just something that was higher priority on our budget but for some it isn't as important!

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Oh, open bar based on price per head was definitely an option. It's one of the hotels down the street from the casino so they do it all the time for other functions. I'm pretty sure the couple just chose not to pay for it lol.

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That makes perfect sense

I think we will be doing a toonie bar. As you said, if people are having to pay (even something as little as a toonie) they will be more mindful and less likely to set down unfinished drinks around the reception and picking up a fresh one from the bar each time. I see absolutely nothing wrong with cash bars, but this was a compromise with my fiance who wanted open bar. Drinks in our area (Georgian Bay area Ontario) are typically around the $9 mark per drink, it's wild. I think toonie bar is a nice gesture since it's so reduced from what someone would normally pay. To put it in perspective, you bring $20 and you get 10 drinks, I think that's pretty good. Plus with toonie at least you can pretty much cover your costs or end up just paying out of pocket a little once you add in mix and garnishes. Rather than open bar where no one has a care for a drink they set down because they can just grab another easily, and it kills me to think about guests literally drinking like $10k and it going down the drain essentially if you have open bar.

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Yeah it's defiantly on the higher end for drinks. All the wine is coming right from the winery itself and all organic, there's no outside wine available. The spirits are all from the Okanagan as well. So I somewhat see why the prices are higher. And that's the thing. Out here in the west we don't do stag and does.

View quoted message They are more common around here than not. I can hardly believe Hanks friend found one that isn't in the Niagara area lol. I think I'd be shocked at a $9/drink tab geez! I think because a lot of couples in Ontario also have a stag and doe thats part of the reason we don't usually have a cash bar.

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You're lucky you found a venue like that. That's a wonderful option.

I think anywhere in Ontario an open bar is pretty standard. I'm not in the GTA but I have never been to a cash or toonie bar either up north or down south of Toronto. I personally wouldn't care if I was going to a toonie or cash bar because neither of us drink very much. I don't think either of us would have more than 2 or 3 drinks anyway and with one of us potentially driving it would only be one of us having 2 or 3 drinks. We never considered anything but open bar. We chose a venue that was all in one. No matter how much anyone drinks I'll still have the same total. Makes me feel better. We will have entire wedding paid the week before so on the night of we won't have that to worry about.

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I hear ya on that one!

View quoted message Also, $9 a drink is insane. Even our prices are closer to $6-7 per drink if we go by consumption bar.

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Who would've thought different parts of the country! Out here in the west (with our venue anyways) we have to pay per drink and not a flat fee per head so it can defiantly add up even if just a few people have a few more drinks then others

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It's certainly a regional/cultural thing. Cash bars are bigger in parts of rural Ontario but in the GTHA and other major metropolitan areas, it's a big no-no in my experience. But our open bars here are a flat fee per head and not paying by the bottle/drink.

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I've never heard about cash and toonie bars being frowned upon out here. Every wedding that i've been to we've had to pay for drinks cash bar and toonie bar

I know this might come across as ignorant, but my fiance and I could care less if people don't like that it's a cash bar or a toonie bar. People assume too much these days. If they don't want to pay for a drink, then they don't have to drink simple as that. It's our wedding and we're going to pay for what we can afford. But we are for sure stating on our wedding invitation that it will be a cash bar so our guests know for sure!

Not covering the cost of the bar and having our guests pay for themselves at our wedding was never an option for us - but deciding how to go about it was hard as we had two options. Originally, we were going to do a host bar with a flat fee per person as our wedding was planned for NYE (self explanatory haha) and it covers any kind of drink, as well as the table wine. We then also wouldn't have to worry about people leaving their drinks and just going to get new ones - that's the worst for sure. Then covid hit, and stayed, so it made more sense to just run a tab as people wouldn't be moving around with their drinks and other factors that led us to believe there would be less drinking (it wasn't on NYE - thanks Ontario - but we still pretended haha). We were only sent the bill a week later, which was nice, but it was also a huge reassurance that we made the right call 🙌. On the other side of this, as a guest, if the bar is covered or not plays into how big of a gift we give. We always try to at least cover the cost of us being a guest (as etiquette says but also by choice).

We're doing a limited host bar. No need for an open bar if we're having a shorter reception without dancing.

And it might be a GTA thing, but cash and toonie bars are highly frowned upon here. It'd be the equivalent of asking people to buy their own dinner at the reception. People are already spending money on attending your wedding and getting you a gift, so them needing to pay more just to have a drink would make us a bad host.

If you must have a cash or toonie bar, you HAVE TO tell people in advance. I cannot stress this enough. One of my groomsmen went to a cash bar wedding in Niagara without being notified beforehand that he needed cash. So not only did he travel over an hour and spent money at a hotel overnight, he had to eat the higher than usual transaction fees from using the on-site ATM. He also gifted way higher than he would have had he known it was a cash bar. Regardless if it's true or not, it came off as them purposely hiding the fact in hopes of getting bigger gifts. Needless to say, that wedding left a very poor impression for a lot of guests.

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That's exactly our thought as well! 9 dollars each does add up very quick for sure.

View quoted message That makes sense! $9 is pricey and I would not want to be covering drinks for guests at that price! It would add up quickly!!

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That's great that your dad is willing to pay for the alcohol. Our venue is supplying all of the alcohol and we're not allowed to bring any in that's why they're 9 dollars each. If it was at a lower cost, then we might have chosen to do a toonie bar.

My Fiancé and I haven't decided yet. We have to supply everything for the bar ourselves. Thankfully my dad said is willing to front the cost of the booze. We know we will either be doing a toonie bar or some sort of cash bar (reasonably priced though like $4/drink is the max id wanna charge) and we are going to cover the drinks for the bridal party and parents.