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Amanda
Featured August 2022 British Columbia

Bar Options

Amanda, on February 10, 2022 at 16:58 Posted in Wedding reception 2 26

The cost of food and drinks for your guests will likely be one of your biggest wedding expenses.

For your big day, what are you choosing to do with your bar option? Are you going with a Cash Bar, Toonie Bar, Loonie Bar or a Host Bar? Every couple is different and how their budget will accommodate whichever option they choose and the reasonings behind them.

My fiance and I have chosen to go with a Cash Bar for a few reasons. One, it eliminates having us having to deal with paying for all of the alcohol at the end of the evening and and having a shock when we see the final bill. Two, we know that since both sides of the family are Ukrainian, they can drink a lot. This way if they have to pay for their own drinks, they might think twice about putting down their drink somewhere, forgetting about it and getting another one. Also it might bring our guests to realize that paying $9 and up for a drink, they might think twice about having a tone of drinks throughout the evening.

26 Comments

Latest activity by Amanda, on February 21, 2022 at 21:29
  • Amanda
    Featured August 2022 British Columbia
    Amanda ·
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    These are such a great idea for your guests! I love this!

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  • Pamela
    Curious September 2022 Ontario
    Pamela ·
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    Bar Options 1
    I found these on IKEA for under $10. Unfortunately they've increased to $15. Bought the gray throws and a navy one. A friend of a friend has done the hearts with embroidery ‘Be Our Guest’ on them.
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  • A
    Newbie July 2022 British Columbia
    Alison ·
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    The hall that we are renting provides the catering, and charge a flat rate for the bartenders, but we supply the alcohol and can decide charge or not. They supply the mixers/pop/juice/ice etc for a flat fee, or we can get it likely for cheaper but less stress is best! If we put wine on the tables there’s a corkage fee, if poured by the bartenders, no corkage fee. Still throwing ideas around. The meal is not cheap, per person, so may have a twoonie bar for specialty cocktails, or “after two alcoholic drink limit”.
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  • A
    Newbie July 2022 British Columbia
    Alison ·
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    What awesome wedding favour are you giving them?
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  • Amanda
    Featured August 2022 British Columbia
    Amanda ·
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    I think that's a great option if the price is right!

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  • D
    Devoted September 2022 Alberta
    Derek ·
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    We ended up going with a host bar, as this turned out to have lower prices than most of the other options. We will have bottles of red & white wine available to whomever wants them for that table, and a number of our guests don't drink wine (they prefer beer or cocktails), so this was the best way to accommodate everyone.
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  • Amanda
    Featured August 2022 British Columbia
    Amanda ·
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    I think thats a great option for all of your guests!
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  • Kim
    Devoted June 2022 British Columbia
    Kim ·
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    We're doing a bit of both options! Wine and beer will be on us, but cash bar for anything else. Most of my family of my mom's side doesn't drink and we're only having 45 people. But we thought this way people can enjoy themselves with beer & wine but if they want to party with shots, that's on them

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  • Amanda
    Featured August 2022 British Columbia
    Amanda ·
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    I think a toonie bar is a great option for your day!

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  • Pamela
    Curious September 2022 Ontario
    Pamela ·
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    Because we are having ours at home in our backyard we’ve opted to go for a ‘toonie’ bar. I figure I’m feeding them supper and giving an awesome wedding favour ($25) they can do $2 a drink.
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  • Rayanne
    Master June 2022 Ontario
    Rayanne ·
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    It'll happen
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  • Amanda
    Featured August 2022 British Columbia
    Amanda ·
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    We all need a good party after all of this craziness!!
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  • Rayanne
    Master June 2022 Ontario
    Rayanne ·
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    Our package is open bar and food together so we won't have any surprises at the end of the night luckily. It was really important for us to have the open bar. More so after (I can hope) covid we just need a good party lol
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  • Amanda
    Featured August 2022 British Columbia
    Amanda ·
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    Mimosas are one of my favorites for brunch!

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  • Amanda
    Featured August 2022 British Columbia
    Amanda ·
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    I love that you don't have to go looking for a bartender! That's awesome!

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  • R
    Frequent user September 2022 Ontario
    Rere ·
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    We are having a brunch style wedding and will just be buying champagne for mimosas. Probably a few wines just to have, but don't think people will drink to much so the bill shouldn't be much(hopefully) lol.
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  • A
    Super September 2022 Alberta
    Alyx ·
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    We are doing a toonie bar! We only have to supply the alcohol and the venue provides everything else for the bar , our caterer supplies the bartender!
    Just made more sense for us budget wise!
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  • Liberty
    Featured May 2022 Alberta
    Liberty ·
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    Right?! Like what if we forget lemons or something like that? 😂
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  • Amanda
    Featured August 2022 British Columbia
    Amanda ·
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    I'm sure they'll have a list of things for you to have to do their job right! I would hate to forget something important

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  • Liberty
    Featured May 2022 Alberta
    Liberty ·
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    Oh that's perfect then!! It's definitely going to be a lot more work for us. I'm hoping to hire our bartender soon then hopefully they can tell me everything they need so I don't forget things.
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  • Amanda
    Featured August 2022 British Columbia
    Amanda ·
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    I'm not going to complain on that part! Less work for us with the alcohol, plus we got the list of what they provide and they include everything that we normally drink during a camping weekend which is great!! and not to mention wine straight from the winery!

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  • Liberty
    Featured May 2022 Alberta
    Liberty ·
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    I think its awesome being able to supply your own (I can make sure I get exactly what I like) but I feel like at a winery it makes sense they want to be providing the alcohol! A couple friends recently did $4 drinks and it seemed to go over well with guests!
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  • Amanda
    Featured August 2022 British Columbia
    Amanda ·
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    That sucks that you don't get a choice. But hopefully with a small guest list, your bill won't be that crazy at the end of the night!

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  • Amanda
    Featured August 2022 British Columbia
    Amanda ·
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    I wish we could supply our own alcohol! The winery provides it all and we can't have any outside drinks.

    I think $4 dollar drinks is a great idea imo! It's a happy medium!

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  • Jacquie
    Frequent user August 2022 Alberta
    Jacquie ·
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    We’re doing a fully open bar. Our venue has a one bill policy, so we don’t really have a choice. However since we have a small guests of under 40 I don’t think the bill will be too outrageous.
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  • Liberty
    Featured May 2022 Alberta
    Liberty ·
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    We haven't fully decided yet. We have to supply everything for the bar ourselves. My dad has said he will buy all the alcohol up front then use the money from guests buying drinks to reimburse himself. But we haven't decided if we are doing a toonie bar or a cash bar. I want to make sure guests are cautious of how much they are drinking. So I'm leaning towards $4 drinks. I did list on our website that it will be a cash bar.
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