Byob?

Im doing a BYOB wedding in September and curious how people’s turned out!

I am doing a backyard wedding as well and decided to provide wine for the tables, as well with a bride and grooms signature drink. Other wise it will be byob rather than guests having to pay for a cash bar.

I think if you can budget to have one or two things provided by you and then make it “if you have a favorite drink you want to have at the wedding, bring it along! We will have our favorite apple cider and beer ready to be enjoyed by all” or something like that.. It will stop anyone from being bummed out about it and people who have specific tastes will bring drinks.


But on the other hand if you are having a small wedding with like 20 of your closest friends I’m sure nobody would mind. It would just suck if what Hank mentioned were to happen at a larger wedding.

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We are thinking of doing this too! on the fence but we were thinking of providing canned mix drinks, beer and water as well as pops and juices to mix but guests bring their own liquor. We are also having our wedding in October on our property

Anything is possible these days and you can have your guests come as they are and have BYOB. Budget is the key thing to keep low and on point for a special occasion. There isn't anything wrong with your concept.

Can you clarify what your tent wedding is?

Is it a tent setup on a property that's a licensed venue? If so, you're not allowed to serve drinks obtained outside of the venue's liquor license. BYOB not allowed.

Unlicensed venue that you rent? You need a Special Occasion Permit and only drinks ordered through the SOP can be served. BYOB not allowed.

If you're having it on your own private property, like a backyard or cottage then you can BYOB but I would still serve something like Tori is doing. It's not insulting to ask guests to BYOB but if alcohol is solely coming from guests alone, it's a real buzz kill.

Amelia has a good point about sharing. Are you putting everything people bring on an open share table? Are they expected to bring enough so everyone can have some? If I brought something nice and all the randoms hack at it while contributed a few cans of Labatt Blue or something cheap that no one wants to drink, I'd be annoyed. It's equally annoying if everyone ended up bringing cheap/poor quality drinks.

If you're in a licensed venue that participates in Ontario's Bring Your Own Wine program, you can technically BYOB but you have to pay corkage fees, which is per bottle. I'm assuming you're considering BYOB to offset costs which means, you probably want the guests to pay for corkage. If I brought wine to your wedding AND I have to pay in order to drink it, I definitely would be annoyed.

We are doing this! Since postponing our June date and having to downsize the guest list so it can happen in October, we are now just doing a casual backyard “reception.” We are planning on having “signature drinks” so mine is Rosé and my fiancé’s is going to be a selection of craft IPAs so there’s alcohol available but other than that it will be BYOB!

I dont think so! Due to Covid we are keeping two options. If we can have the reception at our venue then it will be a bar service but if the restrictions say we have to cut down our guests we will be having backyard reception (which also means no liquor licence required). We would do BYOB and supply table wine as well (As we would have for the reception hall too). Plus BYOB is way cheaper for everyone! haha. Which if I was a guest I would be thrilled haha.

I think if your having a casual reception with people you're quite close to it wouldn't be an issue. I would still have a little something for people who forget, like a punch or sangria or a few bottles of wine and beer. I don't think people would be insulted.


If you're having a big party the issues I would think of are keeping people's booze straight from each other (if several people bring Coors light are they ok to put it all together and share? Will anyone be ticked if someone samples their booze instead of their own) and controlling how much people drink. Ultimately you or the property owner (or whoever insures the property) are responsible for making sure people don't overdo it and that they don't drink and drive.