Is open bar necessary??

View quoted message Hi Chloe, I saw that you had your wedding and I was wondering how people felt about no liquor at the wedding? I’m honestly worried about people being upset

Our bar was built in to the "per person" price.

I personally think a wedding should have an open bar. We had one, and nobody got "drunk". I did not want my wedding remembered as the one without the open bar... because people will say that.

I know a lot of people that dislike wine, so to only serve wine at my wedding was not an option.

Budget wise, its expensive and unneeded. Cash bar will be better if you choose that cost.

Thankfully, we had the open bar without extra costs.

It is entirely up to you ! It all depends on the people you're inviting too ! My family is large and love to drink hahah , so open bar was a must for us ! But if you can get away with just wine and soft drinks do it !! Its your wedding, and if you don't want to spend the extra cash that's your call!

It's up to you! We're not having any alcohol at all.

It's up to yourself really. If you have heavy drinkers in the party I would suggest against it to save yourself money. My fiance's side is Irish so ours is NOT open bar as the cost would be quite high.

Hi Charlotte, I know then when wedding planning the idea of saving costs is extremely tempting. Think about if you were a guest, would you be happy with that option? If so, then go for it! I personally would be unhappy to attend a wedding that did not have open bar as I only like some types of wine and would be limited to what alcohol I could drink. If you know your guests would be fine with that, then why not choose what saves you?

I agree with Catharine 100%!!! In addition, It's our day, yes but it's a day for your guests as well. We are having an open bar. In our family there is a bit of an expectation where that's concerned. But we are also aware that our family is very generous and it is an expensive day for our guests too. We want to make sure they feel part of our day. I also would say, if you are going to cut your budget , but it where your guests won't be affected by it. Guests will always remember the food, bar and entertainment.

I think it is not a "must" but it is a nice thing to do for your guests. I always think of it as how YOU would like to be treated as a guest when you attend a wedding?

A lot of my guests don't like wine and wouldn't drink it. Evaluate your list and ask around. No point in unlimited wine if people won't drink it.

At first I wanted to do an open bar in fear of people thinking we were tacky to have a cash bar...Well, that and my FH family are big into drinking. We are only have 50 guests so its $800 for the open bar. Our package already includes an alcoholic and non alcoholic punch, wine served with dinner and a champagne toast. After adding the rest of the costs I'm really starting to think screw what people think and make it a cash bar. Its just an added cost that isn't really truly necessary.

Personally i disagree with an open bar for a few reasons :1) you have to pay per head, even for children who are too young to drink so you could be paying a couple hundred dollars for people who wont even be drinking2) you dont gain any money out of it, and;3) when you have an open bar most people get a drink, have a sip, put it down and forget about it and go get another one because they are free! whereas if you do cash bar, or even a toonie bar, people wont do that as much because it is more expensive!

I feel like we've been pressured into having an open bar. Certain (influential) people have been vocal about it. That's the way it should be, end of discussion. Well we have to pay per drink, so that'll be a bit of a damper to pay the bill at the end of the night. Goodbye savings.

Not necessary, but know your audience. For example, I know a lot of my crowd doesn't drink wine and will want beer available. The other half are russian and will insist on vodka shots. But that's just our group!

I don't think an open bar is necessary at all. I think I have been to one wedding that had an open bar and a lot of crazy drunken things happened, not something I would want at my wedding.

We are doing free wine and sparkling juice during dinner service and then a 4 dollar bar for the rest of the night.

Absolutely not necessary. Your wedding, your choice! I think that a cash bar, or even a toonie bar is completely okay! A cash bar will also prevent people from leaving have finished drinks and getting another one - a lot less waste.

I don't think that you have to do an open bar. We ended up doing drink tickets for each guest.

View quoted message Im doing wine on the table and cash bar as well.

I don't think open bar is necessary! Even a toonie bar would be good, I am doing a toonie bar along with free mimosas. We chose those as our "specialty" drink so I figured those could be free

We did beer and wine only. Everyone was happy with that, but we also knew our crowd well and that’s what they would like.

We gave one drink ticket person but the rest they had to pay for. All non alcoholic beverages were free

Open bar is not necessary. People should be happy with whatever they are given and most people aren't all that surprised at a cash bar.

Definitely not nessessary! Especially if there will be unlimitted wine! Open hard bar just means youll have a lot of drunk people to deal with.

I definitely don’t think open bar is necessary. I think people tend to over drink when it’s not their money. We looked at a variety of different options to try and not have the huge cost but the hall just wants too much money for our budget. We let our guests know on our invitations that it would be a cash bar. We also let them know it was an adult only event.

I agree. We are planning to have a non - alcoholic and a sangria type punch during the cocktail hour. Wine with dinner, champagne for toasting and of course juice and pop. Otherwise it's a cash bar. I don't think people will complain.

Honestly open bar tends to lead to people to being too drunk. We’re doing a cash bar but really cheap.

I agree with Chelsea! We are not doing open bar either but we are making sure all soft drinks and juices and such are free. Guests get one glass of champagne, and wine with dinner but after that they're on their own. We are giving out drink tickets and once people use those up they can use cash.

Just want to say that some people don't like wine because it gives them a headache or acid indigestion. Perhaps a cash bar would be best as Chelsea said.

View quoted message Oh perfect!! I'm gonna cancel the open bar. It's not necessary

We didn't do an open bar, had 2 bottles of wine on each table for guests and all soft drinks, juice etc was free! Nobody complained and it kept people from getting stupid drunk. We had a cash bar and that way if people wanted something, they could have it since not everyone likes wine and then we didn't have to pay for it.