Tacky vs Frugal

Your day is what you envision it and how its done for guests to enjoy will be great still. Your idea of casual food is fine as long as you know guests will get fed and for cash bar, it should be noted on the invitation to give a heads up and being prepared. The final count will have you know how much to order and which variety your getting for everyone to enjoy. A suggestion of platters of assorted desserts/pastries as sweets is nice to have after too.

View quoted message Ohh thank you! This is all awesome advice. It also gives people a say which always makes people happier.

I agree with Hank, as long as you display the food nicely you can dress up frugal to avoid it looking tacky! We bought crystal-looking trays from the dollar store for our small reception and built our own charcuterie and cheese plates and veggie trays. We also splurged a little on slightly fancier disposable plates and cutlery from Costco and party city (plain white plastic plates that looked like china and silver plastic cutlery).


On your RSVP cards you could put a selection of pizza varieties (pepperoni, cheese, veggie, meat lovers, hawaiian etc) and also have a suggested toppings option. This way you can estimate how many of each to buy and if enough people want alternative toppings you can add those to the order too. Guessing how many slices people will eat might be tough, but Pinterest probably has a "how to feed a crowd pizza" chart, and you could also ask the pizza place how many slices you need for x number of guests.
For the cash bar you can put a little informt insert in your invitation or on a website. This can have a map, parking info, and a reminder that the bar will be cash. I don't see cash bars as tacky and I never will: I'm at a wedding to celebrate the love of two people, not get drunk off my @$$ in their dime. I would suggest, if possible, keeping the drink prices low and round for example a toonie bar because its easy to communicate to guests, they'll know how much cash to bring, and your bartender won't need to make complicated change.

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If the invitation doesn't specific, it's automatically assumed it's an open bar (even if the host pays per drink via consumption bar instead of a true open bar, we're still not paying as guests). But regardless, to anyone planning to use a cash bar, PLEASE tell your guests. Some people don't say it because they don't want to get any frack for it but springing it on them as a surprise at the wedding is not the way to go.

As for food, don't forget heat lamps or chafing dishes! Cold pizza is great when you're hung over in university but not so much at a wedding. You can rent all of these things for cheap at any party rental spot like Alligator Party Rentals.

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Oh for sure! Plus it's your day you don't always have to what is typically "traditional" at weddings anymore. Do what's best for the two for you!

View quoted message That's my thought too. Plus neither my fiance nor myself really drink, and I'm not too keen on people getting really sloshed at the wedding.

I don't think so at all! My fiance and I are having a cash bar at our wedding since we both don't want to be paying for a huge alcohol bill at the end of the night. If people want to drink, then they can pay for their own and if some guests don't like it then so be it they don't have to drink. But I would specify on your invitation that it will be a cash bar if that is what you guys decide

View quoted message Oddly enough, I've never seen an invitation specify the type of bar but I know I'd prefer to know in advance so yeah, that makes sense to include it.


And thank you for your opinions about the pizza! You make some really good points. Leaving them in the box would seem kind of tacky. I was definitely thinking of getting a large variety and also providing things like salad and other healthy options. I'll definitely have to get some nice trays and stuff to class it up.

Absolutely let your guests know. I think it's important that you communicate to your guests what your wedding will look like. That's not to say you need to give absolutely every detail about the wedding but at the very least you must indicate formality and service. If you're doing a cash bar, you have to tell your guests. If you're not serving dinner, you have to tell your guests. With that info, they will be able to make informed decisions like how to dress appropriately, what gifts to give, whether they need to bring money for the bar, etc.

Frugal does not mean tacky. It's frugal to have pizza as reception food but you can easily jazz that up by ordering different varieties of pizza and placing them on a nice serving tray but it would be tacky to have plain pepperoni and cheese pizzas and leaving them to be served inside the Dominos box. But that's just my opinion.