Bar Questions

npott044

I was wondering what everyone was doing for the bar situation at their wedding? Until I joined the knot I had never head of a signature cocktail for a wedding. Has anyone in WI seen this done? I have also heard places talking about being charged one flat rate for an open bar on here. My reception hall only charges per drink for mixed drinks so an open bar would be costly. Just wanted to hear from other Wisconsin ladies. Thanks!!

jonesma204

We are having soda, beer and wine included and everything else is a cash bar. Our caterer is doing our bar service in addition to our food. The cost for both for the evening (including cocktail hour) is about $60/pp. 

I havent been to any weddings with a sig. drink, but it is definetly the new thing! I think its a great way to save money and add a special touch. Most wedding I have been to provide beer and soda with everything else cash bar. It's really up to you and what will work for your budget.

AurorasEnvy

We're doing flat rate open bar, I think it's $44 per person for 6 hours of top shelf liquor.

I agree, do what is within your budget.  Have beer, soda, and 2 signature cocktails is a good way to offer beer & alcohol with it still being budget friendly.

gundy21

We toyed with the idea of a signature cocktail.  In the end, we hosted soda, juice, wine (8 types) and beer (3 types - 1 tap, 2 bottled).  Our caterer did not have a per person/per hour package - we paid per drink.  It worked out well - both for our budget and for our guests (smaller wedding - we knew we had a beer and wine kind of group).

chelseamb11

It really depends on your guests.  We are doing free beer and soda for the night, but everything else is cash bar. I've never seen the signature cocktail but I think it's a cool idea!

rungirl12

I think we are lucky enough to live in an area where cash bar is acceptable, whereas visiting other boards on here it is highly frowned upon.  We are doing free beer & soda.  We pay $1/soda and pay the barrel price for how many are tapped with the clause that they will keep tapping new barrels until a certain time (say 11:00), at which point they would ask us if we wanted to tap another one, or stop serving.  Our venue provides the bar service - it is actually the only thing provided other than the facility itself.

Stina51286

Our venue has beer and soda included in the price per person package that we picked out but it also includes a fountain of four different choices an hour before dinner. Everything else is cash bar. I think if we did open bar we would have to cut out all first cousins because FI family is so big.

beckster5551

We did a DIY bar. We were lucky and were allowed to bring our own alcohol. My brother was able to get everything at cost and we had 6 different types of wine, 3 beers and all the main liquors. Everyone loved the bar and my brother actually had to go get more. We thought about doing a sig. drink but cut it out in the end. 

I would recommend hosting soda and beer at the least. If you can I would do a sig. drink, it doesn't have to been anything crazy. It could just help guest not notice that there isn't an open bar. I know that X-rated was a huge hit at the wedding, which I had gotten for myself! 

aimee58

We're doing beer and soda for free and cash bar for everything else. I think it's rare that people expect anything else.

Love the idea of a signature cocktail but we just don't have many liquor drinkers in our group of friends.

FI brews beer and I'm trying to convince him and his brewer friend to make a "signature beer" for the wedding party.

shoebox13

We are hosting beer (10 types on tap), wine, and soda. Open bar for the wedding party and close family members. We have to pay per drink, but the prices are reasonable. 

Cheeseball56

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_wisconsin_bar-questions?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:118Discussion:5a31ec12-5ada-4129-827e-efa4cf97d8b9Post:186d61da-179a-4494-97df-769999dc18b1">Re: Bar Questions</a>:
[QUOTE] FI brews beer and I'm trying to convince him and his brewer friend to make a "signature beer" for the wedding party.
Posted by aimee58[/QUOTE]

I thought Beer was the "signature drink" for a Wisconsin wedding! :-) Maybe spice it up with a keg of Spotted Cow or Leinie's rather than just Miller or Bud.