What kind of...

jonesma204

I know we have talked about this before on the board, however FI and I are considering revising our beer/wine/soda with a cash bar to a open/consignment bar... Our wedding is in Milwaukee, and the norm here seems to be at least beer and soda...

Thanks ladies

Simply_Caitlin

We're doing the full upgraded bar.  Honestly, I've been bartending for the better part of a decade and it was important to me to spend the money there.  Not because people expected or needed it, but it was just something I personally wanted to have.  I've been to plenty of weddings where there was either only wine and beer or only well liquor and they're no less fun.

DeannaCW

We're doing open cash bar. This is the only forum I feel safe saying that :P

hllokttygirl

We are doing the full upgraded bar also, but only because it is included in our PP cost. Having a Sunday afternoon wedding allowed us to have more perks than we thought we could.

mrshall1027

Depending on how many people rsvp, we will either have a full open bar or beer and wine only bar. I really want a full bar, so I'm hoping our guest list trims down. FI knows way too many people!!

ivedonethisb4

I've never been to a wedding with a bar. Its just not a practice here. Some people have beer and or wine..mostly non religous ceremonies...but most is non alcolholic. They save the drinking for the after party because they do the reception at the church. We are having a church ceremony and reception elsewhere and the only alcolhol we'll be offering is beer..from a keg and I'm planning to make hunch punch. Wine just doesn't go with bbq slaw baked beans and potatoe salad! Then we'll offer tea and water for those who don't drink.

music11

We're doing a full open bar, but excluding top shelf liquors.

ktelizabeth86

Beer, wine, soda and signature drink. That's it.

jessiflower

hmmm...were on the fence...need to check into the price of the open bar.  I want to be able to do that for our guests, but just not sure if we have it in the budget or not...you know.  There is a full bar at our venue, and we originally thought we would have a cash bar...but really want to do the open bar now...not sure...

lehc723

I don't know what rail means? We're doing an open bar of just beer, wine, and our signature cocktail. It saved us a lot of money that way, and most of the drinkers we know prefer beer or wine anyway.

achiduck

We're putting two bottles of wine on each table and everyone gets a glass of champagne for toasting. Everyone will also get three tickets for alcoholic drinks (wine, beer, mixed drinks, etc) and pop/juice will be open.

So in the end, everyone ends up with about 6 alcoholic drinks and as much pop/juice as they want. If they need more then 6 drinks it's on their own dime.

goatlady12

We're hosting beer and soda only, the rest is cash bar.  Open bar scares me because there will be a lot of big drinkers there.  I think open bar would be a recipe for disaster!

ericaandtom2012

We're doing a full open bar and will probably upgrade to top shelf.  There's a couple of the cheap liquors that I don't think cut it. 

Bryan&AmyC

Open bar is important to FI, so we'll be offering that with top shelf choices. The way it works at our venue is that we must provide everything, which is becoming a bit of a pain because it's hard to guess what guests will want to drink. We'll have red and white wine, 3 to 4 beer selections, then the liquor. The venue provides mixers. We'll also be having a champagne toast.

CFM102012

We are hosting Beer Wine and Soda. The reception is in a covered pavilion at a B&B. I'm not going to say anything to guests but its possible someone will discover the bar in the restaurant. If people want to walk down the small (but somewhat steep hill) to the bar I'm not going to stop them.

brainybrunette

We have a full open bar...it's not top shelf, but does include many name brands as well as house brands.  Honestly, I can't tell the difference between alcohol brands so I didn't see the need to spend $11 more per person for premium top shelf.

I've only been to 1 wedding that wasn't completely open bar (open bar during cocktail hour, open beer wine soda for the rest of the night).  Open bar is so common here that most venue packages include it in the package price.

tamrahelmer

We aren't having a bar, which is probably a good idea family wise. His step moms family is just a bunch of drunks so sthey would either drink us broke or come drunk if they knew it was a cash bar. lol We are having the reception at the church and they dont allow alcohol, so we will just be drinking with the wedding party and possibly after the reception with some close friends or something

aimee58

I'm in Racine...full open bar is rare. Every wedding that I've been to has been beer and soda, maybe wine, with cash bar.

CarolineandDean

We have to provide all of our own alcohol, so we're doing beer, wine, a signature drink and a champagne toast. My parents wanted to do a full open, but since we would have to provide everything, it was really stressing me out about what liquors/mixers/garnishes to stock up on.

cbear215

We're doing open bar during cocktail hour, cash bar for the rest of the night.  There will be champagne for the toast and I think we are debating wine at the tables during dinner?  Our venue has told us that they tend to be wasted, so we'll see.

LDubHawksFan

My pick wasn't completely right.  If we have enough money, we are probably going to upgrade to a true cocktail hour, but then after it will be just beer and wine and pop/juice for sure, but we aren't doing a cash bar, but rather, my FMIL said her 10 guests would probably want to drink mixed drinks the whole night so she may open a side tab for them.  I don't know what I think of this, but we will resolve it when it gets closer.  I think her friends can drink wine after....

jonesma204

Thanks ladies, I appreciate all of  your feedback!

I think we are going to upgrade to a full (rail, call, top) open bar ;-)

jonesma204

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_october-2012-weddings_what-kind-of?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:56b9bcef-1e34-456e-81f5-cfaa107456b2Discussion:bf8a068d-5222-4ede-aa31-9aca6ffbbec8Post:c3c00973-98b8-449d-b346-3e502dc00a92">Re: What kind of...</a>:
[QUOTE]I don't know what rail means? We're doing an open bar of just beer, wine, and our signature cocktail. It saved us a lot of money that way, and most of the drinkers we know prefer beer or wine anyway.
Posted by lehc723[/QUOTE]

Rail is the basic brand, bottom tier of a liquor. It's rail, call, then top shelf, HTH :)

fishinflagrl

We are doing open bar for 2 hours with full open bar (call liquors), and then going to cash bar afterwards. My family is not big on drinking, so there is no point in wasting the money...but my friends are and they are in my wedding party...so whomever is in my wedding party is drinking free all night as well as my parents.

ewithnell

We're just doing open beer, wine, soda, lemonade, cider (it's fall, right??) with a coffee service. We're going to put two wine bottles at each table, have the staff open them, but then just put the corks back in so that people can serve themselves and hopefully not waste too much. 

The table wine will be from our favorite winery, and then we're having barefoot red & white (maybe a sparkling too) for the bar if people finish off the table wine (or want a white).

We decided to not do a champagne toast because I don't really like champagne (FI didn't care either way) and people can just toast us with their own favorite beverage. 

I'm also driving a state away to pick up mango mikes, because they're awesome! Hahah