Alcohol

kbunkwedding · June 2011

So Mainers. I think this answer is a little different for weddings here than other states.

What is a good way to handle alcohol. We don't mind spending some money but we cannot do open bar. What works?

fickrj5 · June 2011

you can offer just selected beer and wine.

esskem · June 2011

I know my venue mentioned that you could give them a budget for the alcohol, and when it runs out, it runs out. They can either close the bar or switch to cash after the money's spent.

If you do just choose to do beer and wine, a lot of places will let you buy wine by the bottle beforehand, which reduces the cost a little.

hcorr34 · June 2011

We are doing a set amount and when that runs out, then it will become a cash bar.

chrispygal · June 2011

I agree with offering complimentary beer and wine and have the other bar drinks available for purchase. Or, I've been to lots of weddings where cocktail hour was open bar and dinner had a couple of bottles of wine on each table and after that it was buy your own. Figure out how much you can spend on this and then talk to your venue about your options.

jelenybeany · June 2011

to be honest I'm not sure. We were going to do completely cash bar because I'd never heard of/been to a wedding where there was an open bar. My grandmother is a wedding planner and she said that open bars (when i heard about them here) were a terrible idea.

then I came on the knot and saw several girls get ripped apart on the etiquette board for suggesting cash bar at any point. I totally get the theory behind why cash bar is bad, but I think it depends on your crowd. I don't think many people in my crowd (our wedding is only fifty people though) would expect a full open bar.

That being said we changed our venue and are now able to provide our own alcohol so we will be providing enough beer and wine for the whole reception ourselves because it's going to be super cheap. Otherwise at our original venue we were going to do open cocktail hour and then poured wine during dinner. Is that an option for you?

littlefieldmj · June 2011

We're doing cash-bar only because that's what we can afford. Water, lemonade, iced tea, hot tea and coffee will all be available free of charge; and it's an afternoon wedding, so I don't think our guests will mind the cash bar. If you are willing to spend some cash, I'd suggest hosting an open bar during cocktail hour and cash the rest of the night, or hosting beer/wine/signature cocktails for the event, or only beer and wine for the event.

How side-eyed you'll get for not hosting an open bar really depends on your crowd. We're a pretty laid back group, so it's NDB; but I can imagine it's still frowned upon in some circles. Good luck!!

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