How should we serve alcohol at our wedding?

Question

We'll probably end up with 150-175 people which includes a good number of children. Plans for the actual wedding are already expensive and adding on an open bar would increase it quite a bit from what I've read. I've heard that cash bars are sometimes looked down upon but should I care? Should we just include champagne for the toast? Champagne and beer? A keg? Mixed drinks?

What would you expect as a guest at a wedding?

If you've had experience with purchasing some/all drinks, how much did it cost per person?

Answer 1

OPEN BAR!

Answer 2

An open bar is nice but most guests understand that it's a huge expense. What you might do is serve just wine and beer - much cheaper, especially with a sizeable chunk of people under 21, and still free for your guests. Then you can pass around some champagne for the toasts.

As a guest, I would prefer free wine/beer to a cash bar.

Answer 3

Personally, I dont think cash bar of any kind is appropriate. I always think that its best for the hosts to provide what they can for their guests, and leave it at that.

If you can afford a champagne toast, go for it! It would be fantastic. You could then serve sodas, juice, and coffee through the rest of the evening.

If you can afford to have beer and/or wine also on offer, thats nice but not necessary. Basically, serve what you can reasonable afford, but dont serve more than that and have people pay for it.

No one needs alcohol to have a good time, it should really be up to the hosts what/how much to serve. Just my thoughts.

Answer 4

If you must buy it, pour it all out and enjoy a sober evening.

Answer 5

Just buy beer and soft drinks and have that free. Have champagne served for the toast and if you must- just buy 4 bottles of a certain whiskey, vodka, etc... on hand- when it runs out just have the bartender tell everyone it's out :)

Answer 6

you need to call your venue to see what the cost actually is. Sometimes its REALLY expensive, sometimes its not! If you really want alchohol, you can just serve beer, just service wine or just serve a signature drink that goes with your theme. Some signature drinks are an apple cider for fall, a margarita for summer, some correspond to your wedding colors. Look at martha stewart weddings.com for signature drink recipies.  

Answer 7

We had the first hour open bar and then after that it was a cash bar.  Most weddings I have gone to did the same thing.

Answer 8

Have a full open bar. It was way less than we thought it would be, because we had a venue where we could bring in our own, except we bought beer from the hotel where the wedding was.

Answer 9

Having the right amount of alcohol for our wedding is really important to us...we thought the same thing too-if we just have a cash bar, that might upset some people..SO..we decided to have one free cocktail per person for the cocktail hour. And all the beer, soda, juice they want for the reception. However, if they want liquor/mixed drinks at the reception, they would have to pay for that.

That way, they get the alcohol they want, without getting trashed--and without taking us to the poor house!

Answer 10

U CAN SELL TICKETS FOR DRINKS   LIKE 3 TICKS A BEER  SOMETHING LIKE THAT..Champagne IS GD 4 THE TOAST   ..BEER..

CASES .. MIX DRINKS TOO  BUT ALL SHOULD BE TICKES U CAN BUY THE ROLL OF TICKETS.. THATS WAT MY CUZ DID YURNED OUT GD.. BUT YA SHOULD HAVE SOME BODY FOR SECURITY  1 OF UR FRIENDS WHO DOESNT DRINK.. SOO WHO EVER IS TO LOADED  CANT SERVE THEM ANY MORE..