Open Bar during cocktail hour or reception?

Question

If I do the cocktail hour is limited (hour) - this may help financially. If I do open bar at the reception - I may have to limit it to a certain amount of drinks or drink tickets - I think this is tacky. Any Suggestions?

Answer 1

A Wedding is a celebration of a couple's love and their first official party as husband and wife!  Generally when one hosts a "party" guests are treated, so that is not any different from a Wedding.

Etiquette will dictate that a invited guest should be treated as a guest from beginning to end of the event.  Understanding budget constraints, let's look at a few elegant options that will look like a million bucks for a beer budget:

First of all, check your overall budget and see if you can make any small cuts from other places, skimp on guest favors (no one keeps them anyway), have the florist pull a few flowers out of the centerpiece for a $5 per table discount, offer a few less appetizers during the cocktail hour.  No one will notice these, but you may be able to save enough to cover alcohol costs.

Offer a "signature drink" that will look elegant and chic - negotiate with the venue for a good price, then offer a domestic beer and wine (have the venue charge you by the bottle and not the glass).  You do not have to offer a "FULL" bar!

Also, generally you are forced into a champagne toast 1/2 through the evening.  If this is the case, have the venue serve the champagne as people walk into the cocktail hour, via butler style.  That way it looks elegant, but it's not costing you an arm and a leg.  It's a cost you are already incurring.

Lastly, try your best to accommodate the bar tab into your budget.  At worst case scenario turn it into a cash bar after a limit is reaches - but remember there may be cash amongst the Wedding gifts to pay for the extra tab!

Z.

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Answer 2

I would still do the open bar at the reception.. our hall had a great open bar package we got it for 5 hours and our bar tender was AWESOME!!  my total reception was only about $1800

Answer 3

can you really  have a 'cocktail hour' without cocktails? you def need it during the cocktail hour.. you should also have it durning the reception. If finances are an issue, maybe do beer and wine and one signature drink (perhaps a martini that matches your colors?)... or close the bar during the hour that dinner is being served.. a lot of people do that and it isn't a big deal (part of the reason it is done other than for financial reasons is so that diinner can be served quicker without guests getting in the servers' way. so it is a good excuse). just have the DJ let people know so they can get a drink before it closes. Drink tickets would betacky.. it is a wedding, not a beef and beer.

Answer 4

Open bar during cocktail hour.

Wine and beer only for free at reception.

Answer 5

1 hr. is ok 4 cocktail no limit afterwards or go non alcohol affair

Answer 6

Its actually up to ur personal preference...i think wine should be served during cocktail hr and liquor during the reception!!!...Good Luck :)

Answer 7

Alcohol/non-alcohol punch during cocktail hour.  Open bar with Rum, Vodka, Gin?, Beer and soda.  Anything else they can purchase themselves.  Today, most popular drinks are Rum & Coke and Vodka & Cranberry or Orange Juice.  

In your contract, set the number of bottles to be opened, with a switch option (ie if Rum used more than Vodka) and a supplemental purchase of no more than 2 bottles of each, subject to the approval of one person (preferably person paying, who doesn't drink)!

Answer 8

Since you don't want to limit it you can have it open for the cocktail hour and then close it say after dinner...another option is our reception guy told us, we are hvaing the drinks brought to people, they don't go up to the bar and get them themselves, this way people don't just put down a drink somewhere and forget where they put it and go get another one, and alos he told us that people most likely drink less this way because they have to have a serve bring them their drinks? Good luck!

Answer 9

We are doing an open cocktail hour (which is really like a half hour for us because we are doing all our separate pictures before the ceremony and only the ones together after) and then providing wine and beer at the wedding all night and guests can choose to go to the bar and order drinks cash bar style on their own. I have been paying attention at all the weddings I have been to since I got engaged 2 years ago and this is not uncommon practice!

Answer 10

Congrats and best wishes.

I'd say if you want to do an open bar then do it during cocktail hour.

I don't care what the youngsters say, I've been going to weddings a LONG time and there is NOTHING wrong with a cash bar.  People are there to share your day - if you have to bribe them with alcohol to get them to go, then maybe they aren't such great friends after all.   I NEVER assume that the bar is open, so an open bar during cocktail hour is a WONDERFUL gesture.  

I know some people say it's "tacky" (so overused on YA) to give drink tickets, but what is tacky to ME, is to go to  someone's wedding reception and get wasted because it's "free".

Answer 11

Open bar at cocktail hour is enough; just be sure you have wine available on the tables or served during the reception. We did this and just made sure to let our friends and family know the cocktail hour was open and then it would be wine only, and trust me, everyone had enough liquor during the cocktail hour.  An "open" bar during the reception that requires drink tickets is tacky in my opinion. From what I hear, most people go to weddings expecting to pay for their own drinks anyway, so to have anything free is a nice surprise for them.

Answer 12

If you want to do open bar, then do a open bar for the coctail hour.

Answer 13

I agree with Heather D.

Open bar for the cocktail hour, then wine and beer only for the reception.

I also agree with you, drink tickets are tacky, just tacky.