Cash Bars

What we are doing for our wedding is having a open bar for about 2 hours for the social hour. The rest of the time it will be a "cash bar". Depending on how long your reception is and how many guests you will have, a open bar can be very spendy if it`s open all night.

The open bar is $9.27 a person for 6 hours, unlimited drinks.

If that is all it will cost you, I would go with the open bar option. That sounds like a very good deal you are getting. Go for it!

That is an awesome deal that you are getting!!!! seeing as how on average one mixed drink will run $4.00 alone and nobody has just one drink at a wedding =) another option is to pay for beer and wine only and everything else a cash bar. That is the typical thing now days.

I was at a wedding last weekend, that served only wine until after the toasts and dinner then the bar opened. I`m going to guess and say it was a three hour open bar, which I`m sure was much cheaper than a normal 5-6 hour open bar. It was plenty of time. The bride did it because the finacee`s family has a history of overdoing and causiing embarrasing situations( if you know what I mean!)

My open bar is $24.50/person excluding tax & gratuities!!!!! It`s frightening how high these liquor prices are!

Since the question asks about the proper etiquette, the answer is that it`s never acceptable to charge your guests for any food or drink.

People will tell you that it`s okay to have cash bars at weddings. They will justify it in many different ways. They can justify till the grass turns purple and it still doesn`t make it right.

In my hometown, it is very acceptable to have cash bars and I can`t say I have ever been to an open bar wedding. Purchasing bottles of wine for the dinner for everyone to toast and eat is fine, but afterwards is always a big party and frankly people don`t mind paying for their own drinks.
I read in a magazine how you wouldn`t invite people to your house and make them bring their own food and drinks. This may be true, but if it was a party everyone would bring their own drinks and sometimes their own food. Maybe we are just more generous and have sympathy for people pocketbooks and can buy our own drinks.

After my husband and I picked our dinner package for our guests, open bar was added on at only $8.50 per person which included all beers, wines, and mixed drinks. That included 5 hours open bar. This brought an average of $32.90 per person after tax and gratuity was included for 120 guests. That brought our whole reception to under 4 thousand dollars at the country club we selected. I thought that was a great deal.If ypu can afford it, definately do it. Just make sure you order it with well liquor, you don`t need top shelf. You could also limit open bar to just beer and wine along with soft drinks if money is especcially tight.

Since I do not drink and neither does my most of the people in our family, my husband and I have told my daughter that she may have a cash bar as we would not support someone else drinking. I am paying for the champagne for the toast and the social hour wine, cheese, hor d`vours but that is it. I want them to enjoy the meal, have a good time but this wedding is a celebration and not a party.