Cash Bar

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a cash bar. Of course there are those who will tell you that a cash bar "is not acceptable in accordance to proper social etiquette". Whatever, it`s 2004...if someone wants a drink that badly, they can pay for it. My fiancé and I are going the cash bar route; however we are paying for the champagne toast (as well as all non-alcoholic beverages). We live in the Northeast and roughly 75% of the weddings I have been to were cash bar. Personally, I would rather go to a wedding that had a cash bar than one that had no bar. It`s as simple as that. It would be one thing if we were making guests pay for all drinks - non-alcoholic and alcoholic – but we’re not.

I`ve never seen a cash bar at a wedding before. I think if you invite people then they as guests shouldn`t be charged for anything. Maybe scale down the alcohol to what you can afford.

The issue for many couples is cost - and I will go out on a limb and say that if the choice was fewer people with an open bar and more people with a cash bar, those guests who wouldn`t make the short list would probably rather be able to attend your wedding and pay $5 for a beer. That`s assuming they absolutely can`t go the night without a drink. They can knock themselves out on water, soda, gourmet coffee and tea...but the bride and groom should not have to be responsible for someone`s bar tab.

AMEN!!! I completely agree

Mel

We are having a loonie bar (canadian dollar coin). The guests pay $1 for a ticket which gives them 1 drink. All the proceeds of the tickets goes directly towards the bar bill. So if people want to buy 10 tickets they get 10 drinks. It will help us out a little with the bill, but most of all, I think that people will tend to drink a little more responsibly this way.

I don`t know much about midwestern weddings, but here on the east coast I have never seen any cash bars. Someone made the statement "the bride and groom should not have to be responsible for someone`s bar tab". It`s not like you`re all getting together at some bar to hang out for the evening. This is your party that you invited people to. Of course the bride and groom (or whoever is paying for the wedding) should be responsible for everything they serve to their guests!

I think that having a cash bar is a good idea. We recently got married and we paid for everything ourselves also. We provided punch, sparkling cider (for toast), pop and beer. If anyone wanted anything else they had to pay for it. It woked out very well. I`m not sure what location has to do with it but I live in Ohio.
Hope it helps

I think that having any items up for sale at your wedding is in bad taste.

FYI - Cash bars are very common on the east coast and hardly in bad taste.

I agree with Grapejelli - the bride and groom should NOT be responsible for the alcoholic beverages that their guests CHOOSE when they are already paying for non-alcoholic beverages. If, as a guest, you don`t feel you should have to pay for a drink at a wedding, then drink whatever they are paying for. People like to say "If you invite people to your home, would you ask them to pay for a drink?" First of all, when you invite people to your home for dinner rarely is there a $50-$75 per head price tag and secondly, if you`re not serving alcohol at your home, they would have no choice but to drink what was provided. If the option is NO bar v. CASH bar, most guests (at least people that I know) would prefer you provide them the OPTION to buy a drink if they want one.

Often cash bars are more acceptable among those of a lower socioeconomic class. Those who are in a higher socioeconomic class often feel it`s rude to expect guests to pay for anything at a wedding and feel that the bride and groom, or their parents, should be true hosts and pay for everything. You need to look at the class that you are in to determine how acceptable of a practice it is to have a cash bar.

Next time I`m at my local town hall, I will check to see what socioeconomic class I fall under. Thanks for the tip!

I think what Linda was trying to say is:

If you register at Wal-Mart, a cash bar is okay
If you register at Bloomingdales, a cash bar is a major faux pas
If you`re serving chicken wings and pizza at your reception, a cash bar is perfectly acceptable
If you`re serving filet mignon with port wine and roasted shallot reduction, you should probably pay for the booze.

GIVE ME A BREAK...it has nothing to do with what "class" you`re in (or in Linda`s case, what class she likes to think of herself as in), it has to do with what YOU as a couple feel is important to include or not include in YOUR wedding.

Well, I certainly don`t have to ask you two where fall. Hilarious, I love seeing people say stupid things because they don`t have a clue. That`s ok though, no one faults you for not being the sharpest knife in the drawer. The world needs people like you two -- who else will work at McDonalds and super size everyone`s meal?

I went to one wedding were beer & wine were covered but if you wanted any thing else like hard liquor then you had to pay. I think this is ok if you need to cut back on some expenses. But in my case it was a bit of a problem because I didn`t ever think to bring any cash in my evening bag to a wedding. I would try to let people know ahead of time if that will be the case so they are prepared. Also if you can work it into your budget to serve limited alcoholic beverages and charge for others I think that is better than a strictly cash bar. Another good way to cut back on the expense of the bar is to serve an alcoholic punch of some sort.

Although I think cash bars are in very poor taste, I have to say that I hate having the same name as the newer Linda poster. Talk about class! Those posts were classLESS.

I`ll say again though that cash bars are becoming popular but not because they are acceptable. It`s because serving alcohol is expensive. The wedding industry realizes this and knows that not everyone can afford to serve a full open bar, or even any at all. The vendors would much prefer that you have a cash bar in this case. Afterall, they`re in it for the money of course. They don`t care whether or not it`s acceptable or rude. So they have succeeded into convincing thousands of brides that`s it`s perfectly okay to do. It`s unfortunate.

But the truth is that it`s never acceptable to serve anything to your wedding guests for a fee. The only proper thing to do is be gracious hosts and serve what you can afford.

I am getting married August 28th 2004. We are picking up the tab for the beer on tap and the soda. We figured if anyone wants to drink the hard stuff or the expensive beer they can pay for that themselves. What do you think of that ?

Hi lisa,
Due to our families being big and very heavy drinkers
We are pretty much doing the same thing
We are getting a few kegs of beer and soda, plus having punch. Anything else, they have to buy.

Mel