Open Bar Hours

I would prefer the 3 hours, but I also wouldn't be horribly upset if it was only 2.

2 hours is fine

I think this is a “know your crowd” type-of-thing. Our guests all really like to drink so we did 5 hours (plus an additional 3 hours at our afterparty). All of our guests were getting drinks all throughout the night. However, if your family and friends aren’t big drinkers, two hours may suffice!

Two is fine

3 hours absolutely 100%. This is your wedding reception. Food and drinks are the most important items to splurge on for your guests on this night of love and celebration. ❤️

I personally would prefer 3 hours and I'm sure my guest would too. But your guest may be different, maybe 2 would be enough for them? I wouldn't be upset if it was 2, but we made ours open bar for the whole reception.

I would definitely go with 3 hours. When the bar closes, people will start leaving, and you don't want your wedding to clear out an hour and a half before it's supposed to end.

I'm sure guest would like to have it open longer. Most people look forward to the free drinking at weddings. But you know your crowd better than anyone else so you'll have to decide what fits best with the type of crowd you have. Also another idea is to have the bar open for as long as you prefer and then after the hours are up you could see if it can go to a cash bar, that way people can still drink all night if they want but you won't be paying for it all night.

I think it depends how long you want your party to go on for. Typically , when the bar closes, this is a signal to guests that the night is wrapping up, and many see it as a sign to start to get ready to go. So, I’d base my decision on that— for me, it’d be 3 hours because I wouldn’t want my party to die down!

I agree with others that if you want guests to stay and enjoy themselves, I'd do the 3-hours. Daughter's reception was 6 hours (4-10pm: 1 hr cocktail hour and 5 hr dinner/dancing); they had 5 hrs of open bar (it was closed for 30 minutes during grand entrance & speeches and closed for the night at 9:30, with the reception ending at 10:00). Toward the end of the night I asked one of the bartenders if we'd "gotten our money's worth" with the open bar and he assured me we did! If your bar closes at 9:30, I think that will signal to some guests that the party is winding down and they'll leave.

What time does your event end? I would have the bar open until at least 15-30 minutes before your exit.

At least 2 hours in addition to cocktail hour.

I would highly recommend doing 3 hours if possible. In my experience, the party starts to die down when the bar closes. So if the bar were to close at 9:30, I would expect people to leave your reception around 10. And since you want your reception to end at 11, I would definitely have that extra hour of the open bar!

I would go with 3 hours. When the bar closes people will start to leave and if it’s within your budget I would do it.

View Quoted Comment Glad to see there’s an overwhelming vote for 3 extra hours! That’ll put the bar closing time at 10:30 and the event ends at 11:00. I don’t drink very much so I couldn’t figure out what other people prefer. Thanks for your input! (:

I would be fine with 2 hrs, but make it known to your guests.

See if your venue has other options. We booked the 4 hours and had an extra hour at the end so they said we could do by consumption for the last hour. Something to consider, if you could do 2 hours open bar and then consumption perhaps that could work? Otherwise 3 hours

It honestly depends on the guests you have and how well you know them and their drinking habits. If this was my situation for my wedding I'd do 3 hours b/c that's the crowd I had at my wedding. A lot of my husband and I's guests were getting drinks through the entire night and through our last call for the bar.