Open or Cash bar

Your will find many posts on this forum regarding this topic. You are hosting an event, so guests should never have to take out their wallets. You do not need top shelf liquor but you should have an open bar for both cocktail and reception.

You should never ask your guests to open their wallets at an event you invited them to. If it’s in your budget to do a full open bar, that’s of course ideal. If it’s not, then you could do a beer and wine only bar to save money.

Never ever ask your guests to open their wallets at any time. Cut something not important to be able to afford open bar or don’t offer anything. Cut out the photo booth.


You don’t need top shelf liquor. Mid grade is fine.

Cut the photo booth, cover the alcohol. Beer & wine are fine. You don’t need to provide hard alcohol if you’re on a budget. If you want an evening wedding with dancing, alcohol will help!

View Quoted Comment We were thinking that our wedding had to be moved up to even because of a prior event the day before. Thank you

View Quoted Comment You mean to a day wedding? You could have a brunch wedding (DJ wouldn’t be required) and you could skip alcohol or just offer a mimosa bar as the alcohol option (people don’t typically drink as much at a day wedding).

View Quoted Comment Ok we will find other alcohol and wines and some other beverages hoping that everyone will like

View Quoted Comment Ok so far everyone is saying the same thing do open bar I dont want to offend anyone

View Quoted Comment We already are set for the evening wedding but as I'm planning these details I k how now how to proceed thank you for your help

View Quoted Comment Thank you for the advice now I know what to do

I vote for open bar 100%

View Quoted Comment Thank you we will do that we will shop around for wine selections and others things

Whatever you can do to have an open bar--do it. You don't need to serve top shelf liquor. You don't even need to serve liquor at all. Just beer and wine is perfectly acceptable! What is not acceptable is having guests open up their wallets at your wedding for any reason.

If you needed any help, you can search wine and beer in the forum. Theres previous posts on how to go about purchasing wine/beer for wedding. I’m unsure if Costco or a sams club would be good for that?

Open bar for both. A good host makes sure guests don't have to open their wallets. Do what you need to make sure it's an open bar. You can also just do beer and wine for the open bar to cut costs.

View Quoted Comment Thank you Katie for the advice and help others agree with you as well

View Quoted Comment Oh ok thank for that heads up i will definitely look into here because I do need the help to get a good selections without breaking the bank

View Quoted Comment For sure! I’m not sure if you have a Facebook, but I joined local wedding groups on there (ex New Jersey brides/ New York & New Jersey brides) and it makes it easier finding local vendors or find things locally.

If you choose beer/wine only, make sure you have a wide selection of nonalcoholic beverages for those who don’t like beer/wine.

View Quoted Comment Yes definitely I will have different selections for them because yes their are some that dont drink