Tip jar on open bar?

I wouldn't put out a tip jar. I feel like it makes your guests feel obligated to tip/feel bad if they don't have the cash to tip. I would tip her yourselves.

Tipping is your responsibility. Not only do most people not carry cash, especially if they know it's an open bar, but there's no way for you to track how much she has been tipped to know if it's sufficient or not. I feel like since you're getting services for free, the least you can do is tip.

We had open bar and tipped our bartenders at the end of the night, we didn't put out a tip jar. I would tip her esp. since she is doing it for just accommodations.

I personally don't find a tip jar tacky if the bar is an open bar. We always bring cash assuming we will tip the bartender. If there isn't a tip jar out, we tip them anyway.

In general, I'm not a fan of a tip jar at a privately hosted event, but definitely not in this case. Your friend has volunteered her services to you for free, personally, I'd provide her with a very generous tip as a thank you and skip the tip jar. Some guests may choose to leave a couple dollars for her on the bar, and that's fine. But having a tip jar sends a clear message that your guests should tip, and I would not do that.

I wouldn't have a tip jar but I would tip her since she if offering her services for free.

I would tip them yourselves. I think tip jars at weddings are tacky and leave your guests feeling pressured to tip. Though many guests will still tip anyway, they shouldn’t feel pressured or forced.

Definitely tip her yourselves first, and have it be the full amount of what you would tip her even if you didn’t do a tip jar. I don’t find a tip jar tacky, so if you want to allow guests to tip on top go ahead and do so

Having a tip jar isn't a replacement for having the hosts tip the bartender. I know that as a guest at a wedding or event with an open bar, I tip whether there's a jar or not.

Our place does not include the gratuity for the bartenders into our package so they said they put a jar out. We plan to put the money into the jar so that we know they get a fair tip, but I can't stop the venue from putting out the tip jar as well.

For you I would just pay her a flat amount so that guests don't feel obligated to tip.

Both our venue and bartending service were very firm on "no tip jar" because they feel its inappropriate for a wedding. Instead they just want us to leave a flat tip for the bartender. Many weddings I have been to have had tip jars out, but we will not be having one and just tipping our bartender a flat rate instead.

However I know a lot of guests do tip even when there isn't a tip jar. We always have, but I don't think we ever realized the couple was covering the cost and tipping the bartender on top of us tipping too. I think it's kind of unfair for both the guests and the couple to tip, unless the bartender is doing a lot of special drink requests, but I'm not sure how you work around that, unless you have a really honest bartender who refuses tips from guests.

Any tips are the responsibility of the couple, not the guests.

I wouldn't leave out a tip jar. You want to be sure she's being adequately tipped and there's no way for you to track that.

I agree with others - whoever is covering expenses of having the bartender also should cover the tip based off of the total bill! Our catering charges 18% of total cost as gratuity for serves/bartender so we don't even have to think about it. Tip jars will make guests uncomfortable, and most people don't carry cash anyways! And 100% looks tacky if you are doing an open bar (open bar should mean no expense to guests at all!)

We've been told that tip jars aren't appropriate at weddings. I would just tip your friend a flat fee, as if she were a professional you had hired for the event.