Wine and beer only?

View Quoted Comment Per person is where they charge x amount of money per individual to have alcohol whereas per drink is when they charge for each drink consumed. For example, at our wedding we paid $70 per person for food and drinks which covered their meal and as many drinks as they wanted. Whereas a consumption bar is where they keep tracking of every single drink and the type and they charge based on that. It's like if you were to go to a bar, you would be charged based on what you have to drink and how much of it. Consumption bars tend to be more expensive.

Honestly, having a champagne toast and wine and or beer with dinner should be beyond plenty! Just offer a good selection of virgin drinks to make up for it!! A flavored lemonade or a soda bar would a cheap, effective alternative good luck!!

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That is the problem here, and I am not trying to be argumentative, lol. You really can't invite people to a party and tell/suggest they have one drink. That is the same as inviting people to your home for dinner and saying you are only allowed one scoop of mashed potatoes.

A corporate event that uses tickets is not the same as a wedding. Personally, I would ditch all the tickets and open bar for one hour then start to charge system and go full on cash bar.

Best wishes!

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I think drink tokens/tickets are pretty common at fundraisers and charity galas but they seem inappropriate for a private hosted event. Around us, the only fancy events that aren't private ones are fundraising events, and I've been to fundraisers that have drink tickets, or that have an open bar, or that have a cash bar, depending on the organization, event setup, and ticket cost.

In your case, I would consider just purchasing wine to serve with dinner for everyone, and then if you want and can afford it maybe you can do an open bar (beer and wine only, cash bar for cocktails) for the first hour or so and cash bar for all drinks after. I don't care for cash bars at weddings but I think if at least some alcohol is provided on the house, its not so bad to have to purchase additional drinks later in the night.

You can also consider whether or not to have a tip jar or tip the bartender yourself. You'll hear the same "tip jars are tacky" comments that you hear for drink tokens or cash bars, but having your guests tip vs paying for gratuity could shift costs slightly. Once you go into cash bar status, guests are more likely to tip anyway if they are already pulling out their wallet. It would be awkward to have an open bar but a tip jar though (at least I think so). Most people we have spoken with recommend against a tip jar at weddings, but I just thought I'd put it out there.

With a limited budget I'd be most likely to go with open bar for cocktail hour, wine for dinner, and cash bar the rest of the evening.

View Quoted Comment Oh gotcha that makes sense! I think having a cash bar after 9 is fine! Just make sure to include that info on an FAQ section on your website so people know to bring cash!

View Quoted Comment Thank you! I’ll definitely have to check. I know we have to spend a minimum of $36/person on food and beverages, but I’m not exactly sure how they price alcohol.

View Quoted Comment Thank you!! I think the package already comes with lemonade and iced tea, so we figured maybe we’d just add soda or some other fun drink to that. 😊

View Quoted Comment You're welcome! From the sounds of it they charge per person so you shouldn't have to worry about them cutting off the bar. You should be able to spend x amount and that should cover the cost of all good and beverages for the entire evening, but definitely double check.

View Quoted Comment Thank you! I think it got confused here a few times. Of course we wouldn’t literally be telling people they can only have one drink. 😅 The bar would be open the entire night, we would probably just close the hosted part at a certain time which I’ve heard from multiple venues is normal. So for example, if we tell our venue our budget is $1,500, they’d help us plan out how many hours that would last and plan to switch to cash bar maybe after 2-3 hours. I really don’t think it’s any worse than weddings that give champagne for a toast and serve alcohol with dinner, then have people pay after that. Or how in a bar, drinks might be on the house for a set time, then people pay for themselves after that. Or even for dinner, it’s not like we’ll leave food out the entire night for people to take. Eventually it gets cleaned up or eaten and people don’t have access anymore.


Personally, I’d much rather have some alcohol then none at a wedding. If guests know to expect “hosted bar until 8pm”, they might not feel the need to bring their wallet because that’ll be enough time for them to drink what they want. But I’d be annoyed if it was hosted bar until 8pm and then they took the alcohol away after that - I’d rather start paying for drinks myself at that point instead of have nothing.

View Quoted Comment Also, sorry for the long reply, I’m not trying to be argumentative either. I was just surprised by how many comments are more focused on how the alcohol is served instead of suggesting wine/beer or liquor like I had asked for help with. 😂

View Quoted Comment Thank you! It’s also a restaurant so they’ll accept cards. 😊 But it’s a good warning I think

View Quoted Comment Thanks for the tips! I don’t think we’d do a tip jar because a set gratuity amount is already in our contract, so we essentially would have already paid that before the wedding (when we place the final order for catering).

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That sounds like a good compromise! I would suggest signage to say when the bar is no longer hosting so people are not caught off guard. And people will say that "People will head up and and get three drinks for free!" rarely happens. People are civil, lol.

View Quoted Comment That’s a good idea, thank you! 😊 Haha that’s true - I feel like maybe people don’t want to be that person at a wedding either 😂

I'm in the same boat and have 100-120 people attending. I asked my crew to do a bring your own beer or wine, and I will provide champagne for a toast (one glass per.) If liquor or a true cocktail was involved, in my state we would legally be required to hire a bartender as well, which is why it was easy for me to say no thanks! To that one.

View Quoted Comment Hi! So I completely understand where you're coming from on this and wanting to stick to a budget and not go crazy spending on alcohol. That's smart! If you do this plan of hosted bar closing at 9pm though, I would worry that people would go up at 8:55 and get like 3-4 drinks at a time to last all night, driving up your costs. Just something to be aware of whatever you decide!


I personally like drink tickets. If I want more drinks and someone at my table doesn't I can take their tickets or just go buy myself some more. But I would appreciate being told that ahead of time so I can bring money. Good luck!

View Quoted Comment Thank you for the advice! 😊 I thought if we did tickets that we could make them really cute too (I’m a designer). And I think more realistically, we could give 2 tickets per person. We don’t have many kids coming, but we’d technically give them tickets and their parents could just use them. And we’d still have like iced tea and lemonade available unlimited for the whole night.

View Quoted Comment That’s a good idea! I wish we could bring alcohol to ours. That’s the only downside of this venue, but everything was included in the price in terms of set-up and bartender, linens, getting ready space, etc.

View Quoted Comment I think that's a great idea! I honestly would skip the kids and have the drink tickets be for alcohol only since you have iced tea and lemonade available without tickets. Just my thinking though but I'm sure you'll make the tickets super cute!

We're doing open beer n wine for 36 guests for a set $600 with the option that guests can buy drinks..