We're considering a "beer and wine only" for both cocktail and dinner. I know for sure that not a lof of my girlfriends drink beer ( wine, maybe some ) but I'm having a Sunday wedding so I figured most people won't probably be drinking if they have to work the next day and we don't want to pay for something people won't really drink.
Having an open bar might compensate for having our wedding on a Sunday and people might enjoy more instead of actually thinking "Sunday + No Cocktail Drinks ".
I've been very firm with my decision to just stick with "beer and wine" until it dawned on me that people might not enjoy as much if they don't get to drink their favorite drink on our wedding.
Any thoughts on this? Are you having an open bar, beer and wine or no alcohol at your party? I would seriously consider having an open-bar if that means my guests will enjoy the party a lot more.
I know exactly how you feel. Our families aren't big drinkers, but our friends will want to drink - for free. So we are thinking of calling it, an "open bar" but really having a cash bar and footing the bill.
See if your venue will keep a tab, but set a limit that it's not to exceed or only offer open bar for cocktail hour and then switch to wine/beer/champagne after that.
This might not be a concern, but keep in mind that bartenders can control how much alcohol goes into cocktails, but can't control it in beer and wine. You can tell them to be light on the alcohol.
i had this exact dilemma as well. we started out just like you with just wine and beer, cuz we didn't want our drunkard friends to get trashed. but we had so much request for open bar from both family and friends that we decided to give in and open it up. we're setting a bar tab, and if it exceeds that limit, we're switching to cash bar.
I'm thinking about having a wine, beer, plus one or two pre selected cocktails that fall in the same price range as a beer or wine. i also really like moemarsita's idea of switching to beer/wine only after cocktail hour. that might even work better!
We provided our own alcohol, so to keep things simple and costs down, we offered beer/wine/softdrinks/water and a selection of 5 different martinis. That way we didn't have to buy all the different types of hard liquors just so one person could have a rum & Coke, etc. It's funny 'cause my own personal preference would've been to just have the martini bar and no wine/beer 'cause *I* don't drink either. But we knew that wouldn't work. I did make a spreadsheet (this is so nerdy) and plugged in my best estimate on what/how much each guest would drink and used that to base our purchases on.
Maybe you could have a single, easy to control item like sangria or an alcoholic punch?
We're going through the same debate. For us, it's only $3/person more to go from beer/wine only to basic open bar, so we'll probably upgrade. We've asked around a bit and most people said they'll be happy with beer/wine. I think if you have room in your budget, upgrade, but if not, don't worry about it.
I think in your situation a signature drink would be perfect. Just have the bar stock beer & wine only plus just the ingredients for one signature cocktail drink that you like. Have the servers pass the signature drinks around on trays at the cocktail hour and everyone who prefers cocktails will be happy but you won't have to have a full open bar.
My fiance and i picked the No Alcohol at all option... partially because that's part of our officiating pastor's belief and we don't disagree with his viewpoint : ) Then again, a lot of people seem to be quite offended as well, due to our choice against traditional american banquet... it's hard to please everyone, if not impossible!
My family = not big drinkers. My finace's family = drinkers. Half of our friends are, half are not. Beer and wine? Beer, wine, and a signature drink? Nothing at all? Its a decision that is bound to drive me up the wall... unless someone else will foot the bill of course
We only had two options - beer and wine, or no alcohol. Having beer and wine was an additional $300 fee, on top of providing all the beer and wine, and hiring security guards. FH drinks beer but neither of us like wine much (my drink of choice is a cherry vodka sour) and as selfish as it seems, it's our wedding.
Sure we could go cheap with boxed wine and a keg, but to me that doesn't equate to a nice evening wedding. We are going to have a champagne toast, and pretty much let people who HAVE to have alcohol finish up the bottles (we might overbuy a little bit since we aren't being charged for the toast.) We went through our guest list and though we knew several would drink if available, found only a few who would be put off by not being able to. The cost just wasn't justified.
Another consideration we made was that we are leaving the reception at 10pm. Anyone who can't possibly make it through a Saturday night without drinking is more than welcome to explore the DFW nightlife, on their own time (and their own tab!)
Neither my fiance or I drink, and we really weren't interested in paying a ton of money for other people to get drunk.
We were going to just get some wine for a toast, and when that was gone, then it was done. However, we found that to have alcohol at our venue, we'd have to get a liquor license as well as get insurance. We didn't want to deal with that. So I guess we'll get a bunch of bottles of sparking grape juice or something. Â
For ours we're doing free wine (my family owns a small winery) for during dinnertime and an hour or so after and then we are going to have tokens good for one drink, after that everyone has to pay for their own drinks. We decided on this because I know many of our friends will want a little something to drink , but we're hoping having to pay after one drink will deter from getting too drunk. Also, one think I insisted on was no keg. I'm just not thrilled about a keg sitting out by the wall.
We considered only beer and wine and signature drinks. Only we would have a couple in the tradition of Something borrowed, something blue...
For example: Something borrowed: Use a drink with another state or countries name in it. This can be creative since most people don't know the proper names for drinks. Rum and coke is known as the Cuba Libre.
Something Blue: Blue hawaii, zombie, etc
Something Old: Find a drink that is not in fashion anymore. My favorite is the "perfect kiss." It is also very fitting for a wedding.
Something New: Have the bartender make up some drinks for you. Taste them and use it as your SN.
We did only beer and wine at an open bar with cocktails available for purchase. This worked out very well, since we only paid for the number of bottles actually opened, and since we had a good selection of beers and wines most people were happy. However, there were a few people who really wanted cocktails and they bought them gladly. It worked out well for us, but if there's a drink that you love, make it a signature drink and offer it as well.
The alcohol included in our 5 hr reception is a "call brands bar"... smirnoff vodka, seagrams gin, famous grouse scotch, seagrams whiskey, barcardi silver rum, jim beam bourbon, and triple sec, as well as 3 wines: chardonay or pinot grigio, white zinfadel, and cabernet savignon or shiraz. Sounds like plenty of choice... but for some reason the beer choices there are pitiful: yuengling lager (a decent PA favorite), miller lite & molson. We are both beer lovers and we don't want to drink lager at our own wedding, but the most important thing to remember is : ITS ONLY ONE DAY! do what you can afford on your wedding day & save the extra cash to buy yourself delicious dark imported beers on the honeymoon ;) noone will fault you for not having their favorite- if they want to drink they will find a substitute for those few hours:)
Thanks so much for your help! Hearing everyone's opinions opened my eyes to the reality that this is our wedding. What matters more is our union - the celebrating of us being one and not really what food we're serving or drinks we're providing.
Hope you can enlighten me with this topic.
We're considering a "beer and wine only" for both cocktail and dinner. I know for sure that not a lof of my girlfriends drink beer ( wine, maybe some ) but I'm having a Sunday wedding so I figured most people won't probably be drinking if they have to work the next day and we don't want to pay for something people won't really drink.
Having an open bar might compensate for having our wedding on a Sunday and people might enjoy more instead of actually thinking "Sunday + No Cocktail Drinks ".
I've been very firm with my decision to just stick with "beer and wine" until it dawned on me that people might not enjoy as much if they don't get to drink their favorite drink on our wedding.
Any thoughts on this? Are you having an open bar, beer and wine or no alcohol at your party? I would seriously consider having an open-bar if that means my guests will enjoy the party a lot more.
Thanks!
posted by springb2b 38 posts 1 year agoI know exactly how you feel. Our families aren't big drinkers, but our friends will want to drink - for free. So we are thinking of calling it, an "open bar" but really having a cash bar and footing the bill.
posted by tyffaknee 17 posts 1 year agoSee if your venue will keep a tab, but set a limit that it's not to exceed or only offer open bar for cocktail hour and then switch to wine/beer/champagne after that.
posted by Melanie 87 posts 1 year agoThis might not be a concern, but keep in mind that bartenders can control how much alcohol goes into cocktails, but can't control it in beer and wine. You can tell them to be light on the alcohol.
posted by moemarsita 36 posts 1 year agoi had this exact dilemma as well. we started out just like you with just wine and beer, cuz we didn't want our drunkard friends to get trashed. but we had so much request for open bar from both family and friends that we decided to give in and open it up. we're setting a bar tab, and if it exceeds that limit, we're switching to cash bar.
posted by aoedorothee 118 posts 1 year agoI'm thinking about having a wine, beer, plus one or two pre selected cocktails that fall in the same price range as a beer or wine. i also really like moemarsita's idea of switching to beer/wine only after cocktail hour. that might even work better!
posted by eggplant 73 posts 1 year agoWe provided our own alcohol, so to keep things simple and costs down, we offered beer/wine/softdrinks/water and a selection of 5 different martinis. That way we didn't have to buy all the different types of hard liquors just so one person could have a rum & Coke, etc. It's funny 'cause my own personal preference would've been to just have the martini bar and no wine/beer 'cause *I* don't drink either. But we knew that wouldn't work. I did make a spreadsheet (this is so nerdy) and plugged in my best estimate on what/how much each guest would drink and used that to base our purchases on.
Maybe you could have a single, easy to control item like sangria or an alcoholic punch?
posted by princesskittyHI 297 posts 1 year agoWe're going through the same debate. For us, it's only $3/person more to go from beer/wine only to basic open bar, so we'll probably upgrade. We've asked around a bit and most people said they'll be happy with beer/wine. I think if you have room in your budget, upgrade, but if not, don't worry about it.
posted by EK 182 posts 1 year agoI think in your situation a signature drink would be perfect. Just have the bar stock beer & wine only plus just the ingredients for one signature cocktail drink that you like. Have the servers pass the signature drinks around on trays at the cocktail hour and everyone who prefers cocktails will be happy but you won't have to have a full open bar.
posted by smartl 353 posts 1 year agoMy fiance and i picked the No Alcohol at all option... partially because that's part of our officiating pastor's belief and we don't disagree with his viewpoint : ) Then again, a lot of people seem to be quite offended as well, due to our choice against traditional american banquet... it's hard to please everyone, if not impossible!
posted by starkid 7 posts 1 year agoMy family = not big drinkers. My finace's family = drinkers. Half of our friends are, half are not. Beer and wine? Beer, wine, and a signature drink? Nothing at all? Its a decision that is bound to drive me up the wall... unless someone else will foot the bill of course
posted by EmilyB 62 posts 1 year agoWe only had two options - beer and wine, or no alcohol. Having beer and wine was an additional $300 fee, on top of providing all the beer and wine, and hiring security guards. FH drinks beer but neither of us like wine much (my drink of choice is a cherry vodka sour) and as selfish as it seems, it's our wedding.
Sure we could go cheap with boxed wine and a keg, but to me that doesn't equate to a nice evening wedding. We are going to have a champagne toast, and pretty much let people who HAVE to have alcohol finish up the bottles (we might overbuy a little bit since we aren't being charged for the toast.) We went through our guest list and though we knew several would drink if available, found only a few who would be put off by not being able to. The cost just wasn't justified.
Another consideration we made was that we are leaving the reception at 10pm. Anyone who can't possibly make it through a Saturday night without drinking is more than welcome to explore the DFW nightlife, on their own time (and their own tab!)
posted by kandaceandjason 12 posts 1 year agoNeither my fiance or I drink, and we really weren't interested in paying a ton of money for other people to get drunk.
For ours we're doing free wine (my family owns a small winery) for during dinnertime and an hour or so after and then we are going to have tokens good for one drink, after that everyone has to pay for their own drinks. We decided on this because I know many of our friends will want a little something to drink
, but we're hoping having to pay after one drink will deter from getting too drunk. Also, one think I insisted on was no keg. I'm just not thrilled about a keg sitting out by the wall.
Good luck and Congrats!
posted by alli 248 posts 1 year agoWe considered only beer and wine and signature drinks. Only we would have a couple in the tradition of Something borrowed, something blue...
For example: Something borrowed: Use a drink with another state or countries name in it. This can be creative since most people don't know the proper names for drinks. Rum and coke is known as the Cuba Libre.
Something Blue: Blue hawaii, zombie, etc
Something Old: Find a drink that is not in fashion anymore. My favorite is the "perfect kiss." It is also very fitting for a wedding.
Something New: Have the bartender make up some drinks for you. Taste them and use it as your SN.
posted by meghan 19 posts 1 year agoWe did only beer and wine at an open bar with cocktails available for purchase. This worked out very well, since we only paid for the number of bottles actually opened, and since we had a good selection of beers and wines most people were happy. However, there were a few people who really wanted cocktails and they bought them gladly. It worked out well for us, but if there's a drink that you love, make it a signature drink and offer it as well.
posted by cubangirl 55 posts 1 year agoThe alcohol included in our 5 hr reception is a "call brands bar"... smirnoff vodka, seagrams gin, famous grouse scotch, seagrams whiskey, barcardi silver rum, jim beam bourbon, and triple sec, as well as 3 wines: chardonay or pinot grigio, white zinfadel, and cabernet savignon or shiraz. Sounds like plenty of choice... but for some reason the beer choices there are pitiful: yuengling lager (a decent PA favorite), miller lite & molson. We are both beer lovers and we don't want to drink lager at our own wedding, but the most important thing to remember is : ITS ONLY ONE DAY! do what you can afford on your wedding day & save the extra cash to buy yourself delicious dark imported beers on the honeymoon ;) noone will fault you for not having their favorite- if they want to drink they will find a substitute for those few hours:)
posted by piperbenjamin 247 posts 1 year agoThanks so much for your help! Hearing everyone's opinions opened my eyes to the reality that this is our wedding. What matters more is our union - the celebrating of us being one and not really what food we're serving or drinks we're providing.
Thanks again!! Mwah!
posted by springb2b 38 posts 1 year ago