The biggest dilemma when it comes to your wedding, is figuring out what the heck to do for your bar. Do you have a fully hosted bar? Host beer and wine with liquor being cash? Do you include signature cocktails? In this blog post, we break it ALL down, so you can make the best decision for YOUR day.

Most bars are pretty felxible nowadays, which means we can get pretty creative when it comes to what you want to host for drinks throughout the night. However, that also makes it more complicated when it comes to deciding what you want to do, and how much you want to host. Lucky for you, we’re going to break it all down in this blog post, starting with what a cash bar is vs a fully hosted/open bar.

Cash Bar- At a wedding, a cash bar means guests pay for their own drinks.

Fully Hosted Bar- At a wedding, a "fully hosted bar" (also known as an "open bar") means the host (usually the couple or their families) pays for all the alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages served to guests.

Calculate Your Alcohol

Before we move onto bar options, you should calculate how much alcohol you’re going to need for your big day. The best way to determine your alcohol count and cost, is to do a bit of math. Assume each guest will consume 1.5 drinks per hour, or 2.5 drinks per hour during the cocktail hour. Some guests will drink less, of course, but it’s all dependent on your guests and how much they drink.

There are a few questions that will need to be considered when calculating your alcohol count, such as:

What is your guest count?

How many hours will your reception last?
Are your guests light, average or heavy drinkers?
Will you have a champagne toast?
How many signature cocktails would you like to offer?

Bar Options that Don’t Break the Bank:

There are a few ways you can set up your wedding bar that are more cost effective than others, but each one will depend on what you as the couple want to do. There is no right answer, only what makes sense for you and your big day. With that being said, if you don’t want to fully host alcohol for the entire night, here are a few bar options you can look into:

Hosted Beer and Wine, with 2x Signature Drinks

This option is great for couples who want to host more than just beer and wine, but don’t want to offer full liquor options. By including two signature drinks, you’re allowing your guests to have two liquor options that you as the couple will pay for, and if your guests want something else that isn’t hosted, they can pay for it.

Hosted Beer and Wine, Cash Liquor

This option allows for the couple to pay for all the beer and wine throughout the evening, which is significantly less than if you were to add liquor. If any of your guests want a drink with liquor in it, it is stilll available, but for them to purchase.

Fully Hosted Bar JUST for Cocktail Hour

If you want to offer your guests a fully hosted bar, but know you can’t afford it for the entire night, then do a hosted bar for the cocktail hour, and switch over to a cash bar once cocktail hour is over. Or, you can switch from an open bar to a hosted beer and wine bar, cash liquor after cocktail hour. That way you’re still paying for some of your guests drinks, without the high bill of adding liquor in.

Fully Hosted Bar Until a Certain $$$ Amount

This is a great option for couples who want to pay for all guest drinks, but have a limit to what they want to spend at the bar. If you know you only want to spend $5,000 on your bar, then your bartenders can switch over to a cash bar once that limit is met. You can ask your venue how far they think your limit will get you throughout the night, dependent on your guest count. Once that limit is met, your bartenders will let you know, and you can either make the decision to keep going, or cap it and switch over to a cash bar.

Signature Drinks

It's becoming more and more popular to have signature drinks at your wedding, but it can sometimes be difficult to think of the perfect cocktails to feature for your big day. Don't worry, I created another blog post where I'll go over everything wedding cocktail related; from tips and tricks to cocktail recipe ideas, this is your one stop shop to finding your signature wedding drink!

Having a signature cocktail is a great way to personalize your wedding. I’ve had couples name their signature drinks after their pets, places they've been, or even named their drinks after their own nicknames for each other. However you choose to share your signature drinks, I’m sure your guests will love it!

Want to read more about Signature Drinks? Click Here