Is anyone putting money behind the bar??

dorrieb

I worked as a wedding coordinator for about 3 years and in that time, most brides didnt have a free bar, if they did it was because they could afford to . one wedding bar tab came to about £8k for about 150 people, It was a largly irish wedding that was full of rugby players, but that is a one off. you are already paying enough for the wedding dont worry about MIL's they are there to annoy you

MoneySaver82

Just adding to what others have said....I've never ever been to a wedding with a free bar and I've been to loads!!
Only time it was a slight issue was a wedding where there were no drinks at all provided with the meal or in the evening, not even water/soft drink so had to pay for everything. However, we knew the couple were on a tight budget and they held it in a social club with a really cheap bar and I didn't hear anyone complaining! (Only problem for us was we didn't have enough cash on us as we didn't know, so had to use the money we put in their card and give it to them later!!!)
I really don't think anyone expects to have unlimited drinks these days, at the most I'd expect soft drinks/water and a small amount of wine on each table but I wouldn't be offended if this wasn't there, knowing that my friends would never knowingly be tight-fisted and if they couldn't provide it then they simply couldn't afford it. I'd rather they have the things they wanted like flowers, etc than pay for everyone to drink!
We provided wine at our wedding, but had bought a limited amount of boxes - i.e. set amount per table - and when it ran out it ran out - thankfully it never did! And we had a few boxes left to give to friends who had helped out on the day which was a bonus as we wouldn't have been able to afford extra presents.:T

rene2b

ive asked my venue to provide a tea/coffee table next to the bar
only becuase my mum cant go without a brew for more then a hr pmsl hahaha

helping_hubby

fantabulastic wrote: »

My mum had already said to me that her and dad fully intended to walk around with a few hundred pound each and buy all the evening guests a drink and now she's been made to feel that that's not good enough.

This is exactly what my parents did. We provided wine with the meal, champagne and pre-reception drinks for the day guests.

Just to add on to what lots have people have already said. I've only been to one wedding with a free drinks, it was in a marquee and they had supplied wine, beer, tea, coffee and soft drinks.

I'd say half the weddings have bought the first round, and the other half have no money behind the bar.

I know someone who had a free bar and it cost them £5000! And a lot was wastage because people would 'lose' their drinks and rather than find it just go and get another one. :rolleyes:

raspabarbas

We're getting my H2B's family to bring over some good Panamanian rum to put behind the bar for the brits to try. Even with corkage it works out pretty economical as they won't have to pay import tax if they bring a litre or less each and it's so cheap over there it's ridiculous. That plus bubbly for toasts and I think our guests will be happy :-)

ni_student

I've never been to a wedding with a free bar (unfortunately lol!) but seriously I wouldn't worry - no one expects it because everyone knows how expensive weddings are. We will just be having tea/coffe/shortbread on arrival & then wine for toast/dinner (set number of bottles) and after that everyone can fend for themselves!!