Free bar at a wedding: yes or no?

Username03725

Not a wedding, but for both parents' funerals I set up a tab at the bar where the aftermath was held, with an upper limit that the bar staff would let me know when we were close to hitting it. In both cases the final bill was nicely short of our limit; not too far but enough to know that guests had made use of it.

A wedding is much more of a party, but my instinct would be to do the same so that everyone can have a few drinks but those that want to get stuck in can pay for their own excesses.

Heck. Just spotted that this thread has been dormant since October.

jacobevans

Never been to a wedding with a free be but would definitely be interested. So, YESS!!

hdotmarkham

We're thinking of putting a set amount behind the bar but only for beer wine and soft drinks. 

TripleH

We had drinks available at our reception (including soft drinks) when we arrived at our venue and again with the meal but after that point it was down to individuals to sort themselves out.

We only had an early afternoon to evening wedding.

pickledonionspaceraider

We provided plenty of fizz as welcome drinks for toasts etc, but no free bar

coconutcurls

Penguin_ said:

ChilliBob said:

We'll probably be putting a fixed sum behind the bar, so people can have a drink of three on us, then the rest is on them. This seems quite common in previous weddings I have been to. 

I don't actually think our wedding will be super boozy based on the ages and people we have coming. 

Now see there's my issue with this, I went to a wedding where the bride & groom put £xxxx behind the bar but it led to those who got to the bar first ordering 5 drinks each & thus using the funds up. So those who had been in photos etc got nothing.

Their social circle full of takers unfortunately.

TBagpuss

coconutcurls said:

Penguin_ said:

ChilliBob said:

We'll probably be putting a fixed sum behind the bar, so people can have a drink of three on us, then the rest is on them. This seems quite common in previous weddings I have been to. 

I don't actually think our wedding will be super boozy based on the ages and people we have coming. 

Now see there's my issue with this, I went to a wedding where the bride & groom put £xxxx behind the bar but it led to those who got to the bar first ordering 5 drinks each & thus using the funds up. So those who had been in photos etc got nothing.

Their social circle full of takers unfortunately.

The ways round that would either be to provide each guest with a set number of drinks tickets and to agree with the bar as to what they cover (e.g. pint of beer / glass of house wine = 1 ticket, single measure of spirits plus mixer = 2 tickets, soft drinks, 2 per ticket, or to privide wine for the table and let people buy their own after that.

Or get less greedy guests. 

I feel that you are hostuing the party so should coverdrinks, but you get to decide what is served. So wone for the tables if you are havng a sit-down meal, or waiting staff with trays of glasses is reasonable, there's no need to have a full bar. 

That said, I thnk it is a kindsness to be clear what is being provided (not in minute detail, but  info about rough timing of any meal and that you will be providing wine with the meal and that a cash bar will be available if people want additional drinks.

The last few weddinga I have been to the arrangments were:

1. - Champagne served on arrival and for the toasts, red and white wine available throughout, no charges.
2 - Champagne on arrival and for the toasts (free)   small pop-up bar available where you could buy beer, 2 signature cocktails and one signature mocktail, and red or white wine ( low cost , so subsidised by the couple )
3 - Champagne on arrival and for the toasts, red and white white on the tables and a barrall of beer on a self-serve basis. No charges (the couple did a cross channel run for the wine -I think they bought enough for around 2 bottles for evey three people excluding the champagne, and there was a fair bit left over at the end.
4. Free bar until a fixed time (with limits on what was being served so beer/cider , a selection of specifc wines, and soft drinks) then cash bar after that so those who wanted to party longer could.
I think that before the dedline the bar could still sell anything else you wanted so f you wanted to drink spirits you could, but not for free.