Free Bar?

We had a free bar as we had the reception in our garden and found people to be very respectful and mainly surprised.

We've been to some with free bars and some without - the only ones have drawn comments are when its difficalt - i.e. cash only, no cash point anywhere nearby. As others have said just ensure people know the score and you'll be fine.

We are currently in the changing of our plans after being at a wedding at the weekend, we have decided to have a disco instead of going to the pub at 10 o clock, our reception venue is the local village hall. Drinks wise this is the plan so far

after the ceremony - glass of orange juice whilst we are taking photos at the church

pimms welcome drink when they get there

1/2 a bottle of wine with dinner

glass of fizzy for the toasts

then 1/2 a bottle of wine and 2 bottle of beer or perry for evening

there will be non alcoholic drinks available

This we thought would take us from 4pm till 10pm

we are now debating whether to get a cash bar in or whether it will be cheaper to just bulk up the amount of alcohol we provide, we have also told guests should they wish they can bring their own.....

Interesting point given your guests and fair enough; however if I was an all day guest at a wedding, I would be a bit miffed not to even have a drink with the meal - its a social thing not somthing I need as others have said.

Who would be offended by booze on a table? I've not come across anyone who would be offended, even some tee totalers I know!

To be honest shouldnt you have what you want to have and if you dont want something then the same rules apply, isnt that why every wedding is different.

We are providing drinks with the meal - just not an alcoholic one!

This is the hotel's set packages.

Package A

Pimms or Bucks Fizz (on arrival)
2 glasses of house wine (red or white)
1 glass of sparkling wine
£16.35 per person

Package B

Pimms or Bucks Fizz (on arrival)
3 glasses of house wine (red or white)
1 glass of sparkling wine
£20.15 per person

Package C
Canapés and 1 glass of champagne (on arrival)
3 glasses of house wine (red or white)
1 glass of champagne

£38.90 per person

Corkage: £10.50 for Wine, £11.50 for Sparkling Wine and £16.50 for Champagne. Please note corkage is only allowed with the Wedding Breakfast.

We may well end up changing our mind - it all depends on the final numbers (as to what we can afford) and the guests; if only a few of the 'picky people' arrive then we may change our plans and I'll just talk individually ot those that I think might have a problem so they can 'deal with it' in whatever way they choose.

Agreed, claire, just thought the people being offended by booze on a table was an unusual point to make.

I guess so but there's nothing queer as folk.

As I said, I work for a church based charity, a number of colleagues are ordained ministers in their own right. They do have some fairly fundamental views on a number of issues which I'm sure would turn some of you purple - but that's not really relevant to this discussion. It's just that 'alcohol' is one of those issues that many of them do have an opinion on.

If you have a wedding reception in a Methodist church hall, for example, you aren't allowed to have any alcohol at all.

I do hope by 'picky' ppl you mean the ones who would have an issue with a glass on wine lol.

As I said I would find it odd to be drinking squash / coke at a wedding; however obv for your group of guests its appropriate and if I was guest (as I am usually very laid back) i'd either get myself a g and t or not stay too late (i get tired and drink keeps me awake) !

Yes, picky as in awkward guests

We were going to have some shloer for toasts, and a fruit punch for a 'welcome drink' (we had one at the weekend at their wedding fair, looked like orange and cranberry juice (top half orange, bottom half red) with some red syrup around the rim and coloured coarse sugar crystals stuck to it. Was actually quite nice and I thought perfectly acceptable - I would agree with you that a jug of Tesco value orange squash on the tables might look a bit odd (although this is an option for the childrens menus which we are having!)

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Thanks CB i hadn't thought about that sounds like a good option will mention it to OH

I think my biggest worry is that if we get the alcohol in for a free bar - what if we run out! I am also going to have decanters of port etc in a couple of the rooms for people to help themselves. As its a house i want to give it a homely feel if you know what i mean - a lot of the guests will be staying over and we are having a lunch the next day, so we need to get in drinks for the weekend in general.

Ideally i will saxophonist and free bar (fingers crossed) although am veering towards a pianist now after MOH suggestion. There is a piano at the venue and it would be nice to use it.

I agree on costs of drinks - i went to a wedding recently and got charged £36 for 4 glasses of wine! it is definately something to be considered when booking a venue IMO.

I am not 100% sure but if you charge for drinks do you need to have a license ? I know that as the venue we are using isnt licensed to sell alcohol we need to get a licensee to run the bar and she needs to get an occasional license - maybe something to consider??

We are going with the drinks that are provided in the package...

Bucks Fizz Reception

Glass of wine with Dinner

Soft Drink alternatives for the kiddies and me - am tee total have been for 4 years due to kidney probs....

We will be providing 2 bottles of wine per table and 4 bottles of wine for the top table.

The free booze then stops.....

Thankfully the booze served at our venue is relatively cheap in comparison to others and a round will not require a small mortgage iygwim.

As we look at it, we want people to share our afternoon evening with us, we are feeding them, providing them with some alcohol, and all the entertainment to make it enjoyable for them and for us, so.... if it's not to everyone's taste, they can go home....

Sounds harsh, but tbh, it is our day....

Have been to weddings where nothing was provided except the wine for the toast.....

Give them a welcome drink, a toast drink and somehting to have in the meal. That normally = 4-5 drinks. By any stretch of the imagination, thats a fair amount. If anyone wants more drink, they are allways happy to pay for it

We have a license xxx

I couldn't imagine it any other way: free bar for us! Most of our drinks are coming from France, plus cider and beer kegs from here. Costing us less than £900 for 120 guests, and that's including real Champagne (not cheap Cava!). Wine, beer, cider on tap at our wedding, anyone fancies a good party this weekend??? ?

I shall be picking your brains about quantities when you're back from your honeymoon, froggy! We're due to discuss in with the inlaws this weekend and I suspect we'll have very different ideas as to what constitutes enough booze!

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I was worried we wouldn't have enough but surely wit 110L of wine, 20L of Somerset cider, 20L of Breton cider, 25L of Champagne, 50 Pints of Somerset ale and much more we'll be ok????

We had a bit of a dilema when we first started thinking about what to do regarding the bar, ours was the opposite though, we thought we're providing people with drinks throughout the day and plenty of food so we can hardly be expected to pay for their drinks all night too and we didn't want to have any money behind the bar at all (call us stingey if you will, but the wedding alone is costing more than enough!), but my dad is insisting on putting money behind the bar, we're only worried that people will take advantage, so I've warned him . . . instructed him should I say that it WILL NOT be a FREE bar, he can put a chosen amount behind the bar and when it's gone people have to then buy their own drinks. We're also limiting what drinks can be ordered on the free bar time and are going to put a ban on spirits, they'll have to buy their own if they want them, it'll be wine, beer and soft drinks only. We're having this kind of drinks ban in place as we don't want people getting absolutely paraletic at our wedding and spoiling it . . . and there will always be at least one who will, plus we'd be footing the hotel bill if there are any "problem" guests. Some of my friends who are married have advised me to play it safe by imposing a semi-drinks ban as they learnt the hard way with a totally free bar.