Has anyone had/is having an open bar?

We're planning an open bar and have budgeted £2000 for approx 100 people. No idea if this is close/accurate, we will have to see! Once it runs out that's it though, we're not going to top it up. In London if that makes a difference to cost of booze...

We won't be having an open bar, financially it's not an option for us.

I've never been to a wedding with an open bar, and have never expected our drinks to be paid for.

It's nice to get a couple of glasses of wine with dinner and maybe a couple glasses of bubbly but I'd never expect anything more than that. We'll be providing a post ceremony glass of bubbly, a glass of wine and top up with the meal and a glass of bubbly for the toast with non alcoholic options for all. Apart from that, our guest will be paying for their own drinks.

We're doing the same as this, putting an amount behind the bar (to be decided), and once it's gone its gone. Our venue stipulates as standard that an open bar excludes shots, doubles, Red Bull and bottles of wine/champagne, unless we specifically say its ok ? Something you might also want to consider...

Thank you, we have a sign saying 'Please no shots, doubles or bubbles' - thought it was quite a nice way of putting it!

We had an open bar but we got married abroad where it's standard - having a cash bar wasn't even an option, and the same went at all the venues we looked at. It was a good deal though, I think we paid about 22 euro per person for the bar to be open for 4 hours.

We never could have afforded to have had an open bar in the UK. It's a lovely sentiment to buy your friends/family drinks all night if you can afford to, certainly not expected though.

I like the idea of excluding specific drinks like shots.

We've not been to a wedding ourselves that had an open bar either - they've all either been pay bars, or occasionally they've had tokens for one or two drinks. One wedding recently, there was no bar in the venue so they just had their caterers serving drinks they'd bought themselves, so the choices were limited but no one seemed to mind.

Love this!

Not having an open bar, we didn't even discuss it - and quiet frankly I don't think we could afford it! (Have quiet a few big drinkers!)

I remember as a kid every wedding had an open bar, but to be honest I cant think of one since.

Half our budget is on an open bar. Having an open bar wasn't even a discussion.

We're limiting the selection to two red wines, two white wines, one champagne, three beers, three cocktails, and three spirits plus any non-alcoholic drinks.

I know this might not want to be what you want to hear but our venue specifically suggested that we don't have an open bar, as they said they can always tell the next day when there is a free bar because of the number of drunkenly misplaced drinks where people then go and get another one and leave their previous one half finished....

A friend of mine did pay for the bar for the evening for around 120 people and it was around £4k mark - but they had a tiny ceremony and so really only had evening guests with a free bar and buffet so could allocate a lot of budget to it.

As others have mentioned would tokens be a compromise your OH may go for? You could be generous with them and give even 5 per person or something but then it would also allow for your budget planning xx

We are- but we're able to provide our own alcohol with no corkage, so it works out majorly cheaper.

We shot a wedding last year where the tab was at £2.5k by the end of the meal, as the father of the groom came out to check on it/top it up ?- there were around 100 guests. That seems like a huge spend though to be honest, but it was a very expensive venue.

Do you have any idea of drinks prices at your venue or know if they have any drinks packages available? Might be worth emailing them to ask if they've had one before and what the spend was so you have a better idea?

Oh that's quite reassuring, our venue is a restaurant so I know the prices aren't bonkers. We have prosecco on arrival, half a bottle of wine pp on the tables & more prosecco for the toasts included in our food package, the £2k was for the rest of the day/evening so hopefully that will be more than enough.

Oh that's quite reassuring, our venue is a restaurant so I know the prices aren't bonkers. We have prosecco on arrival, half a bottle of wine pp on the tables & more prosecco for the toasts included in our food package, the £2k was for the rest of the day/evening so hopefully that will be more than enough.

Were not having a open bar, although we are providing drinks for the afternoon reception, wedding breakfast/toasting etc. My friend had an open bar at her wedding recently, I believe they put 3000 behind the bar and then the following day they had to pay the remaining £1000 bill! Its just not an option for us and my friend said that its the one thing they regret doing on the day. Its not something most people would expect at a wedding I don't think

We are having an open bar. We will be telling the venue no shots, doubles, glasses of wine no bottles etc. I personally think an open bar is a bad idea, but my dad is insistent on it so he's paying for it. I just think people will be leaving their drinks everywhere, getting a new one before finishing their first one etc. I wouldn't be having an open bar if it wasn't for my dad x

Some of it will depend on your timings. We got married at 3pm and we had welcome drinks, toast and 1/2 bottle wine each included in the package. We also bought few more cases of red and white wine and a couple of casks of real ale.

Our original plan was to limit the open bar to beer, wine and soft drinks but at the last minute we decided in for a penny, in for a pound and made it open for everything. Bar closed at 11.15pm and our total bill for 110 people was £1400 which we felt seemed pretty good, particularly when we know people were doing shots etc

i guess the fact that people didn't start really building up the bar bill until after the meal (in our case at about 7.45pm) meant it was manageable. For us a free bar was a priority as pretty much every wedding we have been to has had one (I know that makes us lucky!). We wanted to repay the hospitality that our friends have given us over the years and were in a position to do so.

I guess if we'd got married at 11am and it hadn't finished until 2am then I might not be so positive....

We would have loved an open bar, but couldn't really afford to have one. We're having wine, juices and vodka (It is a part Polish wedding after all) on tables and we will be putting some money behind the bar though. Personally I've only been to one wedding (as an adult) that had an open bar and that was in Poland.

We are putting a set amount behind the bar for 90 people, probably £1000 but have at least 10 non-drinkers. Other half has been to at least five weddings of his close friends in the last year where there is an open bar so he doesn't want to opt out of it. So our budget has to be cut elsewhere as I refuse to pay more, but it is really the only thing he seems to want.

When that money is gone, it is gone.

Knowing my guests as I do - there is no way I would even consider an open bar! It would cost us an absolute fortune! I have also never been to a wedding with an open bar. Our guests will be getting a welcome drink of prosecco after the ceremony, half a bottle of wine and another glass of preoscco for toasting each. I can already see the 'wine swapping' going on between tables so not a drop goes to waste!

We are not having an open bar either, we are paying for bubbles for the toast and bottles of wine for the tables.

Financially we just couldn't afford to pay it and we are only having 35 people coming.

My guests got a glass of cava as a welcome and that's the lot. Our entire wedding package cost just over 2.5k and a drinks package with just two drinks per guest added up to around 900 pounds we could have afforded it just about I couldn't justify it. We're both not really drinkers so we decided we wouldn't provide any alcohol. yes it looks classy everybody with wine on the table but I think my guests actually liked freedom of not having wine on table lol and being free to have a pint

This! I have way too many heavy drinkers on the guest list!

We're likely "self-catering" at a village hall. Most of the ones we're looking at have a bar facility/licence but you have to provide your own alcohol. Will probably get a few bottles of spirits in and a couple of wines and cases of beer. Small reception - no more than 50, probably not even 30 at this rate so won't cost too much to keep them all merry all night! There are a couple of non-drinkers there (3 adults (if my grandparents behave/show up) and up to 6 kids), my FH doesn't really drink so I won't have much either. Probably completely depends on how many, if any, friends we invite.

You know your guests, so only you can judge if an open bar will cause some to become excessively drunk & rowdy. We had no problems at all.

We paid for a package which included an open bar all day and night of wine & beer (champagne on arrival & to toast). Guests could purchase spirits/shots if they wanted. This is pretty standard where I got married abroad and at several weddings I've been to in the UK. In some cases only wine/beer with dinner has been provided, then you purchase everything after that.

I don't think you even need a sign on the bar telling guests what not to order- the bar staff can simply tell guests that ask for shots that they aren't included in the free bar, but its £x.xx if they would still like the drink.

Im having a few bottles of wine on the table but no way to an open bar...knowing our lot I'd have to take out a mortgage by 3pm

We are a DIY venue and DIY bar as it was important for us not to have a cash bar. We have said in our invites that there is some wine, beer and cider. We are also providing some spirits - vodka, rum and gin along with soft drinks. For us it's a lot cheaper though - most of the alcohol is FIL homebrew (he's very good at it) and we have made blackcurrent gin for the tables from our garden.

It was important to us and we chose a venue which would allow us to do this, mainly as to some of our friends the cost of attending a wedding can seem too much so we wanted to keep costs for guests down - hence why we also have camping on site!

I don't think I would expect a free bar in a venue though (so hotel, country house etc) but one of the things I really dislike about venues is the cost of the bar! I don't see this as a reflection on the couple or anything I just think venues take the mickey with the cost of anything wedding related especially the bar!

I would save your money and put it towards your honeymoon instead, people don't expect a free bar x

We wanted an open bar but were worried about the cost. Instead we are offering only wine, beer and soft drinks for the evening reception and will make signage for the bar to explain this. We are budgeting £1000 for 70 guests for 4 hours, after 2-3 arrival drinks, 1 toast drink and half bottle of wine with the meal. We hope it will be enough!

My sisters bar tab was £1800, BUT this was for 140 guests (after a generous day drinks package), and included drinks for the rehearsal dinner for 20 guests, and beers, wines, bloody marys etc for 100 guests for the day after BBQ. They were delighted with the tab, they thought it would be much more! People say that guests take the P*** if the bar is open but I guess it depends on your friends and family!

HTH!