(nosey post!) Who is having a 'free bar' for their guests?

You must be joking. I know what my mates are like and would need to have a budget the size of the GDP of a small country in order to offer a free bar.

We aren't having a free bar as we personally feel that people seem to take the micky abit when it comes to free flowing booze, and I know some people would just end up getting wasted because it's there!

We are paying for the toast but that's it. ?

If we'd have an open bar we would be bankrupt by the end of the day lol. So no, not having it. We do however have a drinks package with our venue, so all guests get a drink for cake cutting, during dinner and during speaches....the rest is up to themselves. HTH

Nope! Never expect it either. Only been to 1 wedding with a full free bar (messy!) and 1 which had a free bar for a while.

Not me lol!!

We're giving everyone a drink on arrival, a drink with their toast and 3 bottles of wine on each table but thats their wack ?

x

No way, i'd be worried sick all the way through the wedding of what the bill was going to be. I'd be on drinks monitor totting up how much everyone had had!

As a guest I can see why you would love it and if I was a millionaire i'd do it but i've never been to a wedding with one. My guests get a welcome drink, half a bottle of wine and a toast drink and thats it.

?

When I do offsite events at work we always have a free bar. We tell the hotel how much we want to "put behind the bar" and then they let me know through the night where we're up to and then if we want to we get them to increase it. So it's possible that way to keep tabs on it.

As I said, one wedding i've been to had a free bar for a bit. Basically the brides Dad put about £250 "behind the bar" and after it ran out you had to pay.

Well i am having my reception in our local village hall, and this is how much i am allowing per person 1 pimms welcome drink, 1 bottle of wine (1/2 at dinner, 1/2 after dinner), 1 toasting fizzy drink, 2 bottles of lager or perry - once it has gone we are going to toddle off the 2 minutes down the road to the village pub and they can buy there own!

I've never been to a wedding with a free bar! I did go to one where they gave us a voucher for another drink after the meal, but mostly its always been teh standard drinks paclage of a couple of drinks on arrival, wine with the meal, and bubbly for toasting. That's what we're giving our guests, we could never afford a free bar unfortunately!!!!

We're hoping to put some money behind the bar equivalent to 2 drinks per guest and then we have little vouchers for people to exchange for a drink. They're only valid on soft drinks, beer, wine, cider, single spirit and mixer. Hopefully this will mean that people don't take the mick.

It certainly wont be a free bar, but we are hoping "fingers crossed" that if we have a little money left then we would ideally like to add more wine on the table and a liquer or something similar for them to have after lunch. Not so bothered about the evening guests (thats not meant to sound harsh!!)

Me and OH have decided to have one, although as we're getting married in St Pete's there will only be about 25 people! At reception at home we're not having any free drinks at all!

As an evening reception guest I don't think you expect free drinks, I don't anyways, it's just like a night out!

We put £1000 behind the bar and said it was just for beers, small house wines and soft drinks. It all went before the end though.

We have a free bar at our work do's and people take the Mickey - so no we are not. It encourges people to get on the shots to "make the most of it".

My grandpa keeps asking what he can pay for and has suggested paying for the church but its not cheap so I've declined and said there must be something more "him" so I may suggest he buys all our guests a welcome drink.

no way! Its crazy money and if people are thirsty and want a drink...well they can buy their own! There will be water and juice on the tables for dinner, and coffee and tea on arrival at the hotel, and if they need more than that - they can buy it!

Oh I should point out that we provided Pimms as a welcome drink, champagne for the toast and red and white wine on the tables as well as the £1k - tbh I wouldn't have btohered with the latter, but OH was v. keen.

We have unlimited free drinks from the end of the reception to the end of the wedding breakfast including champers, Pimms & lager. Then we are having a free welcome drink for each evening guest. The bar prices at our venue are similar to pub prices so I don't think our guests will be that aggrieved having to pay.

All the weddings I have been to have been wine on the tables and then buy your own drinks afterwards. I didn't mind this until I went to a wedding at the RAC Club a couple of years back. Had to sell my Grandad to buy a bottle of wine ?

Am not having one i've seen how much some of our mates can drink and then add army lads on top of it lol. i think it just give people an excuse to become pissed a hell of alot quicker i want a good night not people flaked in the corner a sleep by 8pm lol

xx

We had a free bar for our wedding it was everything except spirits. and was brilliant.

We had to pay €55 per head but it was worth it which included 7 courses, champagne, the cake, cheese boards and the drinks!

We are, but only because we switched to a village hall venue and found a fabulously priced caterer (who threw in free chair covers too!) - this meant we were saving so much money from our original venue that we could afford to buy all the alcohol ourselves and getting brother's friends to serve! Hehe!

I should point out we have limited drinks to mainly beers, wine and soft drinks, and have a few bottles of the most popular spirits, but everything is on a "when it's gone it's gone" basis so they'll drink what they get and like it! If they don't like it, they have to take the 2 mile trip to the local ASDA to get something of their choice! Definitely no shots!

We're also serving pimms as a welcome drink, having wine and water on tables and champagne for toast!

If we'd had a typical venue we wouldn't have bothered as I was never going to pay bar prices for everyone!

Me and OH had a good debate on this issue as our evening reception venue doesnt have a bar - we have to put it on ourselves.

So the options were:

1. Get catering company to do it, which would mean expensive prices for the guests but wouldnt cost us that much (and be less hassle);

2. Get the booze in ourselves and get someone to run it for us (we know someone who was willing to do it) and do a free bar seen as the booze wouldnt be costing us the earth;

3. As above but charge for it (so as to discourage people from drinking loads, ending up being sick and fighting! Not a good look for a wedding me thinks!)

So we settled on number 3! We want it to be as cheap as possible for the guests as a lot are travelling quite far to be there.

It would have been nice to have a free bar, but knowing OH's family it would just end in a fight or argument which I dont want. So we are going to charge (not much though) so to discourage people from drinking to excess. As we are doing it ourselves I dont want people to think we are taking the p*** by charging them a lot. You cant win either way can you!!!!

No way! Far too expensive! Our guests are getting free welcome drinks and wine to go with the meal. After that, they have to buy their own I'm afraid! Have been to loads of weddings over the past few years and none had a free bar. Our venue lets you provide your own wine for the meal with no corkage fees, so hoping to save a bit of money there! ?

OMG i have just worked out how much i have spent on alcohol for my guests and its shocking.

They have 2 welcome drinks (either mojitos, fizzy white pinot grigio or fizzy pink pino grigio), red white and pink table wine, and toast champagne.

I have also put 2500 behind bar - but have restricted what can be served, no shots, doubles or really expensive spirits. all in all at my venue that means about 4k

once its gone its gone - as the people from work work for h2b they are on strict instructions not to take liberties xxx

This is what we originally said we'd do if we had any dosh left at the end (ridiculous notion or what!) We were just going to say single measures, no shots etc, as we thought it would be nice for the eve guests to get at least their first drink free. But we're not now! We did actually have the money but when we talked it through we were like 'one thousssannnndddd pound!!!!' That's like - A Holiday! We both think it's a lovely gesture and I bet your guests really appreciated it BSB, but in the end we didn't feel we could justify it and I guess a big thing is that it's so rare these days that we knew there would be no expectation.

Do think it's nice though - but one for the whole night - can you imagine the carnage? And the re-mortgage of house that would be needed to pay!!

I knew a guy who had a free bar at his engagement party - it cost him over £5K! I believe the police were called at the end of evening, and one bloke ended up in A&E needing stitches.

We're getting married at a brewery, but we're not providing a free bar. We're paying for the food, drinks for a toast, and a bottle of Wedding Ale for each guest, thats plenty if you ask me. I wouldn't expect a free bar as a guest, knowing what weddings cost I think it's unreasonable to expect anything more than some bubbly for a toast.

We're not doing a free bar, I've never been to a wedding with a free bar so I never even considered it for ours x

no way. how expensive would that be.

Of course you can Claire - I'd much rather some Hitchers came instead of certain members of my OH's family! Apparently my OH's Uncle is going to "have words" with us at a wedding we're going to this weekend about invites we have sent excluding some people. Aaagh!

And unfortunately it's just a house champagne! It's vay nice though - I tested a glass or two of it just to make sure!

No way! Were doing reception drinks, toast drinks and a couple of bottles of wine on the table but that's it. Both our families are big drinkers so I wouldn't even want to imagine what the bill would be at the end of the night! I think h2b might whack up a hefty bill on his own! ?

I am and can't imagine it any other way! The first time I went to a wedding in England a few years ago I went without money and got a bit of a shock!!!

We are having our reception in a village hall, we'll have kegs of beer & cider, "wine on tap", soft drinks, a bit of Champagne, etc. Nothing extravagant so nothing expensive either.

We're not having a free bar, I've never been to a wedding with one so it didn't even occur to me until I started watchinf Four Weddings! We are giving our guests Pimms as a welcome drink, 1/2 bottle vino for the meal and champers for the toast and I always find that's enough to get me quite merry at weddings x