Mannerific

As weddings balloon disproportionately to budgets, the cash bar has become a sticky etiquette issue.

The traditional and still widely-held view is that you should host the party you can afford. You provide the guests with all refreshments, and do not ask them to purchase their own. This does not mean you must provide an open bar for every minute of the reception; far from it. If you can only afford table wine and some coolers of beer, then that’s what you provide.

If your venue allows, it is often much cheaper for you to hire your own bartender (a friend with a bartending license, for example) and buy the alcohol you can afford ahead of time. When it runs out, the bar closes. That way you’re in control of the bar budget, but can still provide your guests with a choice of alcoholic beverages.

Depending on where you live, cash bars may have become pretty normal for weddings. In certain regions people may even expect to have to pay for drinks at a wedding. If you’re not sure whether you live in one such region, think back to the weddings you’ve attended and how they were set up, or ask your friends and coworkers if they’ve been to weddings with a cash bar. You’ll probably get a good idea of how acceptable it may be from their reactions.

For the record, on this one, Mannerific subscribes to the traditional view. Your guests should not have to crack their wallets at your party.