Whats a good alternative to alcohol?

06/06/2011 admin 22 comments

Ok heres my issue..

1. I originally wanted alcohol at my wedding but dad wont pay since “my fiance’s parents job” as his girlfriend said.
They liked the idea of a cash bar

2.His parents don’t drink and they think that people can just go without or we have a cash bar

3. My sister wants alcohol at my wedding, now i’ve only known her for maybe 5 years and we just got back into touch (i was adopted out of the family). She says she’d rather have a cash bar than no bar, but thinks it sucks if she doesn’t have the money to buy alcohol..

4. J’s aunt and her son (who is of age lol) were talking to me about it and said a cash bar is ok , better than no bar. Her son also said if we want people to get up and dance, we should probably have some alcohol.

Jason and I are supplying the champagne toast (whether or not they want the real stuff or the ‘non alcoholic’)

Their cases of wine are 280
Kegs of Beer 205
my sis and her husband drink the premium drinks that are 5.00 a piece

we’re not allowed to bring anything in that the reception hall can’t supply.
If the country club had a public bar downstairs i’d keep it a ‘dry’ wedding and tell people there was a cash bar on premises if they needed it.. HOWEVER
the only public bar available is IN the ballroom….
my bad i got the prices wrong lol

Case of House Wine $205.00

Bottle of Non-Alcoholic Champagne $14.95

Case of Champagne $250.00

Keg of Domestic Beer $225.00
oh they get Unlimited Fountain Soda, Coffee, Iced Tea and Sparkling Punch Fountain
Breezer,
I was thinking about a cocktail hour…we were considering just paying for that hour while the guest eat appetizers and we get our photos taken, then the reception starts
another piece of info i forgot to say…
the wedding is taking place at 11 AM in the morning…
reception starts at 1 and goes till 4

ALCOHOLISM TREATMENT alcohol, alternative, good, what's

Comments

Written by Bethy B about 1 year ago.

Okay, sounds like you have a lot of people putting in their 2 cents. I think a cash bar is FINE. It’s totally understandable in such a tight economy.
I would however spring for endless sodas, coffees, and such.

It is more rude for people to get upset that you wont spring for their $5 drinks that for you to decide not to go into debt over their drinking habits.

Or you could go in the middle. Why not ask the reception hall if you can split the drink costs? So its still a cash bar, but the alcohol would be cheaper for the guests and you wouldnt be stuck with such a high bill?
Written by Katy B about 1 year ago.

Nothing is better than alcohol at a wedding…I’d rather have a cash bar too than no bar at all. Good luck!
Written by Mac about 1 year ago.

cash bars are fine.nips hide easily in your pockets.as long as everyone knows there is officially cash bar only.i doubt they will be patting everyone down at the door.or do you have a big yard.rent a tent.and byob
Written by SuMmEr about 1 year ago.

Supply what you can afford and let the guests pay at a cash bar.
Written by pandora about 1 year ago.

I think a cash bar is much, much better than not having one at all. You also don’t have to have liquor you can stick to cheap wine and beer, or cheap liquor and beer to save money. You will also want to ask about “corking fees” for the wine, they can add up.
Written by Evie_79 about 1 year ago.

While alcohol makes things interesting, to say the least, I wouldn’t drop the thousands of dollars for the alcohol. And I agree with the first replyer about too many ppl putting their two cents in. How bout you ask for “sponsors” for alcohol. It’s traditional to ask for sponsors, in a mexican family. I don’t see why the tradition can’t be extended to another heritage. What we did at our wedding, is we bought $200 in tickets from the bar, handed them out to people and once those tix ran out, people would have to purchase their own alcohol.
Written by winter_spice78 about 1 year ago.

As a guest, I would rather have no alcohol than to have to pay for it. If you as the host can’t afford to serve something, then don’t offer it, period. You wouldn’t give guests the option of alcohol in your own home and then charge them for it or make them bring their own and then charge them to drink. The same is true for a wedding which is just a larger dinner party in most cases.

At 11am-4pm, I would not expect alcohol to be served. Most people I know who do drink, think that is awful early to drink. But you know your guests.
Written by Arissa about 1 year ago.

No one that is a social drinker wants to go to a wedding that is ‘dry’ . You should breakdown and get a case of wine and a keg of beer, then have a cash bar. If you can’t afford $500 when everything else is getting paid, you should not be gettting married. You are there to have fun and have fun with friends and just because of parent polictics, you should not make your friends and guests suffer. I am just being totally honest. Even when my co workers found out that the company Xmas party was dry this year, we all brought our own only stayed as long as we had too. We are not drunks by any means, but when we go out, we like to enjoy ourselves
Written by LuckyLola about 1 year ago.

This has been an issue for my fiance and I, also. Here are some options we’ve been discussing:

*Cash Bar (obviously)
*Beer and wine only … if the guests want something else they pay for it
*Specialty drinks … have a cash bar, but provide one drink that ties into the theme of your wedding that is complementary (we’re having servers so if we go with this idea, servers will be walking around with the drinks)
*Limited bar … either (1) we have a certain dollar limit we pay for and when it’s gone it’s cash bar, or (2) we pay until X o’clock and cash bar after that

Hope these ideas help!

~Oh, by the way … one thing we also talked about is that our friends and family are all drinkers. Open bar would only give everyone the opportunity to overdo it, and no one wants to have a bunch of drunk people at their wedding, that will just ruin your day.
Written by Breezer about 1 year ago.

Why not have a one hour cocktail hour. For one hour, you and Jason pay for the drinks, and after that, it becomes a cash bar. Normally, people only drink one or two drinks max within an hour, and this way, no one can say you didn´t pay for alcohol.
Written by duritzgirl4 about 1 year ago.

If you can’t afford to provide the alcohol free of charge, don’t have it. The people attending your party are GUESTS and should not have to pay for anything. I’ve been to several non-alcoholic weddings, and I was not offended. I would, however, be offended if I had to pay for my own alcohol.
Written by DRP about 1 year ago.

I would just have the cash bar! If people don’t want to pay for their own drinks, then they don’t have to drink. I have been to plenty of weddings with cash bars and they are fine.
Written by Anne about 1 year ago.

I’ve been to weddings where the first two drinks were on the house- we were given tokens- better than a cash bar all night
Written by jolly12 about 1 year ago.

cash bar is fine better than not hving one at all
Written by steph about 1 year ago.

i see nothing wrong with a cash bar…

that or perhaps you can have little bowls of the green stuff
Written by Greyhound Mama about 1 year ago.

For an afternoon wedding, such as what you are having, I see no need to have a full stocked bar. I think you’ll do fine with the punch and other beverages. A champagne toast should be sufficient.
Written by vaya3 about 1 year ago.

Oh for a early afternoon wedding, you do not need a lot of booze if any at all. As long as you provide other beverages, you’ll be fine. If you and your hubby-to-be really want to have alcohol there, just have a cash bar.
Written by Slider728 about 1 year ago.

Well, when I was married 6 years ago, I looked into having a completely open bar. When I looked into the prices, I believe the cheapest was $15 per person per hour. Given the fact I had about 225 people at the reception, that would have worked out to over $3K per hour, just so people could drink….pretty insane if you ask me.

What we ended up doing is simply providing soft drinks, beer, and Champagne for the parents and the wedding party. Beer was $150 a keg back then and we went through 6 halfs. Soda I think was $1 per person. I think by the time everything was done, we dropped about $1200 in refreshments. Anything besides the soda/coffee and beer came out of the guests pocket. No one complained at all.

The idea of a wedding reception is to celebrate with friends and relatives. There is no rule that you have to provide alcohol. If you can afford it, great. If not, well than a cash bar is fine.

I don’t know about other people, but I have only been to 1 wedding in my life with a completely free open bar, and that was only for 1 hour (and we did our best to get the bride and groom’s moneies worth)
Written by Shell ♥ VT about 1 year ago.

I recently went to a wedding that had a cash bar and I didn’t feel it was tacky in the least – but they only had it open for an hour or so – the cocktail hour to be exact so that the wedding guests could have a drink before the reception while the wedding party was being photographed. During the reception, the only alcohol was the champaign toast.

The one thing I don’t see in your question is this… WHAT DO YOU WANT? It’s YOUR wedding.

Oh yeah, and tell daddy’s GF that Ms. Manners would roll over in her grave at her saying it’s JAson’s family’s job to foot the bill. It is up to the Bride’s family to provide the entire Wedding and Reception and the Groom’s family to provide for the rehersal dinner. Period.

just popping in to say howdy!
{{{{{Chez}}}}}}
Written by oy vey about 1 year ago.

Are his parents contributing anything to this event? Are yours? Who’s paying for the rehersal? What do you want?
Tell his parents that while you respect their opinions on drinking, you and your fiance would like alcohol at the wedding and would they contribute at least a portion to cover some of the bill. Put it to them in the respect that a vegetarian will not be eating the meat at dinner, but it is still provided for those who will eat it.
Written by Stained Glass about 1 year ago.

That is actually a really good price for alcohol! We are having a beer and wine only open bar and it costs $11 per person per hour (so like $1600). You are by no means required to have alcohol at your wedding but people do enjoy it and it makes them more comfortable socializing. A keg of beer will serve a ton of people. If cost is an issue then spring for the beer and offer cash bar for all other drinks. Or, only offering open bar for the cocktail hour is a good option and then cash bar after that. Be careful with that option though as some people will tend to drink as many free drinks as they can before the hour is up and that can lead to problems. It is pretty early in the day so it doesn’t seem like people will drink as much as they might at an evening wedding. The choice is totally up to you and your fiance. Don’t let people push you into doing what they want, it is your wedding after all. I learned right from the start that everyone has an opinion on everything and you don’t need to make any of them happy except yourself! Congrats!
Written by iloveweddings about 1 year ago.

Chesney:

You have really picked a good time of day that you don’t need to serve alcohol (well, NO ONE has to…but you know…it’s more of a “night thing.)

Anyway, I think if you do the one hour cocktail thing and then have a cash bar after that ….it would be FINE!

Really…I don’t think it’s that big of a deal at that time of day. Yes, maybe I would have a glass of wine…but that would be about it for me for that time of day!

So….if you want to host a 1 hour open bar….that is plenty! Then have a cash bar after that.

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Whats a good alternative to alcohol?

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