Cash vs. Open Bar

We may get a lot of flack for this, but apparently we're committing a major wedding ettiquette no-no: we're having a cash bar. gasp! Yes, our guests will pay for their own alcohol if they want to get sloshed at our wedding. Stingy? Maybe. But open bars are soooo expensive. And while making our list of priorities, alcohol wasn't one of them. The fiance and I, we don't drink. As in, hardly ever. As in, virtually never.  I'm not opposed to a little social drinking every now and then, but I just never cared for alcohol. My fiance is the same way.  My fiance is LDS, so he and pretty much 25% of our guests don't drink at all. Seriously, we won't miss it.

Well, what about your guests?

We know that most of our guests of 110 closest family and friends are not social drinkers, meaning they've been known not drink even if it is available. But we're not holding back completely on the liquor. We will be serving the restaurant's best champagne for the toasts and the meal. Guests also get complimentary soda, tea and coffee. Besides, why spend hundreds more on an open bar for an afternoon wedding???? Who gets drunk at 2 p.m.?

Oh, but why make your guests pay for their own alcohol? That's so cheap!

Call us stingy, but I just can't justify spending $$$ on an open bar so a select few can splurge on their afternoon alcohol binge. And if any of our guests are going to throw a hissy fit over liquor...honestly we don't really care. People certainly get all self-righteous when it comes to what they deserve as guests. I read a thread about worst wedding stories, and folks were getting real snooty about details like cake (you know how I feel about that). Apparently, a guest had been to a wedding where the bride and groom served a sheet cake, and this guest declared it the worst wedding ever! Not only that, but they had a cash bar! Oh how tacky!

We're inviting only our closest friends and family. These people won't care whether or not they shelled out $7 for their liquor for the day. These people won't care whether or not they got silly drunk. They're here to watch us get married and celebrate. And believe me, if you know our family and friends, we have fun, we get crazy, we get silly, with or without the alcohol.