How To Serve Your Wedding Drinks
Photography by Olegs & Rita PhotographyIn the midst of wedding planning, how to serve your wedding drinks may not seem like the most important thing to think about. But it’s essential to the overall guest experience and we’re here to help you make up your mind easily. Whether you offer a free bar or creative alternatives like cocktail hours or drink tokens, there are numerous ways to ensure your guests enjoy every sip of your special day. We'll dive into the pros and cons of a free bar, and help you choose the best option that fits your style, budget, and vision. Whether you're looking for a luxurious, all-inclusive experience or a fun, budget-friendly approach, we've got you covered with tips and inspiration to make your wedding drinks a highlight of the celebration.
Wedding drink serving ideas from drink tokens and mobile bars to cocktail hours
Should you have an open bar at your wedding?
Is it common to have a free bar at a wedding? The short answer is no. It’s not all that common to have a completely open bar at any wedding. The majority of people do not have the budget to cover free drinks for every single guest after everything else that goes into creating a dream day. However, if this is something you’re considering, use our wedding drink serving guide to work out a rough cost based on how many servings you’ll need. There are two main factors to consider:
Budget
If your budget doesn’t allow you to cover a totally open bar for guests, you could opt for a cap instead, which could come to a total of whatever amount of your wedding budget you don’t spend. It’s important to work out your list of priorities before you dive into any spending. Our wedding budget breakdown can help with this.
Venue
So, besides your budget, the next thing you need to consider is your venue. Some venues will have great packages to take advantage of with complimentary drinks or discounted offers. That being said, you may find that your venue has specific rules about what drink and alcohol they allow to be served whereas others are more laid back and may not even have a corkage fee! Discuss your plans with your venue coordinator to find out your options.
Pros Of Having An Open Bar
1. Good Times
Guests who may have avoided coming to the wedding because of cost now have the opportunity to let their hair down and have a good time without worrying too much about the consequences. This can contribute to helping the overall vibe of your wedding day to be relaxed and fun. Guests will also look back on your day fondly remembering the generosity of providing free drinks.
2. Break The Ice
Any bar or alcohol is going to get guests to feel more comfortable with mingling, dancing, and interacting more freely. If you were worried about an empty dance floor or a lot of awkwardness, this may remove those inhibitions.
3. Signature Cocktails
An open bar means you’ll get to decide what drinks guests can help themselves to. You can get creative and serve your very own signature cocktail and come up with a fun name for them.
4. Streamlines The Wedding
No cash exchanges, token exchanges or coordinating rounds means that the whole process of ordering drinks is a lot more streamlined. Plus, all guests will have the opportunity to ask for a drink meaning that no one will feel left out or awkward if they don’t have enough funds to contribute towards rounds.
Cons Of Having An Open Bar
1. Overconsumption
Knowing that it’s free, guests will often take advantage of this and drink a lot more than they normally would simply because the drinks are free! Your guests may be a lot drunker leading to a lot of messy moments that may not look good in the wedding photos.
2. Expenses
In the same way, knowing the drinks are free, guests may put drinks down and forget about them even though they’re only half-finished and go and get a brand new one. This costs you money for drinks that aren’t even being drunk!
3. Liability
Some venues have additional charges for any guests who are sick due to alcohol, damage to any property etc. The same may apply to your guests’ accommodation or hotel. You also have to think about legal repercussions too depending on how wild your wedding might become.
4. Preferences
If you are having an open bar, choosing what drinks are included in the selection of free drinks can be just another thing to add to the planning list. Everyone will have different preferences so choosing drinks that are likeable to everyone is nearly impossible.
5. Party Too Hard
Instead of becoming a day of love and fun, your wedding day could easily descend into one of chaos and fuzzy memories. Hey, we don’t judge here! If you’re looking to host one hell of a party, then an open bar is for you. It just depends on the vibe you want to go for.
6. Weekend Weddings
If your wedding spans a whole weekend, that means you’ll likely have planned a BBQ, pool party or some activities for guests the day after the wedding. But, if your guests are all too hungover to really participate it can ruin the whole mood and waste the money you’ve put towards the final day.
7. Logistics
Not to mention, the venue will have to make sure they have enough staff, mixers and garnishes, depending on what drinks you’re offering, to ensure that there are no long queues that can lead to guests getting frustrated. There’s nothing worse than spending a whole party waiting at the bar.
Alternative Wedding Drink Serving Ideas
As we said, it’s not very realistic to have a totally open bar, so why not consider these alternatives to an open bar? In our opinion, these options actually offer a better guest experience that allows for talking, interactivity and keeps them from getting too wasted...
Cocktail Hour
Why not keep the free drinks limited to just an hour? While you’re off getting couple portraits and pictures or just as you arrive at the venue for welcome drinks, offer guests either your own signature cocktails or whatever cocktail specialty the venue offers. This way you get all the pros of having an open bar without any of the cons!
Mobile Bars
Perfect for outdoor weddings, mobile bars are often speciality carts offering unique gin cocktails, craft beers or something similar. Guests will love having the opportunity to try out an alcoholic beverage they may have never had before.
Live Demos From Mixologists
Add value to serving your wedding drinks with a live demonstration from the mixologists. You could have mixologists create your signature wedding cocktail and hand out mini recipe cards for guests to make the drink at home if they like it. Your drink always tastes better when you can see it being freshly made by the hands of an expert. This also doubles up as great entertainment!
Drink Tokens
The easiest way to still offer free drinks but negate any of those cons we mentioned earlier, is to use drink tokens. Offer 3 or 5 drink tokens to guests that allow them to choose from a selection of free beverages and then when the tokens run out they have the option to pay themselves for more drinks.
Wholesale
Marquee weddings or at-home weddings don’t have the benefit of a fully-stocked bar and staff, so popping to a wholesaler for your alcohol may be the best choice. We LOVE the idea of booze baths where guests can help themselves. Plus, this is a great way for guests to contribute too!
Add personality to your day by getting creative with how you serve your wedding drinks
Think you’ve decided on how to serve your wedding drinks? Great! Take a look at our wedding bar design ideas for some inspiration on decorating the bar to match your wedding theme. We mentioned signature cocktails a lot in this article, so head to our dedicated article on wedding cocktails including cocktail name ideas, menu inspiration and more!
