Cate > wrote in message >...
> Julia Altshuler > wrote in
> news:U9ZHb.693837$Fm2.598296@attbi_s04:
>
> > sf wrote:
> >
> >> As someone who has attended all types and also as someone
> >> who will someday have to foot the bill for a wedding - I
> >> think that an open bar for x hours, then beer/wine/champagne
> >> with a choice to buy hard drinks at a pay bar afterwards is
> >> the sane way to go. It gives people options and it doesn't
> >> shriek "cheap".
>
> It shrieks 'I really wanted an open bar but couldn't afford it for the
> whole time, so you, all my friends and family, are forced to intuit
> when it's time to bring your wallet/purse to the bar to pony up for the
> drinks that were free just 15 minutes ago.'
>
> > When I socialize, whether I'm the host or the guest, I'm hoping to
> > meet people I have something in common with. When I find myself with
> > people who have totally different ideas of entertaining and what
> > constitutes a social event in the first place, I'm not likely to want
> > anything to do with them in the future.
>
> Gotta agree with you. There are branches of my in-laws that rely on cash
> bars, and those are the only events with cash bars that I happily
> attend.
>
> When we got married, we wanted to do an open bar, but couldn't afford
> the prices that the venues we considered would charge.
>
> So we bought all the booze ourselves and hired bartenders. (We did it on
> family property so there was no conflict with bringing booze vs. paying
> for the venue's booze.)
>
> I bought the hard liquor at a DC liquor store known for cheap prices. We
> bought the wine at a winery we like, and the beer came from Costco.
>
> We saved thousands, and when it was over, we had enough left over that
> we didn't have to buy any booze for our personal consumption for over a
> year.
>
> Cate

That's the thing to do. Do what you *can* afford - Honestly, I have
never been to a wedding where beer and wine and/or Champagne is served
and people complain because they can't get hard liquor. If people
*do* complain about that, they probably shouldn't have been invited in
the first place.

The worst wedding I ever attended was held at dinner time but no meal
was served - they served hor d'ouvres, cake and punch, with wine and
beer available as well (which would have been fine). The problem was,
they had only enough provisions to serve about 1/5 of the guests.
Everybody else was left standing in line - and all of the food and
drink was gone. There wasn't even any way to get a glass of water,
which was bad because it was held outdoors and it was hot. Needless
to say, we left after a couple of hours to go get dinner.

-L.