WHAT KIND OF BAR TO HAVE? (AND A CAIPIRINHA DRINK RECIPE)
Help us decide what kind of bar to have at our wedding! Scroll down and leave a comment to vote.
This summer my new thing is about creating cocktails in pitchers with fruit and other delicious ingredients. I’m in love with the Pottery Barn pitcher that my mom purchased for me from a Seattle Outlet several weeks ago. Hopefully I’ll end up with around 3 pitchers for the summer so I can serve some different kinds of cocktails at my patio parties.
This past weekend I made a modified Brazilian kiwi caiprinha. A couple of my coworkers are from Brazil and they’ve been talking to me a lot about caipirinhas — so I got on the bandwagon. A Brazilian caipirinha is made from Brazilian cachaça which is a type of rum made in Brazil from sugar cane, mixed with fruit. This drink has a very full, rich flavour because of the cachaça. It’s similar to a mojito but a little bit spicier or heavier in flavour. It’s very refreshing and I love the fruit component. It’s by no means a very traditional caipirinha (because of the added soda water and apple liqueur), but it’s still delicious.
ALLIE’S BRAZILIAN KIWI CAIPIRINHA COCKTAIL RECIPE
- One large glass pitcher
- 6 ripe kiwis
- 6-8 oz of Brazilian cachaça, such as Sagatiba Pura (I found mine at the BC liquor store at Cambie and 41st)
- 3-4 oz Giffard’s Manzana Verde (apple liqueur, but any tart fruit juice would work fine like pear or apple juice)
- Two fresh limes, squeezed, and one lime cut up into thin slices
- 1/4 cup or less (sweeten to taste, I like less sweet) of raw cane sugar
- Three cans of club soda
- 1 large handful fresh mint
Mix everything in a pitcher and enjoy! Fill the pitcher with as much ice as possible… Works GREAT with summer BBQs.
In others new.. Allan and I have been doing a lot of thinking on the type of alcoholic bar to have at our wedding. We are trying to keep our costs down, but most of all want our friends to have a good time. It seems that everyone I talk to has a different opinion. Here are the different options we are looking at:
1. OPEN BAR: Everyone has as much to drink as they want, but runs the risk of getting “sloshy” or many unfinished drinks, also very expensive
2. TOONIE BAR: Perhaps give out a few free drink tickets, and then people pay $2 for an additional drink. More to prevent wasting of drinks and to prevent the party from getting out of control. Also helps pay some costs like the bartender fee. You can get a lot of drinks for 10 or 20 bucks, but hopefully it keeps people from wasting their drinks.
3. TICKET SYSTEM: Basically purchase a pre-set amount of tickets and hand out to guests accordingly. Could look cheap but prevents certain individuals from going overboard.
What do you think? What is the best system to have at a wedding? Any other ideas? Please vote below and help us decide!
Tags: bar, bartender, bartending, Brazil, Brazilian Caipirinha, Cachaca, Cocktail, Drink, Kiwi, recipe, Sagatiba Pura, wedding
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June 9th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
Open Bar. People make fun of cash bars at weddings years after the occasion. Our bar bill wasn’t as astronomical as we thought, even though we had some pretty drunk people.
June 9th, 2010 at 12:07 pm
Two words: open bar.
You want your guest have as much fun as possible. Cash bars at weddings just seem cheap.
June 9th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
I agree…open bar. You are hosting this wedding and making guests pay for anything is in poor form.
June 9th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
If you have in mind that the guest already make presents, make them pay for their drinks too maybe it’s a little.. :s
So I’d totally pick the open bar.
If you really need to spend less, then the 2nd one, but only if there’s any alternative.
I’d like to try to make some cocktails.. I’ve never tried before.
Love!
xxx
June 9th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
It looks delicious!
I’d chose open bar.. if you are really thinking about it, the 2nd one.
xxx
- Laura
June 9th, 2010 at 12:21 pm
People might talk about a cash bar years down the line (I myself don’t recall any conversations like that..) but also consider that the person who will look back on your wedding day the most often is YOU. And you want to be able to go back to your wedding venue without wondering if you’ve been blacklisted. Know your guests and what they’re capable of. That’s all I’ll say, you know where I stand on the matter.
June 9th, 2010 at 12:32 pm
We had wine at the tables, pop and beer at the bar, we paid for it all, and it kept the cost down too having no hard stuff. Sometimes the cost of an open bar is more than everything else put together.
June 9th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
Open bar but with no wine on the table. When people have to go get their drinks they waste less. You’d be shocked by the amount wasted when you have bottles of wine sitting on the tables.
June 9th, 2010 at 12:49 pm
Depends a lot on the guests. If you’re having people you suspect will drink to excess, it changes things a lot…
June 9th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
Anyone who judges someone negatively for having a cash bar is a selfish asshat.
Toonie Bar all the way! It will just help moderate and hopefully keeping some under control. Really, a ton of booze that close to the ocean is just asking to summon the kraken!
June 9th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
I just went to a wedding that had wine on the table and a toonie bar post-dinner. I think it was a good compromise – as a guest I didn’t worry about spending too much at the bar.
There were a lot of questions about it such as “does it HAVE to be toonies? I don’t have any!”. Also it wasn’t clear whether that included tipping the bartender (the bartender’s time was already paid for + tip prior to the event).
People who are going to get rudely sloshed are still going to do that at a toonie bar. It does save some coin though, and I don’t think it’s another crazy expense added onto going to a wedding.
June 9th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Depends on the people you’re inviting.
I for one would never badmouth a Toonie bar; I think it’s completely presumptuous to expect you to foot the entire bill, especially when the inevitable “I drank 10 drinks! I’m going for more” partiers are present.
Besides – bitching about paying $2 for more drinks makes the complainer even more “cheap” than the host.
Something to consider – not everyone, including myself, knows the “do’s and don’ts” of weddings; so if you’re going for a formal by-the-rules wedding, it’d be appreciated to be alerted beforehand, i.e. Gifts expected, or optional? That said, I despise it when people badmouth someone’s special event just because they chose to do things differently instead of adhering to some strict etiquette. It’s a party! Have fun! Don’t get your knickers in a knot because they didn’t stick to the “procedure!”
June 9th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
You have to remember your guests will be paying for ferry rides & hotel rooms just to attend (as well as bringing gifts) you can’t be charging for drinks.
Open Bar with excellent bar staff who will cut people off that have had their fill.
June 9th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
Cash bars…annoying, but I think a toonie bar is a great idea. Mike is right about a complainer being ‘cheap’.
At my friend’s wedding, they gave everyone three tickets, had wine on the table, and any additional drinks you wanted, you had to pay for yourself. I think it was very reasonable.
June 9th, 2010 at 1:15 pm
Note: Not sure if it makes a difference but we will be providing champagne after the ceremony, and then wine and beer with dinner. The bar (whether it is open/toonie/tickets etc) will be for the hard liquor.
June 9th, 2010 at 1:19 pm
I think you should have a strictly tequila bar. Many different brands and flavors. Nothing else. Just Tequila.
I think the toonie setup sounds good.
June 9th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
since it is a destination wedding I say host bar but keep it simple. Just offer Beer, Wine and 2 signature cocktails ( one designed for the bride and one designed by the groom.) and we can vote on those too.
June 9th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
Speaking to a few friends that did twoonie bars, they were ripped off by their bartenders who decided to supplement their tips with the twoonies.
Our venue suggested other ways to limit alcohol consumption – no wine on the tables (only poured by staff), closing the bar during diner, having lots of water and juice available without having to stand in line at the bar.
June 9th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
Why do people need alcohol at weddings? What is wrong with just classy champagne? I vote none of the above. Weddings are expensive enough, and I’ve never understood paying thousands of dollars for people to get sloshed, act stupid, and end up with incriminating photos on Facebook.
June 9th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
I think that no matter what kind of bar it is, the people who like to get hammered at weddings (myself included, haha) will do so no matter what. If it’s a cash bar or closed early bar, etc., there will be people sneaking off to the rooms or parking lot to drink and then will come back to the party.
I think a twoonie bar helps to limit the amount of forgotten drinks and will help supplement the cost.
Whatever you two decide will be great. It’s your day.
June 9th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Open bar. We thought so much about this too, and in the end the drink bill at the end of the night was way way less than I thought it was going to be.
You can always say last drinks at the open bar and people pay after that, ive been to quite a few weddings that did that.
An open bar is not complicated, you can limit to bottom shelf, beer, wine and softdrink if you like and it’s just nice and simple.
June 9th, 2010 at 2:23 pm
Open Bar or Toonine Bar. Been to receptions with both and both go over well. The Toonie bar saves you guys money overall and hopefully refrains from extremely drop obnoxious people from being created
If an open bar is in your budget, then why not right?
Though toonie bar might help attract tips for the bartender you have to hire to dispense the drinks (of course unless you know someone with their tending license) *shrug*
Either way people will enjoy it I am sure
June 9th, 2010 at 2:41 pm
what about open bar for a set number of hours then cash bar, that way you don’t have to deal with tickets. Or perhaps offer wine, beer or some specialty cocktails and guests have to pay for anything different they may want.
June 9th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
Open Bar- To cut back on costs of an open bar you can do two bottles of wine on each table one red one white and have a couple of signature cocktails available to everyone and a set ammount of beer. Thats what we did at my sisters wedding and the tab ended up not coming out to be to high because we were able to provide our own alcohol and my uncle volunteered to be the bartender rather than the serve yourself option we were going for plus everyone had plenty to drink and no one ended up rediculously drunk.
June 9th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
I’ve heard people talk poorly of cash bar options too. I’ve only had one bad experience where I didn’t know it was going to be a cash bar and I didn’t have cash. But if you’re offering beer and wine, they have that…and that is plenty!
Open bar could be spendy, especially since your guests are probably staying at the Inn and there is nothing holding them back.
I wouldn’t hand out drink tickets, that gets confusing and creates more work for you. I think the toonie bar sounds just fine. If people want hard alcohol they can pay for it.
That recipe sounds yummy! I fell in love with caphrihinas in Mexico. But adding kiwi sounds delish!
June 9th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
P.S. We had a tequila tasting bar at our wedding in Mexico. Have you tried tequila creme? You would love it!
June 9th, 2010 at 3:31 pm
Hi Allie — I went to a friend’s wedding last fall and she opted for wines on the table, $2 drinks (beer, liquor, highballs). I thought it was a great compromise — easier on the bride and groom’s budget (and, perhaps, sanity) and I didn’t at all mind spending a few dollars on drinks. Everything went great and I didn’t hear a peep about the cost from anyone.
June 9th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
I agree with Jess (post 17) – having a simple open bar with your amazing signature cocktails is a great idea! You can showcase all that you’ve learned over your summer of mixology
June 9th, 2010 at 4:52 pm
I’ve gotta say anything but a hosted bar is in poor form. Especially at a destination wedding, where your guests are already spending hundreds of dollars (before the “normal” expenses of grooming and gifts) to celebrate with you.
That said, there is no shame at all in making it a limited bar (no hard stuff, or just a signature cocktail or two), as long as your guests feel well-served and refreshed throughout the evening. Good service staff go a long way to helping with that.
And for what it’s worth, I spent a couple summers working for a catering company (read: was at a LOT of weddings) and the open bar almost always evens out to what the tickets would be. And it all gets a bit awkward. Non-drinkers don’t use their tickets up while heavy drinkers scrounge around searching for unused tickets (and find a way to get sloshed anyhow).
Also, remember this is a wedding. It’s not a typical house-party of all friends who are all going to drink – the drinkers and non-drinkers even each other out. And everyone stays relaxed while not watching their wallets or scrounging for tickets.
And finally, one data-point for you: our wedding was 60 people. We kept the bar open with whatever anyone wanted the whole time (bar charged us regular rates for all drinks), had wine served with dinner, and a champagne toast. Sometime before dinner was over, our beer-loving guests had totally emptied one keg of a tasty microbrew. Last I saw of my brothers, they were at the bar asking “what’s your most expensive scotch? I’ll take two.”
Our liquor bill still came in well under what we’d originally budgeted. (if you want actual numbers, email me, I’ll share)
June 9th, 2010 at 4:57 pm
Hi Allie,
Congrats to you and Allan! Weddings are so exciting, hope you’re not getting too bogged with the planning. It can definitely get to you.
When my sister got married she had pondered this question a lot too, and she finally settled on open bar because:
1. We know that out of our family and friends, hardly anyone was really going to get so drunk that the wedding would be ruined because of their rowdiness
2. Open bar just lets your guests have so much more fun!
So I think if you consider the costs, having an open bar isn’t really too bad. I think as long as you’re sure no one’s going to get hammered beyond belief and ruin the night, it’s pretty much a good idea to do open bar. Your guests will appreciate it!
June 9th, 2010 at 7:16 pm
Hard question! Lots of good comments. I think a good compromise if you don’t want open bar is to do a donation bar…leaves people the option of paying for drinks. I’ve heard friends say that most people pay for thier drinks, and you can suggest a toonie per drink if you like. I have been told that if you are going to do a cash bar you “have” to write it on the invitations…which I think kind of sucks. And a really great way to simplify – already mentioned above – is to keep it to beer, wine and cider, with your signature cocktail as highlight. But who cares, your wedding will be a blast anyway, I’m sure!
June 9th, 2010 at 9:10 pm
I think that the toonie bar is a great idea. I could get seriously hurt on $20 or 30 dollars!
It could also be great to look for an fun way to deliver the toonie. Some kind of fortune machine or coin spiral or container full of water or maybe a mime could come up with a create act around that…
June 10th, 2010 at 7:06 am
Go for the open bar, I think it will be a lot less expensive than you think. We got married at 30 and went with traditional caterer’s estimates for liquor ordering.
We wound up with probably triple what we needed; good thing much of it was returnable. Seems to me you are going high buck with the location and venue; don’t scrimp on the details. That’s what people will remember.
P.S. I don’t know what you doing for music, but if it’s a DJ then be sure and preview them. There are lots of bad ones out there!
June 10th, 2010 at 9:07 am
I bartend weddings and a lot of people have open bar for soda, wine, and beer on tap, and then cash bar for shots and cocktails…just an idea
Congrats!
June 10th, 2010 at 10:02 am
Open bar is attractive but some people take that as a reason to get blitzed and become sloppy and therefore expensive. I know peeps that put a $1000 cap on the open bar and once it hits that you can either push the cap higher or cut off the open bar. As you are having a destination wedding and everyone is traveling [paying] to get there, an open bar of some kind is nice.
I’ve been to a few budgeted weddings of late and the trend seems to be table wine is open for all while the bar drinks were ticketed. Especially in these “economic” times.
Ultimately, my vote is the Toonie Bar and some Table Wine. So if you want to drink something other than Table Wine drop your toonie! It worked for my cousin’s wedding and surprisingly my Aunt and Uncle made money on that wedding AND the bartenders got tipped by the guests, even though they already were getting extra from the venue costs.
Good Luck!
June 10th, 2010 at 11:17 pm
If you and your family are non-drinkers it would be acceptable to have a cash bar or toonie bar. Otherwise, open bar is the standard for most weddings.
June 11th, 2010 at 9:43 am
So exciting that you’re getting married and it’s so much fun to plan a wedding, isn’t it?
I’m of the mindset that your wedding should be the best party you ever throw in your life (mine certainly was, and we’ve thrown some ridiculous parties in our day).
So I say open bar! Packed dancefloor! Have the best night of your life!
June 11th, 2010 at 10:19 am
Maybe this is a British perspective but…
I don’t think people do talk about “Pay Bars” years down the
line, I certainly never have and I’ve never heard anyone complain.
I think wine on the table and a pay bar afterwards (subsidised or not) is the best compromise. Open Bars can end up very messy and expensive, if people want to get wasted they should pay for it themselves.
The important thing with a pay bar is to make people aware before hand so they bring some cash with them and also it’s not then a surprise
June 11th, 2010 at 10:20 am
PS: If you have a pay bar maybe make soft drinks free or cheap? It sucks to be a driver and paying full bar prices for soft drinks
June 13th, 2010 at 3:11 pm
funny side note about the brand of cachaca you bought…
i was in brazil last year and bought the cheapest but prettiest bottle of cachaca for friends at home, priced at just $3 a bottle at the grocery store. happens to be the same exact sagatiba one you bought, which i’ve noticed is something like $30 at bc liquor! the markup is just insane. now if only i could travel to brazil all the time and bring back bottles and bottles of cachaca (caipirinhas are the best!)
June 13th, 2010 at 3:16 pm
oh and about the alcohol question – just went to a wedding that handled this really well. ‘open’ wine and beer bar (with smaller pours of wine and draft beer) that is served all night long including to accompany dinner, and then one ‘signature’ cocktail that represents the couple but is only served during the ‘cocktail hour’ in between the ceremony and reception. one glass of champagne for all the toasts as well. really kept the guests in check, no one got too drunk (as there was a limited time of hard alcohol)
June 14th, 2010 at 6:38 pm
It has to be open bar especially when people are already getting themselves over to the island (which no doubt they won’t mind doing). If you’re looking to keep costs down as lots of people above have said just keep out the hard liquor. I’ve also been to events where you (guest) paid the difference between the cost of beer or wine and the hard liquor.
June 15th, 2010 at 9:50 am
open bar… if people have to pay for a hotel room to come, it definitely has to be an open bar.
June 17th, 2010 at 11:44 am
I like the idea of a bottle of wine on the table for dinner or 2 depending on table size. To follow up with an open bar, but maybe with only beer, wine and a couple of signature cocktails you create for your wedding.
I have seen a lot of weddings lately that do a specific cocktail to keep down costs, and I’m curious if it’s true. I’m planning a wedding for next summer too and would love to know which plan of attack you choose.
Most people, when asked seem to want the open bar theme.
June 17th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
Because I am the MOH for my BFF this fall and am travelling across the country here’s my opinion-Open bar and with wine on the table for 2 reasons. #1: It has been my experience (i have attended about 80+ weddings) that if wine is available on the table and people can get lazy – they will forego a few walks up to the bar to get a drink. #2: because you are getting married in Tofino, safe to assume (?) that 95% of your guests are travelling to help celebrate your day, they are paying for ferry, lodging, gift, shower/stag, etc. etc.
Congrats!
June 18th, 2010 at 5:33 am
Waw. Make me to crave for this lime.
August 20th, 2011 at 3:09 pm
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