An open bar means guests are not pulling out a card between dinner and dancing. A cash bar means they are. Most couples who hire a private bartender already want the first option and are really asking how to keep the cost from becoming the whole wedding budget.
What a private bartender can run
We are set up to run a hosted bar on a planned menu. A true cash-and-card nightclub bar is a different operation. If you need to control cost, a better lever is a shorter menu and a shorter service window — not making Grandma pay $14 for a glass of wine.
A compromise that still feels hosted: beer, wine, and one signature cocktail, then a clean close time. Guests understand a last call. They remember a cash bar at a wedding for the wrong reason.
