Digital Invitation: Wedding Open Bar Budget by RSVP

Three days before the wedding, your caterer sends a message: can you confirm the final numbers? You open your notes app and find two WhatsApp groups, a screenshot of a list and a voice note from your aunt saying she might bring the grandchildren. Dinner is easy enough to count. The open bar is not. A wedding open bar budget is normally quoted per head, so every late yes adds to the bill. With a Digital invitation that list lives in one place, and you can create and send yours today from the catalogue.

The awkward part isn't the drinks themselves. It's the timing. The bar is often the last thing you confirm and the first thing that catches you out. Price it against a list from a month ago and the difference lands on your own card. Price it against the confirmations you actually have.

Why your wedding open bar budget grows with every late RSVP

Most caterers charge the bar per guest, sometimes at a different rate for alcohol and soft drinks. The number at the bottom of your budget moves every time someone replies. Two guests confirming the week before isn't a rounding error. It's bottles, ice and staff time that nobody planned for.

• Count the toast separately from dinner. Some guests come for the ceremony and a glass of cava, then leave before the meal.
• Ask for the per-head open bar price twice: with alcohol and without. That difference tells you whether a soft-drink-only option is worth offering.
• Work out what each guest actually drinks. Sparkling wine for the toast, then wine, beer, soft drinks and water.
• Leave five to ten per cent extra for the people who confirm in the final week. It's cheaper than a second trip to the shop.

How to use the RSVP on your Digital invitation to size the bar

You set the questions yourself in the RSVP form, so keep them short and useful. How many adults and how many children are coming to the toast. Whether each guest will drink alcohol or would rather have soft drinks. Those two answers cover most of what the bar needs to know.

Confirmations land inside the invitation, in one ordered list. No chasing replies across three chats, no spreadsheet to rebuild every time somebody changes their mind. If you move the toast half an hour later, you edit the invitation and the same link shows the new time. Nothing to reprint, nothing to resend.

You don't need a bigger bar budget. You need a number you can trust.

How much does a digital invitation cost?

A Digital invitation costs €29.99 as a one-time payment. No subscription, no printing, no postage. Guests open the link on their phone and confirm without installing an app. You can also edit the invitation after sending it: change the time, the venue or the dress code and the link stays exactly the same.

What to ask in the RSVP so you don't over-order

Ask who is coming to the toast and who is staying for dinner only. That split decides how many bottles you open. Add the alcohol or soft drinks question. And be honest about one thing: there are no automatic reminders. If somebody hasn't replied, you open the list and message them yourself. Ten minutes, and it's the difference between a guess and a number.

Open your notes app now and count how many confirmations you really have. Then pick a design and build the invitation with the RSVP questions your bar budget depends on. Digital invitations keep that list in the same place you sent the link, so every reply updates the figure you take to your caterer. Start with the questions, price the bar afterwards, and the drinks stop being an end-of-month surprise.