Diy bar or bar service?

Is it not possible to see anyone in the family who has friends they know as bartenders to do as a favour to you? It would save tons and tips they will get anyhow. No harm in doing so.

Anyone find any prices for bartenders? I just met with one and they're full service but wouldn't give me a ballpark price until the quote is ready which is making me think they're going to be expensive. We are providing the alcohol but they'll provide garnishes, mixes, glasses and ice. We wanted to spend a few hundred but I think it might be over $1000.

Hey!Thanks for the suggestions. I will have to look around and maybe put up an ad for someone local.

Hey Robyn! Sounds like it's going to be a great party!! You could take a look at the catering companies in our directory and see if they can do the service until later: Wedding Catering near Ormstown

You can also check out these ideas for signature drinks to make your own:

Signature drinks for the wedding reception

Signature valentine's day drink

What drinks would you like to serve on your big day?

What kind of drinks would you like to have?

Totally supply your own! you can build up a collection over the next few months, and wait for decent deals to come up

Since you are hiring a bartender (good idea, btw), you could find out if they have a "specialty" drink that they make, and maybe feature that, or at least have it available. It would be cool to be the wedding that served "the best______ EVER!"

Hi! we went to a wedding this summer that hired two bar tenders from the area and they just had the basics (rum, gin, vodka, Rye) with basic mixes (coke, 7-up and orange juice) along with beer and wine. We were thinking of either finding a few bar tenders from the area to hire or the other option would be to get an organization to serve (like the volunteer fire department or another club) and they get to keep tips ect...

I am thinking of doing a diy bar we are having our wedding at a friends ranch. I would love to get a bartender to make drinks. Have you found any information on that? I dont think I would do full service.

AHHH I understand now! I think that's a much better way to go. You can shop for deals and get what you need

Our venue is our back yard; we live on a farm so we are going to have it in one of our big barns. We are definitely hiring bartenders but we're thinking of buying our own licquor instead of hiring an entire service as it is very expensive

Yeah I agree. You definitely don't want the liability! And what if someone underage gets a hold of alcohol? This is something you want to leave to the professionals. After parties are also becoming more popular. If your venue only lets you stay until like midnight, some couples choose a bar nearby to go to afterwards and anyone who still wants to drink and party can join them.

Have you booked your reception venue yet? Did they say how late you could serve alcohol? We booked out the second floor of a restaurant for our reception and it came with a bar so they handled everything for us which was nice.

I would definitely hire a bar service! 1. Your venues liquor license likely doesn't allow there to be alcohol served after a certain time anyways. 2. Having guests pour their own drinks is a recipe for disaster. They may accidentally make their drinks too strong and be drunk far too quickly. 3. The venue likely won't allow you to serve your own for liability reasons (is someone drives drunk or is hopitalized they could be held responsible)

I fully understand stocking the bar yourself (paying for the liquor on your own and just hiring a bartender to serve it), but I would definitely look at hiring a bartender at the least.