Post # 16
Member
2098 posts
Buzzing bee
Hi- I needed to hire bartenders for my wedding where everything was a la carte, DIY. A question to consider is if the restaurant requires you to hire a licensed bartender. If they don’t have to be licensed, you could hire anyone and it would cost less. Seems pretty simple to pour wine and beer, wouldn’t need to be super skilled. I needed a whole bar for 6 or more hours, so it was around 1200 I think for bartenders. You probaby don’t want to spend that. But if you don’t need an official bartender, you could hire a babysitter or other 20/hour type helper.
Honestly, I’d be okay with option B but it’s not ideal. Keeping white bottles cold and stuff like that would be a concern.
Post # 17
Member
486 posts
Helper bee
Thanks, Bees.
You’ve given me a lot to think about and consider. I suppose it would just be fine for guests to help themselves, and I like the idea of someone in our party in charge of uncorking bottles of wine every hour, or even us having the screw cap ones.
We’re going to ask the restaurant about the clean/dirty glassware if we go this route.
Thanks a bunch!
Post # 18
Member
166 posts
Blushing bee
- Wedding: May 2017 - the garden house, seattle
we’re also going with option 4. a friend of a friend has a basic serving permit (required in washington state), so we’re paying her a couple of hundred dollars to chaperone the beer and wine. that way, we have a little more control over drink size and cutting people off, if necessary.
Post # 19
Member
117 posts
Blushing bee
If the restaurant is not handling the bar, you either need a bartending service that has insurance for liability or you have to take out liability insurance yourself, most likely.
Post # 20
Member
982 posts
Busy bee
starrynight898 : option 2. Make sure the wine you pick is a screw top not a cork. Problem solved.
Post # 21
Member
486 posts
Helper bee
Option 4 is starting to sound appealing, especially after we’ve been getting some quotes back from bartenders who can even bring their mobile bar, cups, napkins, ice etc… and it’s all included in their price. I didn’t realize bartenders were so inexpensive! The quotes I’ve been getting have ranged from $25/hour to $50/hr. š®
Post # 22
Member
3838 posts
Honey bee
Is option 1 a lot or a little more expensive? It’s obviously the easiest option as you don’t have to worry about how much to buy, taking it away at the end of the night etc.
Post # 23
Member
486 posts
Helper bee
nonablu : It’s a lot š The restaurant prices the beer and wine 3x more than what you’d find at the store for the same bottle and brand!
GOOD NEWS! The restaurant today said they could do option 3 for us for $100, which is so crazy awesome. *whew*
Thanks you, bees, for all your amazing input!
Post # 24
Member
2807 posts
Sugar bee
starrynight898 : Regarding option two, have you asked if there will be a server working the table with all the booze? I would think that someone would need to be there to keep it tidy, and pick up trash, so why can’t they open some bottle as need be? Also, if the beer bottles are on ice, I don’t see why several bottled could not be opened in advance as well.
Post # 25
Member
486 posts
Helper bee
smoocheepoo : I made a mistake and said the restaurant agreed to Option 2, but I really meant they agreed to Option 3! So they would store the beer/wine we buy, and their wait staff brings them out as guests request!
Post # 26
Member
1353 posts
Bumble bee
- Wedding: February 2017 - Seattle, WA
We did option 2 and it worked well for us! 
Post # 27
Member
486 posts
Helper bee
Kings7911 : Thank you so much for the pictures! They’re very helpful in trying to visualize what option 2 would look like. Did you serve beer, too? How did you keep the drinks cold?
Thanks!
Post # 28
Member
1353 posts
Bumble bee
- Wedding: February 2017 - Seattle, WA
starrynight898 : we did kegs of beer and they were kept on ice outside. The white wine was kept in clear plastic wine tubs with ice. It worked really well! The red wine ended up being twist off which I didn’t even realize until that day so that helped. Good luck! Your guests won’t care either way, people are usually pretty understanding.
Post # 29
Member
85 posts
Worker bee
starrynight898 : Provide your own bartender – not a big deal at all that people have to retreive their own alcohol to bring back to their table. Highly doubt restaurant will agree to serve what you buy. Just factor out of hiring bartenders will save you that much money in the end. When I catered at weddings 7ish years ago, by the end of the night I usually made around $150.
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