do not box in your wedding bartenders :: part five/finale

Part Five and the finale of our “don’t box us in” five part series about your wedding vendors!

So far the series of “not boxing” in certain wedding vendors has probably made some sense to you, perhaps you it even made you think, aha?!

So I bet you’re wondering why we would talk about your bartenders and their needs? They just pour drinks, right?

You must recognize that a life-blood area at your reception is your bar. If service is slow due to the small ratio of bartenders to large quantity of guests or the setup is not correct, then your service will suffer. And your guests will be frustrated.

Tips for the best outcome working with your wedding bartenders:

1. If you have a down-time between your ceremony and wedding reception (ceremony starts at 1:30pm and reception starts at 5:30pm) then be sure your venue will not open their doors to your guests until 5:30pm. Guests will always come in and may go to the bar for a drink. Your bartenders have to decline them and your guests will perceive they are being rude.

2. Try not to come up with a complicated, well-intentioned cost-savings idea for your bar. You can thank ill-advised websites for publishing these crazy concepts. Such as:

Open Bar for Pre-Dinner

Bar Closes for Dinner

Bar reopens for Dancing but only serves hosted Beer, Wine, & Signature Drink until 9pm

Cash bar for the remaining wedding reception

Huh? You need a time grid to remember all of this. How do you expect your guests to react to your bartenders and vice-versa?

3. Do not try to squeeze your bartenders into the corner of the room with limited space and light. Sure they are tucked away, but there isn’t enough room to turn around 3x.

4. Please do not skimp and only hire 2 bartenders for 300 wedding guests. The ratio to keep service at its optimum is as follows:

1 Bartender per 75 guests (and some say 100)

But DON’T forget you need a bar back for multiple bars. This is a person who runs back and forth for ice, restocking etc. A very necessary position.

Trust your bartenders.

featured photo credit: pfe iPhone

plan on!

 

 

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top