Planning a wedding can be a daunting task. There are so many different things to plan and organize that it is easy to get overwhelmed or stressed out. One of the most important parts of your reception, however, should not be overlooked: the bar.
This article discusses 5 bartending tips for people who are planning a wedding, including why they should choose a mobile bartender in Southern Utah for their event!
1. Go Simple With The Cocktails
In my time as a mobile bartender, the most common problem I run into with clients is this: complex cocktails. Of course, we all want our wedding to be one to remember. We want delicious frozen margaritas and daiquiris. We want class, right?
But the reality is that blended cocktails are extremely difficult in most venues. There are so many moving parts to blended drinks that most venues often can’t accommodate (especially outdoor weddings).
You’ll need multiple blenders so that your bartender can make the drinks fast. Then you’ll need to figure out where to plug all of these blenders in. You’ll need a sink to rinse off sticky messes, and a place to house a lot of ice. Most importantly, you’ll need a counter or bar space large enough to accommodate all of this equipment.
See how messy it’s becoming?
You don’t want people waiting around the bar for 10 minutes for each cocktail, you want them out and mingling, enjoying the wedding, and having a good experience. The ideal cocktails for a wedding are ones that can be whipped up in one minute and put straight in the guest’s hands.
Beer, wine, champagne. Whiskey and coke. Vodka Cranberries. Mimosas. Simple, 2 ingredients drinks are what we’ve found to be the most efficient for weddings.
If you want variety, you can still be different while keeping it simple. For example: do one signature cocktail with two variations (e.g., whiskey and coke, rum and coke). This way you can still offer some variety without overwhelming your bartender(s) and guests!
2. Keep Non-Alcoholic Beverages in a Separate Area
Most people assume that water dispensers or bottles live in the same area as the bar- never assume. The bar area will start to congest with a variety of people and kids who are just looking for non-alcoholic beverages.
We’ve found it best to house non-alcoholic beverages nearest to where to buffet of food is, so that guests can grab and go with their meals. If they must be housed at the bar, have a couple of bins filled with ice to set the waters and sodas in so that guests can grab and go.
Or, if you have a mobile bar set up at the beverage station, have them labeled appropriately so guests can easily identify which drink they want without asking.
A designated area for non-alcoholic drinks allows your bartender to quickly make cocktails, poor wine, or pop open so beers, without being bogged down with requests for water or soda.
3. Make Sure You Have Plenty of Ice
We’ve seen it a hundred times over. When you think you have enough ice, that’s how you know you should probably get more.
We recommend that you always have at least half as much ice as guests in order to keep up with demand!
About how many pounds of ice per hour should we provide? Honestly, it depends on several factors including how hot it is outside, what time of day/night is it (i.e., if people will be drinking all night long), and whether you’re serving food.
But, as a general rule of thumb, mobile bars should have at least 15 pounds per hour for every bartender. This can be distributed into buckets or bins to keep things organized and clear up counter space!
4. Create an Easy-to-Read Menu
Having a beautiful sign outlining what beers, wines, and cocktails are available at your wedding is a great way to keep the traffic flowing. Guests waiting in line can already have their drink choice in mind by the time they reach the bar, rather than the bartender explaining each drink to each guest once they get there.
To keep the menu organized, label each bin or container so that your mobile bartender can quickly find what they are looking for. Keep an inventory list of all drinks being offered at the wedding- this will help you to know how much money is going into each drink and accurately budget hiring a mobile bar company in Southern Utah.
This makes life very easy when getting ready behind the scenes as well since all prep work should be done right before the event begins.
5. Keep Your Bartender in the Loop
You may have gone to great lengths when deciding what drinks should go onto your bar menu, but it’s important that you sit down with your mobile bartender and discuss how much of each drink they plan on making.
If guests are requesting specific brands or flavors, this will help them to prepare in advance if need be, such as pre-making mixers, opening bottles in advance, having enough fruit cut, etc.
Discussing any possible crowds at the bar is also helpful so that your bartender can prepare– either by providing extra bartenders or having an alternative means for getting drinks out quickly (e.g., beer pong table)- can prevent long lines from forming and keep people happy!
We cannot stress enough how helpful it is to create some type of communication between yourself and your mobile bartender(s). Talk over everything ahead of time before the wedding starts- go through every detail of all bar stations as well as any other requests or ideas you may have for ensuring things run smoothly behind the scenes.
Professional Mobile Bartender in Southern Utah
We want your wedding to be smooth sailing, and we certainly don’t want to have to bug you at your own wedding because we’re running out of ice (we wouldn’t do that anyway).
So sit back and enjoy your big day, knowing that your professional mobile bartender in Southern Utah has got it all squared away. Let’s start planning- call LLL Mobile Bartending in Southern Utah (435) 559-1119.