There are many elements that make up a successful wedding. One that is often overlooked, or left to the groom at the last minute, is the drinks service.
So if its a 5* hotel or village hall where you are hosting your wedding, this simple guide will make sure you have all the bases covered and guest are fully refreshed.
First there are some decisions to be made and questions you should ask to get an accurate quote from your provider;

. Date
. Times
. Location
. Numbers
. Drinks required
. Free or Pay bar
. Reception Drinks
. Table Wine
. Toast drink
. Table glassware
. Evening bar options

Once you have an idea of how you would like this to run, you can start discussing with your provider how they can deliver this and what any costs are likely to be.
You can also look and see if there are any elements you want to try and do yourself.

But don’t underestimate the time involved and extra costs, like hiring glassware and chilling drinks.

Its then helpful to lay out a running order of the drinks service and decide what is served at each stage, who serves it and how.

We have put below some of our suggested drinks and how it could operate with mock timescales for a marquee wedding.

Drinks reception – 2pm – 4pm

– Pimms, Bellinis, Raspberry Collins or Elderflower and Pressed Apple,
served into highballs and flutes from a reception drinks counter outside under a pagoda.

Wedding Breakfast – 4pm – 6pm

– Wine and red wine, table laid with highball, red and white wine glass and water jug wine topped up by bar team.

– Toasts

– Prosecco or Champagne, served on trays in flutes at the table after main course.

– Cocktails after wedding breakfast as well as full bar offering 6pm – midnight

– Passion Fruit Mojito

– Vanilla French Martini

– Strawberry Daiquiri

– Cosmopolitan

– Tom Collins

– Full bar offering including draught beer and lager

Other specialist services which could be offered

– Champagne or cocktail fountains

– Frozen slush cocktail machines

– Flair bartenders

Here’s our list of top tips for the day and things to avoid;

– Don’t think doing things yourself is always cheaper, companies can provide services more effectively than trying to do elements yourself so you can relax and enjoy your special day.

– Don’t use a trestle table, it’s the wrong height, will break your back to work from and doesn’t look great.

– Make sure everything is cold!!!! Wine should be chilled early enough (at least 5 hours) and shouldn’t be put out on the tables too early. (Remember not to serve the Red chilled though!) Boxes of beer with ice will chill bottles quicker than in a fridge.

– Ask a professional about stock levels, you will never get it right yourself, and takes years of experience to make an estimated guess. Even then you need to overstock on everything to make sure if all guests decide to drink an obscure product you don’t run out. Remember if you are doing this yourself you are likely to end up with lots of stock left over.

– Get plenty ICE!! If you run out of ice later in the night (just as guests move over to spirit and mixers) the service will be terrible. A warm drinks is not good enough.

– Get plenty fruit, a G&T without garnish is not a G&T!

– Don’t underestimate the work that will go into the bar!!

The post Guide to a successful Wedding Bar appeared first on Bar 4 Hire.