Bar question

maritimebride2012

We will most likely be having to have a cash bar.  They are the norm here, and we may have no choice with our venue anyhow, something to do with the bartender, I have to get more details at our meeting.

Well I saw this pic

and thought we could host some signature drinks, a green cocktail & purple one, and then non alcoholic choices like iced tea, lemonade and apple cider (since it will be at an orchard) an just have the cash bar be for beer only. 
My only question is, how do you control the consumption of the alcoholic drinks like a bartender would to know if someone needs to be cut off?  Should we have them set up so that the batender would serve from the alcohol jugs and the others would be self serve?

SSaltzman87

I think this would be a question best left for you to ask your venue/bartender :-) They'd have to have guidelines about this.

Here in the US, bars won't serve you if you appear drunk. 

slbinpink

I would for sure have the bar tender serve any and all drink with alcohol... They know how much someone has already had, and they know signs to look for that others might not pick up on.... 

I don't know how big your wedding is, or anything about the people you are inviting... but I would imagine self serve alcohol would go REALLY fast...

Also, as PP said, bring up the idea with your venue/bar tender before getting your heart set on anything.... They may veto the idea, or they might have rules and/or suggestions about how you can go about this...

Good luck! That picture is so cute, and I can see why you would wanna try that!!!

mary9449

I would have it set up for the bartender to serve. Allowing people to serve themselves would only cause problems.

browner3

I imaging that in order for your venue to even have a liquor license to sell or serve alcohol there is a way to control the distribution. I know at our venue, we can bring in whatever liquor we want, but need to have someone (a bartender) at all times distributing it.  I would definitely speak to your venue.

Melissa603

Usually a bartender has to serve alcohol. I've been to weddings where you can self serve non alcoholic beverages, which you can do in those pitchers, which would look very cute set up on a table next to the bar area if your venue would accommodate. 

maritimebride2012

Yeah Fi just figured we could have the whole setup like this, but have it set up behind the bar and the bartender will serve all drinks, alcoholic and non, and I'll design a cute menu showing all the offerings to put at the bar.

MaryLaura13

Are you bringing in the alcohol for those drinks? you need to make sure that is ok with your venue, most likely its not if they have a liquor license. Also if it's cash bar how do you know how much to charge for each drink?

maritimebride2012

I have to clarify things with the venue.  The website says one thing, but from conversations I have had with the girl, she's saying something different, that  beer is not offered by consumption but by the case, and liquor "packages"
.
My way of getting around having a cash bar, since most of our guest are not beer drinkers, is to host a variety of cocktails and non-alocoholic options, and if guest want beer they can pay for it.  Most of our guests would rather drink free cocktails than beer, so really, no one will be paying.

ETA: I never thought self-serve alcohol was a good idea, that's why I asked where we could put it to keep the guests' safe.