Question about paying the bartender

clh4444 · July 2012

I know since my wedding is in 3 days (OMG!!!!!!) we should have ironed this out but we are having a fun outdoor wedding that is really just a big party. We have great friends and family who have been super helpful and our bartender is a friend who is a bartender in real life which is great because we know she can handle our 120 guests. We are serving beer and wine with a few(very few mixed drinks) for those special people like great aunt who only drinks cosmos. Anyway everytime we ask her what she would like us to pay her, she just waives us off and says whatever we think is fair, she just loves doing weddings. I want to pay her well but have no idea. She will be running the bar from 6:30 - 10:30 with probably an hour before to set up so that is 5 hours. What would be fair? Is $50 an hour too much ok and should we add tip to that? So would $300 total be ok?? Please help.

toomanychoices17 · July 2012

She's just bartending and not providing the alcohol, right? Is there going to be a tip jar? To clarify- I don't think you should have a tip jar, but if there isn't one, you should cover what she would normally make in tips.

My first thought was yes, $300 for 5 hours is reasonable. When I think about how much I'm paying my vendors though, I'm not as sure- $300 for the organist for the one hour ceremony, $900 for the DJ for 5 hours, etc. You might want to price it out for your area and see what a bartending company would charge you for the same services, and then pay her that amount.

michelle11988 · July 2012

IS there anyway you can talk to your venue and ask them what they normally hear as prices? Or maybe call a bartending place or two around and ask their rates and go from there.

clh4444 · July 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_july-2012-weddings_question-about-paying-the-bartender?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:066005ef-215f-48b1-8655-328b41e07c52Discussion:617ce33a-f989-4088-90f6-643321d03e20Post:6cd52e7a-9675-4f1d-9db4-7fffb8f655f8">Re: Question about paying the bartender</a>:
[QUOTE]IS there anyway you can talk to your venue and ask them what they normally hear as prices?
Posted by michelle11988[/QUOTE]

Unfortunately we are using a nontraditional venue so that option is out. I just don't want to underpay her but money is also tight so I want to find that happy medium.

honeybear072012 · July 2012

Actually I wonder if $300 is a bit low. I think $500 is a good price especially if she's dealing with about 120 people. FI and I always try to leave a $10 tip for an open bar for the two of us for all night. That would be about $600 if all your guests did that and since she's a friend I think $500 is totally good.

But that's just my thoughts, I'm not sure what's normal in your area. Do you have any other friends who are bartenders that you could ask what's normal for them to make in a night?

butterflyjumper1 · July 2012

$300 seems low to me - but, our 4 bartenders are all included in our package, so I really have no idea what they will be making in one evening. I like the idea of calling local bartending services just to get a feel for what a normal hourly rate for a bartender would be, because otherwise, I would really have no idea.

KatieK501 · July 2012

We got a REALLY good deal on our bartender. She is someone the caterer suggested, and she's doing ours for $150 (plus we'll tip). We have about 120 drinkers also, but we are not having mixed drinks. Service is for 4 hours.

IMO, $300 would be enough.

rachael7183 · July 2012

$500 sounds nicer.

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