Backyard wedding - bartender necessary?

I would hire a professional bartender.

Monitoring your guests consumption, and assuming liability should your guests drink and drive. You need a bartender.

A bartender will cut people off if necessary - self-serving alcohol at a wedding sounds like a huge mess IMO

A bartender will cut people off who have had to much to drink. Personally, I would not want to take the risk that a guest could get into an accident and the hosts could be held liable for any damages. A licensed bartender is covered by an insurance policy to cover those liabilities.

Yes, have a bartender!! Liabilities are underage drinking, people drinking to much/not being cut off and possibly driving drunk later/getting into an accident!

Yes. You definitely need this for liability and for a control on usage. Even moreso in a private home.

Curious for those saying you need to hire a bartender - how is this different from a back yard family party where alcohol is provided/brought?

My family is massive and always has alcohol at our cookouts, holidays, etc. We certainly don't monitor drinking.

Not arguing, just curious!

Also curious about what @Kelsey asked.

And just playing devil's advocate, if a person leaves a bar driving drunk and gets in an accident, is that bar or bartender held liable?

Yes, they can be held liable. That is why bartenders have to go through serve safe classes and why establishments that serve alcohol have to carry hella liability insurance.

^ I think the difference is probably in the size of the wedding. If you're having 10-20 immediate family members over for a small wedding, maybe a bartender isn't required. The situation is just bigger with, likely, more people and a more celebratory atmosphere.

MrsVoegs17, yes, the bar can be. Just as a host of a party could be held liable if someone drove drunk and injured or killed someone.

In that case the bar should have some type of insurance if the person were to come back and sue them. If a family member/guest did that to you, I would assume you wouldn't have the insurance.

I'm just not sure why the word "wedding" changes the fact that it's basically a back yard family party (don't at all mean that in a derogatory manner, btw!).

I view it similarly to when people ask what the difference is between a potluck wedding reception and Thanksgiving at Grandma's - at Grandma's, there are maybe 15-20 people with easy access to the oven and the fridge, so that food can be stored properly. Totally not the same as hosting 100 wedding guests in a barn somewhere.

It depends on what state you are in. In CA the person drinking is liable. If they drink too much and get a DUI it's on them. If you serve to a minor you are liable. It's always best to have someone pouring drinks. It takes the worry off of you. I've been to a wedding where we served ourselves and it was super fun but I wouldn't want to do this myself.

@Kelsey, no offense taken. That's totally the feel we are going for.. backyard family party. I think the concern here is now the number of guests, which is over 100 (80% family), versus maybe 25 or less family members.

I was a bartender for a few years at a small bar. I was 100% liable for the people I served. There was a woman and her friend that came in already drunk and ordered drinks. I refused them. They then left and were hit by a train (while driving). The courts questioned me and threatened jail time. Luckily the camera's cleared my name, but sadly for the bar they were at the server there was held liable.

^ Wow, that's so sad, Jamie :-( I'm glad you didn't serve them. Sad lesson.

From what I have found, the only two situations in which a vendor or host may be held liable for providing alcohol to someone who, by reason of their intoxication, ends up harming a third party, include:

when alcohol is served by force or by deception (such as by claiming the beverage is alcohol-free), and

when alcohol is provided to a minor and is a "substantial factor" in the resulting injury.

Anyone else in Wisconsin have knowledge on this?

Actually yes, we have close to that haha. My family alone is 60 people (not include the million kids that aren't invited to our wedding) and we have a 100 person limit for our venue (- I couldn't invite any friends so that my poor fiance could have some of the guest list LOL (his family is small, luckily).

I understand the concern though.

If it were a tiny group, I'd say no. But since 100 people will be there, I think you should. It's too hard to watch out for all of those people and make sure they aren't getting out of control/arrange for them to get home. It's likely someone will also need to be refilling ice, pitchers, etc. with that size of a group. I love the idea of a drink bar! You can probably hire a bartender for just a few hundred.