Backyard wedding - bartender necessary?

Like I said previously, this is a risk I personally would not be comfortable taking. Laws vary by state on this but those laws do not always prevent people from filing suit for damages. Those laws could be on your side to get yourself dismissed from the case but by then you have had to hire an attorney and their fees will likely be more expensive than a licensed and insured bartender would have cost you. Part of the rental fees for most venues include the costs of the liability insurance policies needed for the events they hold.

And I wouldn't bank on the fact that family would not try to sue in the event of an accident. I have been a Paralegal for many years and its amazing when money is involved what "family" will do.

I'd hire someone just to ensure your crowd is safe. Not only underage, but if someone's totally hammered they won't drink anymore and have someone that could help in making sure they get home safe

Mrs.Voegs17 Yes, places often pay a fine or can loose their license if someone leaves the bar too drunk to drive and gets in an accident.

I also understand the liability concerns, and this is probably me being naive and trying to cut costs where I can, but my feeling is that these will all be adults, most over 30 years of age that will be attending the party. The majority is also family. As adults, I would hope that they are disciplined and responsible enough to know their limits, but at the same time, I would still hate for anything to happen to anyone as a result of drinking our bar buffet.

My understanding at least where I live, is that if we have people over drinking and they leave drinking and driving I am liable if they get into an accident. You can (somewhat) control the actions of 10 people but sure as hell cant control 100

Don't put cutting costs in front of your guests' safety.

Our venue doesn't have a bar and lets us bring in our own alcohol as long as we aren't selling it. If we decided to sell it (wtf??), we'd need a bartender. Per the contract:

"As you will be hosting a private party, you are permitted to purchase and serve your own alcohol but you may not charge for it. This is called a “host bar”. If you want to be able to charge for drinks, you will be offering a “cash bar” which will require a licensed Maine bartender for that. Please note that for liability reasons, under no circumstances may any member of our staff serve alcohol to your guests."

On that note, our venue requires us to purchase insurance with a minimum coverage amount (it's pretty cheap - $176.24) so we're all protected. The insurance has "host liquor liability" included.

We are doing "booze canoes" (literally canoes filled with various alcohols - it's a woods/mountain/camping kind of theme) and letting guests serve themselves like we do every family party anyway.

Our venue is having us purchase the insurance through www.theeventhelper.com - OP, I wonder if it's worth looking into for your wedding.

Just a little side note, I wouldn't doubt that any of the family wouldn't sue, at least on FH's side. FMIL fell in a dip in our yard two years ago resulting in her falling into our driveway onto her arm. She shattered her arm in 5 places and sued our landlords for the "pothole" in our yard.

If anyone had seen my side-eye post a while back about my FMIL's greed.. THIS is what I'm talking about.

Also, on another tangent, we checked with our insurance company about wedding insurance. She said that it is not something they have ever written, and said that any injuries, loss of property, or damages should be covered under our FIL's homeowners insurance. Knowledge on this?

I would hire a professional bartender.

So you guys have already seen that your family is not opposed to suing for damages. Seriously, just hire the bartender. Save yourselves some stress.

FH just learned about this in law school. It's called a "social host law" which, say, if Uncle Ed gets drunk at your party and kills someone when he drives away then you are not liable unless you pushed booze on him or he's under 18.

However, even for smaller parties (under 25) a bartender can be a nice touch. Find someone licensed to do it who will do it for a decent rate.

Well a lot of posters are saying things like the bartender is liable for someone over drinking then driving. Which isn't really true I don't know where they live but commonly bartenders are not liable for that. Anyway I think that a bartender is a good idea just because it's less sloppy. Our bartender told us that he is not going to cut anybody off. However he will do heavy mixers if he sees someone has consumed too much.

OP I would look into actual event insurance. I would not be comfortable with "should be covered" because what if a claim is filed and they come back saying it is not? There are companies out there that offer these types of policies and from what I understand they are pretty reasonable cost wise.

I get that the costs for insurance and a bartender may seem unnecessary because everything could go perfectly and you could have no issues. But the "what if" could end up costing you a lot of money and you could have been protected from those things with an insurance policy and a bartender for much less.

AokiPartyof3 is your bartender licensed and servsafe certified? I'd think saying he won't cut people off would be quite the red flag.

Uhm, Aoki...

Hire a different bartender. That's sketchy AF.

Voegs, since you're providing your own alcohol, hiring a bartender shouldn't be too expensive. This is not a cost that I would cut.

A bartender will cut people off if necessary

Hire a bartender. It's for your own good. If anything happens, it's on you.

Why hire a bartender :

- liability

- controls drinking/can say no and you guys won't have to deal with the guest/saying no

- correct amount of alcohol/mix ratio

- controls minors trying to sneak a drink

- it sets the tone and looks really cool (I think)

We didn't have a bartender, unless you count me because I was slinging drinks, but we only had 12 guests. I love being a hostess so it wasn't like I was 'working" to serve 100.

More than 20 and I probably would have paid someone to take care of it.

ETA: I should add that this was pre- and post- ceremony only. For the actual dinner we went to a restaurant so drinks were served professionally there.

When I was 16 I attended a large family wedding. There was no bartender, it was serve yourself. Much like your idea. My cousins got me shit faced drunk. I took off my dress, was laying out in the parking area on the ground with my dress over my head, was vomiting large amounts all over the bathroom floor, and I vomited all over the side of my mothers Suburban on the way home. (She was pissed, I had to clean it up the next day!)

Let my experience teach you three things. One, don't have Yeagermeister. Two, get a bartender. Three, have someone keep an eye on the teenagers.