Bar setup for casual reception

Hmmm I would say bottle of wine and water pitcher on each table and then beer/and soft drinks at a self-serve station.

I would strongly recommend having someone bartend. This will help control alcohol intake. Unless you trust that all your guests will control themselves, no one underage will drink, etc... Keep in mind that you can be held liable if some drunken dumbass does something stupid.

^^ as an attorney and former bartender I could not agree more. Hire insured bartenders. God forbid anything ever happened to one of your guests after the wedding, liability would fall on the company and not on you, the one hosting. Not only that, but are you comfortable cutting one of your guests off when they've had too much to drink? Don't be a babysitter at your own wedding. This is a small price to pay for your peace of mind & will ultimately be less aggravation for you.

100% having a bartender for after the buffet dinner, when people will really start to party. My concern with serving all drinks at the bar DURING the buffet is that there will be a looong annoying line, and the bar is located directly next to where the buffet station is. So bottleneck from about 7-8:30.

Really, I'm just trying to figure out how best to serve drinks from 7-8:30. After everyone's had their turn at the buffet, they can go to the bar.

I could set up a second, limited bar, with a bartender, or I could do wine on the tables. There would be limited drinks out during this time (a couple of tubs of beer, soft drinks, and however many bottles of wine), so even if people do grab their own beer/wine, I think damage will be limited.

For wine at tables, would you recommend one white and one red, with extras behind the bar? I'm worried it will look messy, tables seat 8. Do I need a wine cooler thing for the white? I seem to find each question leads to another question...

Thanks!

Most likely have a drink left from that and then before the buffet opens you could just announce for people to "refresh" their drinks before dinner at the bar. If you do the wine on the tables I would go for a white and a red...maybe a Chardonnay and a Pinot Noir or Cab Sauv that would suite more tastes. If you want the wine chillers, check out Party City or another party store. They have plastic ones that would probably so the job.

I do agree with the PP about liability though...I would definitely have a bartender is you can afford it. Another thing we are doing per our caterer is having a point person (Not FH or myself) to be the go to if a guest does need to be cut off and becomes difficult when the bartender tries. We don't anticipate a problem, but obviously the caterer has seen this enough to make it a policy.

I like your idea of setting up a smaller limited bar. If you restrict this to beer bottles only it shouldn't bottleneck and will take care of the majority of your guests.

I don't know what you are planning on doing in terms of "cocktail hour" but my wedding planner suggested having servers passing out some cocktails, glasses of wine, champagne, etc. when people first enter from the ceremony. This way it alleviates the stress on bartenders and people can get a drink in their hand quickly.

If your guests aren't big wine drinkers I wouldn't bother putting bottles on the tables, as that is an extra expense you don't need. Id put that money toward setting up a smaller station which you can use for another purpose (maybe your lemonade, water etc?) once the buffet is over.

Check with the venue, and also check local liquor laws. You could be putting yourself at risk if there is no one tending bar. Part of their responsibility is to make sure no one is overserved. If someone gets injured you could be liable.

I like your idea but you should have a bartender. In addition to keeping things clean, they can regulate the pouring, which will save you money in the end. Don't put wine on the tables; you'll throw out a lot of wine.

At the end of the ceremony, have a table of pre poured wine/water and maybe a cocktail. This will get a drink to everyone fast.

We're going to have a bartender, and possibly have some wine being passed around by a server. We just didn't want the bar to be backed up, and have everyone wait in line during the whole cocktail hour.

Does your venue not require you to have a bartender? If not, that seems really odd to me.

I am going to go with everyone saying get a bartender. Casual or not, you could be responsible for anyone leaving drunk and driving. Ask your venue what rules they have, many won't let bottles on a table, even if all guests are of age. The liability is still there.

If it's casual I would just set up a separate help-yourself type station separate from the food buffet. People will know what to do.

Because you are only expecting 65 people, I don't think a bartender is worth it unless you really want to control how much people drink.

Thanks for all the thoughts. No, the venue doesn't require us to have a bartender... getting married in Montreal, and Quebec has very lax liquor laws by US standards. You apply for a day-long event permit, and then you can serve booze. That's about it. Also, 90% of our guests won't be driving and all the underage guests are under 5.

If I limit the amount of the booze available during the buffet, I'm not that worried about people over-drinking, so I may do a DIY stand but have the caterer keep it clean. I like the idea of bottles of wine on the table, and pop/beer at a stand, because it means you don't need a table filled with glassware.

I'm having wine bottles on the table, and the beer is in a keg (it's home-brewed). We're having the keg near the food, and I'm sure I'll have someone man it. Also near the food will be pitchers of tea, lemonade, and bottles of water.

I'm not worried about under-age drinkers - the only two under-age people will be there with their mom, and they're helping me wait tables.

And I have to have two cops on duty since we're serving alcohol.