DIY self serve bar

I think it is a great idea. But you need to hire someone to keep an eye on that stuff for you. Because it is alcohol they need to be over 21 just for safety sake. I don't know how many people your expecting but we have a church dinner with 4 gallon jugs. 8 of them and they are empty all the time and we serve about 800 people. It keeps you crazy busy.

I think thats a great idea. I like the idea of having pre mixed drinks so people can not just do shots or mix their own. That can be dangerous!

Is there anyone under 21 invited to the wedding? Some kids try to sneak drinks and that could get you in trouble. Then again, some kids understand what adult drinks are and understand they are not adults

BTW I have been researching and for self serve drinks I have found a pretty consistent serving size of 1 gallon=14-18 people an hour. This is for tea,punch and that kind of thing though.

I like that ideas too...hmm I may use it myself, lol! We've been revising our wedding plans tp cut cost & it's looking like we're in for a lot of DIY projects & this idea falls right into what I need. Thanks for your post!

Happy planning & congrats on the engagement!

Check the laws in your state. In many states, failure to have a professional bartender renders you potentially liable if one of your guests gets drunk and has an accident on the way home.

I think you definitely need to have a professional staff member on hand to ensure the safety of the drinks in jugs and monitor the situation. 2d bride brings up a good point!

We had a self-serve station. My wonderful BP kept a lookout on the station to make sure it was stocked (but we had more than enough for our 50-ish guests).

We were in the privacy of our own back yard, however.. for you, I'd make sure someone was there for sure for reasons listed above AND to make sure no party crashers come take all of your booze!

I'am doing this to me and my fh are buying all the liquoer, beer and wine. We were thinking about spending 700 dollars on this. Im also hiring 2 bartenders to make the drinks and to come up with our signature drink to for the bride and groom. The bartenders are 175 each for two so we will be spending 1,000 on our open bar which is way cheaper than using the catering open bar. We may go over by 100 or 200 but thats about it.

As far as the amount of liquor to buy, I've seen a bar stocker application on the iPhone and there are a bunch of party planner websites that I've found to use. We are doing the same thing, but my uncle (we're using his farm) is requiring that we use servers to ensure we are abiding by his insurance policies.

Thank you guys for the support and advice. I have a friend that will be supervising the bar area and now I am just figuring out all the details I will post the final decisions and pictures after the wedding.