How much are you paying for a bartender?

Im sorry I wish I could help on this one, but our hall included our bartenders for 100.00 plus we could choose if they were allowed to put a tip jar on the bar and we said we had no problems with that. How do you become a licensed bar tender?

Well, I know for our venue i guess they don't have to be a bartender, they have to have their liquor license to serve. we've though about trying to get a friend to get their license and do it- but we would end up probably paying them about as much.

A bartender is included in my current wedding venue package.

That's maybe a good deal but keep shopping around. Mines is $200. This includes cups, stirs, and napkins. Tip is only if you want, but of course we will tip him at the end of the night.

Our bartender did a package, it was $2.50 pp and that gives you unlimited pop, coffee, and water...then you pay per bottle for whatever liquor, or however many kegs you want...for us it ended up being 1200 for 120 people...what is nice about the place doing ours is that you only pay for what is opened so the number can possibly drop at the end of the night if all the alcohol quoted wasn't used. That price includes the bartender, cups, garnishments and all that stuff needed as well. Our bartender also comes with liability insurance in case someone has too much to drink and something unfortunate happens....can you look up reviews on the bartender you are looking at? I would probably start there, $400 seems pretty cheap...but then again it also depends on the area you live in.

Well, ours doesn't include any of the drinks, or cups, etc- just the actual person there pouring and mixing stuff.

If Edna's is only $200 and it includes the goods maybe we are paying to much....

Your number sounds very realistic without the alcohol being included, at least for me, I live in Michigan, and that is a pretty typical figure for bartender services here, I would look around for references and if it looks good, go for it! We were originally not going to do a bartender and just get some kegs and liquor but then figured it would be too chaotic and decided to do the bartender to relieve some stress

I would read your contract really carefully and make sure you know exactly what kind of liability insurance, certification, and/or licensure the bartender needs. That's how I got into the mess I was in last month. It really depends on your state/city/township rules and what's in your venue contract.

The lovely City of Chicago requires vendors to have two separate, difficult to obtain and very expensive ($12k/year) licensures to pour liquor at a private event. On top of that they have to have liability insurance (which is actually a really good thing) and certification/training on how and when to cut people off.

We're paying about $600 for our actual bartending staff, $150 for random rentals, garnishes, ice, straws, etc, and then about $1300 for their licensure. Good times.

It doesn't include any drinks at all, not even soda, juice, etc.

It's pretty much the only bar tending service I can find. I've tried googling and using the vendors tool on here, but i don't even see how to find bartenders on here.

@Kris- we talked to the venue about this a lot and we have to get a permit which is about $15 that you get from the liquor stores, and then someone who is legal to serve.

Try asking around at local liquor stores. We found our bartender service through a well known liquor store by us. Quite a few of them do wedding "caterering" but its not always advertised; and if nothing they can more than likely point you in the right direction.

By "legal to serve" does that just mean they're over 21? Or do they have to get a license?

They have to get the liquor license that you have to go take the 2 hours class for and pay $20 or whatever.

My old dance team used to work concessions at Mariners games and some of the parents had to get the liquor license so they could pour and serve the beer at the concession stand.

Here are some companies I found in case you want to do a price comparison:

http://www.pourgirls.com/

http://www.shakebartenders.com/

A lot of regular catering companies have the right licensure/equipment and if they're not booked with a fully catered event they'll do the bartending portion for you. That's what we did.

You could also call bartending colleges/schools and see if they know of anyone?

$132 for 6 hours.

Haha- pour girls is the one we are looking at. What did you search for? I had no luck finding anyone but them.

Our catering can't do alcohol because they are a school.

Yeah but I wonder if a bartending academy has licensed bartenders who teach there and might do these kinds of gigs on the side?

I just peeked at your profile and then googled "Des Moines WA bartending". I also googled some other combos that brought up alcohol treatment centers.

Here's another listing for ya:

http://www.partypop.com/d/Party/Bar-Wait-Staff/?loc=des%20moines%20washington

Oh what I meant with the catering - our caterer also does not have a liquor license. But our bartenders are actually contracting through a different catering company. No reason you can't have two if they're doing separate things. Just takes some coordination, like who's in charge of glassware, ice, mixers, who's taking out the trash, etc.

I don't know why that entire link isn't working - if it takes you to the main partypop page, just enter "des moines WA" on the location bar and it brings up a whole page of vendors.

Also everyone else's prices for liquor licensing is making me very, very depressed. Effing City of Chicago. Grrr.

Ah! how come stuff shows up for you but not for me? Ah well- thanks. at least now i can get some comparison quotes.

Haha that happens to me all the time too. For some reason I can usually find stuff for other people better than I can find it for myself.

Happy hunting!

I'm sorry Chicago is stupid.

Well I've managed to e-mail 3-4 other people- so thanks

If you really are feeling lucky you can find me wall-e figurines for cake toppers that are less the $50 each! haha. those things will be the end of me.