Premade Signature Alcoholic Drinks

Hi! My FH and I plan on doing beer and wine and a signature drink. Having exactly figured out what it will be yet though.

Oh and I love those dispensers!

Meh, I don't love that, tbh. You can do a couple signature drinks, but pre-made in a dispenser that's out for all the guests to see is kinda tacky, IMO.

Maybe just do wine and beer instead of a full bar if budget is a concern.

Your drinks will get watered down really fast doing it this way. Also, will this be self serve or will the bartender be in charge?

View Quoted Comment Yea that's my concern with it getting watered down but FH thought of having fresh fruit frozen and having the ice separate. If I choose to go this route my caterer has someone on her team that would make the drinks for the dispenser and keep an eye on it but there wouldn't be a full on bartender serving it .....that's what the dispensers are for.

View Quoted Comment Thank you for your opinion and while I see how having dispensers at a wedding can appear tacky but I do think there's classy ways to do it. I don't think something l like this would be tacky.

I would be concerned about not having a bartender monitoring the drinks. Bartenders are licensed and usually insured in case something goes wrong, with a dispenser it's possible that you would be left liable. I think beer and wine with a couple of signature drinks would be great, but having unmonitored dispensers and nothing else seems like a recipe for disaster to me.

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I agree. I have a feeling that if a bartender is serving the other drinks, they wouldn't allow this to be out and self-serve. How could they take responsibility for that?

I kinda like this idea actually! I like your idea about the frozen fruit so that it doesn’t get watered down. I’m back and forth on a few drinks or an open bar also. I don’t want to spend an arm and a leg on liquor.

We are having an open bar with beer, wine and liquor, but are also having our venue make sangria. I'll provide the recipe and supplies. I'm also contemplating coconut margaritas!

Oh! I totally missed that you're not having an open bar, sorry! I'm not sure how liability would work in that case, as I see others mentioned.

Thanks everyone for your comments. I honestly didn't think about the liability part. That's something I would have to think about. I know licensed bartenders but if I use them I may as well exclude the dispensers. I will talk with potential bartenders to figure out the best way to go about this.

Were you thinking of doing this during cocktail hour? I am doing a premade alcoholic drink for my cocktail hour and signature cocktails at reception. The premade drink is included with my catering but we have an option of sparkling or mulled wine. Someone is still serving it for me, but when you break it down it still costs way less per drink than my signature cocktails.

I do this for our holiday parties. I normally don’t put ice in them so they do not get watered down. I’ve never had any problems with them.

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I mean, either way, you definitely need a bartender. You cannot have people self-serve. Too dangerous.

For Daughter #3's wedding we hired bartenders and served beer, wine, and mai tais in a beverage jar similar to your picture. The bartenders had no issue with it and we didn't put ice in there because watered down anything kinda sucks. We went through a lot of mai tais.