Let’s Talk About Drinks Baby!
Deciding what beverages to serve to your guests on your wedding day is a key part of the planning process. With many venues now having the option to BYO beverages it can be tricky to know where to start when sourcing your beverage selection and figuring out the correct quantities to purchase.
We were lucky to have bartending expert Benjamin Thrippleton, owner of Kindred Spirts talk us through all things drinks, sharing all of his wisdom on the topic.
Kindred Spirits is a professional mobile bar service ready to cater up to 150 guests serving delicious beverages and providing amazing service for their clients for years. They are based in the the Bay of Islands but provide their across New Zealand.
We love working with Benjamin and his staff as they make our couples wedding days seamless when it comes to bartending, we are so excited to share these amazing tips with you!
Drinks! Let's talk about drinks
What would a wedding or a party be without a nice refreshing drink or two! Having an outdoor or farm wedding is a Kiwi Classic and let's be honest, you can't beat a wedding in a stunning backyard.
But in order to have those drinks coming nice and cold we will have to plan and think about a few things ahead of time! Here we go!
Chiller trailer
They come in all shapes and sizes. Some are better than others, so here are a few things that might help you to choose the right one for your event.
The size is always a key factor if you have a wedding off the grid. The chiller trailer will not only be used to chill down the drinks, it is usually a shared space between chefs, drinks and wedding cake. We do not want the drinks to fall on the wedding cake due to not enough shelves or there not being enough space to keep the food cold as well. So make sure your chiller trailer is big enough for the job! In case of doubt, go all out and get the bigger one. Make sure there is a light installed in the chiller trailer, so you can find what you are after once it is dark. My personal favorite chiller trailers also have checker plated floors instead of wood, but this is more of a hygiene thing rather than functionality. Once you have loaded your chiller trailer with drinks, ensure it is plugged in and turned on for at least 6-8 hours prior to the event to ensure that your drinks will be cold!
Ice!
Ice is ice, right? More or less. If you want to keep drinks chilled in metal buckets or chilly bins go for salt ice. It stays at -3c even as a slurry and lasts a lot longer than party ice. Party ice will chill your drinks too, but you will be constantly dumping out the water and refilling the containers with drinks and ice. Put the party Ice in a self draining container so the melted water can drain away from the ice, because the water will melt the ice even faster. Most professional bars should have that as a standard in their setups though. And always remember, put ice on top of drinks and not drinks on top of ice!
Drinks selection!
This is possibly one of the toughest questions: What to serve? At the end of the day, this is your wedding and you should drink what you like. Instead of trying to cater to everyone's taste, keep it simple with a few options like 1 red and 1 white wine,1 kind of sparkling wine, 2 or 3 types of beer or a short but sweet cocktail menu. If your caterer has the capability of serving beer on tap, this is the best way to enjoy a nice and cold beer and reduces the empty bottles that need to be cleared from tables and then recycled a lot. But here are a few things to keep in mind:
Your wedding will most likely be quite a long event from midday- ish to possibly early morning hours so you want people to keep having a great time and not get passed out drunk. Chances are that it will be a pretty hot day so people will want refreshing and cold drinks like sparkling wine, cocktails and cold beers. Make sure there are lots of nice alcohol free drinks like ginger beers and seltzers available. Nowadays there are some great low and no alcoholic wines and beers available, so it is definitely worth getting some of these. Having alcohol free wine/beer will give non drinkers the feeling of having a 'real drink' without having to justify why they are not drinking as well.
Another hot topic is putting wines on the tables or not. In my humble opinion this will result in a lot of half full bottles at the end of the night that will go to waste. Serving it by the glass at the bar will ensure you will only have one bottle open at a time at the perfect temperature. As for exact amounts of alcohol there is a few considerations: do you plan on having wines on the tables or not? If yes, it's great for a toast but you will inevitably end up with a lot of opened half full bottles. Do you want there to be enough of everything all night or are you ok with it if you run out of i.e Heineken and everyone has to drink whatever else is available after it's gone. A good guideline is 2 drinks per person per hour, but you will know your guests the best. Are they all big drinkers and love a good party? Stock up on beers, pals, El Gusanos and sparkling wine! If you are having a nice sit down dinner and lots of speeches then wine will be your best friend. I usually calculate on having 1/4th more stock than needed of I'm at a remote location.
The good thing about alcohol is it won't go off, so if you have some leftovers chances are they won't go to waste and depending on the supplier you might be able to return unopened bottles and boxes
Water!!
Get lots of water in different vessels. Small bottled water for during the ceremony and larger vessels to refill bottles and drink dispensers. You can't have too much of it, so make sure you are well stocked up. Having clear communication with your wedding planner/bar staff about whose duty it is to fill and refill water for the table is another important topic to sort out before your event.
Bar staff
Having professionals working behind the bar will make all the difference. Good bar staff will keep the drinks cold, restocking during the wedding and keep an eye on anyone getting a little bit too drunk and look after you and loved ones with a smile.They will only open bottles as needed so you can return any unopened bottles after your wedding. Having an open bar is a recipe for disaster as people will get too drunk and you end up with a lot of half full bottles at the end of the night on top of that.
Glassware
How much glassware will I need for my big day? Have your tables set and then have the same amount of glasses at the bar. This will ensure your table settings will still look stunning when everyone sits down for dinner. Telling people to hold on to their glass all night rarely works at weddings. You put your drink down next to someone elses and then can't remember which one was yours. In a day and age of Covid, this can be frustrating. Another good idea is having a glasswash station and staff that stays on top of washing glassware throughout the night if you have a wedding at an outdoor venue. This will also make it easier returning the glasses the day after as you do not have to scrub dried on orange juice and sticky other liquids out of every single glass the day after your wedding. I bet you have better things to do that day!
Don't drink and drive
Seems pretty easy to assign sober drivers, but the reality is that far too often those drivers end up having a few drinks with dinner and really shouldn't be driving anymore. Don't rely on someone else . Get a taxi or bus service booked. After all, we all want to meet again for a happy occasion, not a sad one.
Communication
Having clear communication with all vendors involved about who does what and when saves confusion on the day off. If beverage related things are supposed to be set up by the wedding party, let the bar staff know beforehand or have the bar staff set it up. You and your loved ones have quite a day ahead of you, so trying to remember every little detail can be hard, so let professionals help you. Once dinner time comes around, whose job is it to bring out the food and clear the tables? Is it the kitchen staff or the bar staff ? Both parties will be busy cooking or making drinks, so make sure you have extra staff that can take care of that.
Intoxication
We are all out celebrating the best day of your life, especially after being locked down for such a long time and this might be the first big reunion. But we don't want uncle Bob to get out of line or someone throwing up because they had a few drinks too many. If someone gets too drunk they will turn into a liability to someone. You don't want to be dealing with that sort of issue on your wedding day. Have someone monitor (MC, Bar staff, designated person) people's behavior to make sure this won't become an issue and everyone can have fun!
Phew, you made it through the list! I hope this gave you a few insights and ideas on what to think about.
All the best and have the wedding you always wanted!
For more information check out the Kindred Spirits website for more information about their services.
