wedding wednesday: setting up the bar.

At our wedding this past March, we had to think long and hard about how we were setting up the bar.  We knew we had to hire a bartender or two, as per our venue's rules.  So that meant setting up a specific place for our guests to get their drinks.  However, there are so many choices when it comes to alcohol at a wedding- do you need it?  Do you go wild and have an open bar?  Just beer and wine?  The options are limitless.    What we decided to go with was a specified menu for drinks.  We offered beer {from a keg behing the bar}, red and white wine, and three mixed drinks that we thought everyone would be happy with: margaritas, a vodka drink, and a whiskey drink.    I made up the menus {one on each side of the L-shaped bar} and the bartender stuck with our "rules" for the drinks.  It worked flawlessly! :)   We did add some cute cocktail napkins that I ordered from this website.  They were the perfect addition to grabbing a cocktail- cute, bright, and added a little color to the bar.  Plus, they were personalized, which is always fun. :)  Add votives and a jar of flowers {faux! I'll get to those in the coming weeks!} and it was the perfect bar.   But then, what about the non-drinkers?  What about the kids?  Do you want everyone having to run up to the bar, even to grab a water??  Nope.    We set up a separate table, next to the bar, where guests could "self serve" their water, lemonade, and iced tea. Cups were available and we used big glass jars to dispense the drinks. The jars without the spouts had big ladles in front of them, resting on fauz "grass" mats, made of plastic- to soak up the drips from the drink jars! It was perfect. Then we knew there were two places that our guests were able to quench their thirst. :)     Everything had labels on it, that I made from Martha Stewart stickers and label sheets from Michael's.  It couldn't have been easier! :)   I think our bar and drink station were the perfect set-up. :) {Except we had a looooot of extras.  Better to be safe than sorry.}