How to Tip the Bartender at Your Wedding
Having a bartender at your wedding is a great way to provide your guests with drinks in an organized, classy and controlled fashion. How you tip the bartender at your wedding depends greatly on how you decide to incorporate alcohol into your reception. The cheapest option is a cash bar, which means that your guests are free to purchase any drink they want for themselves. Next is the semi-paid bar, which means that you pay for a certain number of drinks and guests pay for anything beyond that. Or, you can have a totally free bar for guests and you pick up the entire tab after the wedding. This is the most expensive option.
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Instructions
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Cash Bar
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1
Recognize that although you are choosing to make drinks available, your guests are paying for their own drinks.
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2
Instruct your bartender to add an automatic gratuity to every drink he serves at the wedding reception. Make it clear that he should not accept tips from guests beyond the gratuity he has already included on their bill. Have him post a sign that says, "No tips, please."
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3
Pay nothing extra to your bartender, unless you want to. It is not uncommon to provide a 10 percent tip on top of the gratuity, although it is not required.
Semi-Paid Bar
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4
Choose the type and number of drinks that you want to provide for your guests. For example, you might ask the bartender to let guests know that they can choose from one or two types of wine or beer at no cost to them.
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5
Ask your bartender to limit the number of free drinks for each guests if you want to keep costs down. If you are on a really tight budget, instruct your bartender to put out a set number of drinks and let guests grab them on a first-come, first-serve basis. Make sure that you have at least one drink for every adult guest.
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6
Estimate how many drinks you will be paying for and what the total cost will be. Just to be safe, add $1 for every guest attending and find the subtotal.
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Multiply your subtotal by 1.15 to find the total estimated cost after tip. This is the amount you should budget for.
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8
Speak to your best man a day or two before the wedding. Give him the money you budgeted for alcohol in cash.
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9
Instruct your best man to pay the bartender at the end of the reception. Tell him to pay the tab, add a 15 percent tip (unless the bartender has already added a gratuity) and return any extra cash to you after you return from your honeymoon.
Paid Bar
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10
Understand that with a paid bar, you will cover the cost of any and all drinks that your guests order.
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Estimate how much your guests will spend on alcohol. Ask the bartender for the average cost of a drink and multiply it by 3. This total assumes that each of your guests will purchase three medium-priced drinks. If you don't want guests to purchase a $100 bottle of wine on your tab, for example, let the bartender know this in advance.
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12
Multiply the total you found in Step 2 by the number of guests attending your wedding. Add $1 for every guest in attendance, just to be safe. This is the total amount you can expect your guests to spend on alcohol.
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13
Multiply the subtotal found in Step 3 by 1.15 to find the total cost after tip. This is the amount you should budget for.
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14
Speak to your best man a day or two before the wedding. Give him the money you budgeted for alcohol in cash.
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15
Instruct your best man to pay the bartender at the end of the reception. Tell him to pay the tab, add a 15 percent tip (unless the bartender has already added a gratuity) and return any extra cash to you after you return from your honeymoon.
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16
Talk to the bride's (or groom's) parents and ask if they could cover the difference if your guests purchase more in alcohol than you expected. It is not fair to the bartender or the best man if you accidentally shortchange them. Remember that you won't be around to set things straight, so it is important to have someone there who will.
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References
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