EP. 17 Cheers to Love: The Perfect Wedding Bar Experience

Ever wondered how to make your wedding's bar service unforgettable? Join us on the Tipsy Guest Podcast as we welcome Melissa from Bartenders for You, who spills all the secrets of top-notch wedding alcohol services. From taking over the business in 2024 with her husband to creating a one-stop shop for all things cocktail-related, Melissa's journey is as refreshing as a mint mojito on a summer day. With 600 events under her belt each year, she's mastered the art of keeping guests happy and tipsy, all while making wedding planning a breeze.

Curious about crafting the perfect wedding drink menu? Melissa walks us through personalized tastings and creative "stock the bar" parties that ensure a smooth and stylish bar experience. Emphasizing safety and compliance, especially in Texas, she explains the critical role of licensed and insured bartenders. Whether you're a wedding planner or a bride-to-be, learning these insider tips could be the clincher for choosing reputable vendors who keep the party going without a hitch.

And if you've ever thought wedding drama stops at the dance floor, think again! We share some jaw-dropping tales of intoxicated antics, including a groom's late-night email tirade and his attempts to wrangle refunds from vendors. These stories highlight not just the unpredictability of weddings but the essential role of bartenders in managing the chaos. So, tune in for laughs, lessons, and a deeper understanding of how a stellar bar service can make or break your big day.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:01

Welcome to the Tipsy Guest Podcast. I am your host, marco Buenrostro, and every week I'm here with the top industry experts, amazing clients and all my vendor BFFs to bring you the best tips, advice and juicy behind-the-scenes stories to make wedding and event planning a breeze. So grab your favorite drink and let's get this party started. Hi guys, welcome back to the Tipsy Guest. I am Marco, your host, and today we're going to be talking all things alcohol. This is the Tipsy Guest and, speaking of Tipsy Guest, I have Melissa from Bar Tenders for you. Hello, welcome back for you, hello.

Speaker 2 0:45

Welcome back. Thank you so much. It just feels like I was just here.

Speaker 1 0:49

I know, I know I am very excited Last time. I mean, you are so chatty, I love it. I can talk to you for hours and hours, and hours.

Speaker 2 0:57

Sometimes I tell it to my clients too. I'm like you may need to stop me because I can chat it up.

Speaker 1 1:03

No, I like that because I mean, you always have so many things to say that are very, very helpful, and I always learn something new Every time I have a conversation with you. I feel like I learned something new.

Speaker 2 1:15

Oh well, same to you. You know I love this. It was like a vendor friendship and now it's become like a real friendship, and I love that. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, so let's.

Speaker 1 1:25

And of course, because it's a tipsy guess we are drinking yes I mean, it is a, it is a drinking episode.

Speaker 2 1:31

It is that's right, not sponsored. But you know we are looking for sponsors, definitely, yes, yes, yes so okay.

Speaker 1 1:38

So I mean there's so much to talk about when it comes to alcohol. I mean there's legal stuff, there's the fun stuff, there's like, I guess, like the different, uh I mean I don't know what, what a bartending company offers, uh you know, to couples. So talk to me, tell me everything all different kinds of things.

Speaker 2 1:55

So I will say so, we my husband and I actually purchased bartenders for you, um, this february. So we will, depending on when this episode comes out um, it could be almost a year, I'm not quite sure but so we bought it in February, february 13th of 2024. And so when we purchased it, it we were just so excited, and so this company has been around for 17 years, and so it started off with just staffing, and now it's grown a whole lot, and so that's what Craig and I are doing as well we're just helping it grow. We now offer so it's not just bartending, so with the state of Texas, that you can.

Speaker 2 2:31

Actually it's just a dry. It's called a dry hire bar, so the clients provide all the alcohol, and then we will go ahead and we can provide the mixers, we can provide the ice, we can provide the coolers, we can do custom napkins, cups, drinksters, all of those things bars we have trailers that are bars as well. So we have a whole thing that I do. It's not just bartenders, it really is a whole. It just runs the gamut of what we can offer. We even do what we call sexy ice cubes, which're like a giant ice cube with their actual monogram.

Speaker 1 3:06

I love those.

Speaker 2 3:07

Yeah, Like all different kinds of stuff. So we really try to anything bar related. We want it to be about the convenience one-stop shop. You can just come to us and we'll take care of everything.

Speaker 1 3:17

I did not know. You provided all of that. I thought you would know you would do the bartending stuff, but then all the custom stuff was made by the designers, and let's take a second here to give a shout out to Jennifer Smith.

Speaker 2 3:31

Yes, jennifer Smith, she's the one who started it out in 2007.

Speaker 1 3:41

I'm going to cut you off. No more wine for you. You're forgetting things, I know.

Speaker 2 3:44

Listen, math is not my strong suit. I'm telling you cut you off. No more wine for you. I know, listen, math is not my strong suit. I'm telling you that right now, yeah, no, but um, 2007, I believe it's when she started it, so about 17 years ago. And um, so I will say, she ended up calling me and she said hey, um, we were chatting about something else.

Speaker 2 3:58

Let me have to do with a bar that, um, that we were using for for one of my clients and then she just asked me. She was like hey, um, I've got a question for you. And I was like okay, and I was like what is it? She goes, um, do you think that you will be in this business for the long haul? And I told her I go, that's not what you want to ask me. I said just, I was like stop being around the bush. What do you? Only two people that I think that could handle this level, because they do about 600 events a year. And she goes and I'm not talking to the other one, I'm talking to you and I said yes, I said absolutely. I was like let's do it. And so I asked her a couple of questions. I hung up, the phone ran to my husband's office because it was like a Sunday or a Saturday and I go we're buying a bartending business and he was on the computer and he goes what?

Speaker 1 4:44

Oh my goodness. And then?

Speaker 2 4:46

now and then that was that was two years actually prior to us actually signing and and purchasing it. And it I mean when you're buying a business, it is, it takes conversations. You know you're buying literally. We bought everything, I mean even down to like the pens and the paper, like in their office. We bought everything. And so so yeah, and so they're not now nicely retired and they're actually going to be moving to colorado?

Speaker 1 5:07

so I know that's perfect weather. Yeah, exactly, yeah, so they're they're doing all their they're. You know, they've got grandbabies and they I know I see her all the time posting on social media about her kid. They know, like the babies, the grandbabies, yeah so so it was great.

Speaker 2 5:21

And then, um, and it was perfect. So my husband actually quit his job, and so him and I we run it together and he does again. He does the math stuff, because clearly I cannot do that, but he does all like the. You know, we tell people how much alcohol to purchase, how much you know, and a lot of people will just talk to us and say, like, well, how much do we purchase? It really is based on how many guests, how many, um, how many hours of service are you going to be doing? And then from there we can go ahead and calculate everything. And then it's also percentages you know, what percentage are beer drinkers, what percentage are wine drinkers, what percentage are alcohol drinkers? And then we go from there and so it's not.

Speaker 2 5:59

I mean, it is it's, it's a lot of math and he actually has a whole spreadsheet of how to do it like a custom event and all this stuff, and he's made it easy for me. So when people ask, I just have to plug in the numbers, because I can't do all those formulas.

Speaker 1 6:09

I like that. That is so cool.

Speaker 2 6:10

Yeah, but it's a lot. It's not again, it's not just staffing. We do a lot of different things.

Speaker 1 6:16

Okay, I like that type of alcohol, and you know beer, wine, champagne, whatever it is. So do you normally recommend? Well, I guess you know each wedding is going to be different, but do you normally recommend certain things, um? Or do they just say like, hey, this is what we have, what can you give us, what can you make?

Speaker 2 6:39

yeah. So we do a couple of different things. So we actually have a tasting room in our office for we do complimentary tastings and they can in, we can figure out their signature drinks. We'll send them a questionnaire. We ask you know, what do you like to drink? What is it? Are you a whiskey person? Are you tequila? Do you like vodka? You know gin, there's so many different types of things. And then we'll come in and then Jen, our lead mixologist and bartender, she will go ahead and chat with them and say, like, okay, based on that, I'm going to make you something, and then I may make you something that you don't think you may want. But then and then like, well, let's just figure it out, and those tastings are normally an hour to an hour and a half, and then we'll figure out what they want for their signature cocktail.

Speaker 2 7:17

Now, a lot of times, for you know, I always suggest again, depending on the amount of people you know, no more than three, three to four beer types you know, uh, wine, same thing, and then alcohol. I would just, you don't a lot of people will do a stock the bar party, and I always tell them, like, if you're doing that, put parameters on what they're going to be supplying for that stock the bar. Because sometimes what happens is the client, the guests, they bring in all their alcohol and it's like 10 different beers and it's only like a case of one, case of ultra or one, and you know, if someone comes up we can't put all of that up on the bar, you know. So it's it really kind of depends. So that's why we say like put parameters if you're having to stock the bar party, which I love those. But you have to say like this is what we're looking for. Be very specific.

Speaker 1 8:05

Okay, okay, what I guess um? Whenever can people bring their own alcohol? I mean is that I guess what I guess. The question is you know, of course they hire you. You're doing all the bartending, I guess. I don't know if it's something that has to do with the venue, or what if somebody shows up with their own bottle and they have it on their table.

Speaker 2 8:25

So no, they definitely can't do that. So I will say 99.9% of the venues here in Texas you have to have a licensed TABC bartender to go ahead and serve the alcohol. If, let's say, Uncle Goodtimes comes in and he's brought his own bottle of whiskey, we will calmly say like I'm so sorry, sir, we will be happy to serve this for you, but it will be behind the bar.

Speaker 1 8:47

We'll give them a secret code word you know, make it feel very special, got it.

Speaker 2 8:50

But yeah, no, they cannot provide their own alcohol. I mean, I'm sorry, they cannot just have an alcohol sitting on the table. It has to be served by a licensed bartender.

Speaker 1 8:59

So yeah, yeah, okay, because I mean I come from a Mexican family.

Speaker 2 9:03

And.

Speaker 1 9:03

I mean Mexican parties always like oh yeah, we're gonna put a table, a bottle of whatever I need table, and or people are just gonna bring their own thing and they show up with like that ice chest full of like stuff.

Speaker 2 9:14

Yes, yeah.

Speaker 1 9:14

But I guess that's just you know back in Mexico. Well, no, it's not.

Speaker 2 9:30

There's. You know, I will say there's a lot of different cultures here, that it's the same way. I mean, also, I'm Mexican, so yeah, but, um, we do a lot of different. I don't want to call it the specific cultures, but um, but they, yeah, they, they do that. And so we will calmly either the security or one of the bartenders will go out and we'll have to ask, or the or the wedding planner will have to say like hey, we, we can't have this here because you have to. As bartenders, they are seeing who's coming up to the bar, who's coming. You know what? Are they certain? You know how many drinks have I served this person?

Speaker 2 9:49

they're very good about doing that, and I mean, when you're hiring staffing, like that they should be. I mean, obviously they have to be tabc licensed, but not only that, but they should be like. Our company is insured. We're insured up to the teeth. You are dealing with liquor and you're dealing with alcohol. That is a huge thing. So if you're hiring not just I mean any company, you need to ask them are you insured? And most of the venues here will ask for that require insurance.

Speaker 2 10:18

But I mean you just. You can never be too careful.

Speaker 1 10:20

I like that. I like that Anytime that we're dealing with just vendors. You know or like when, at least for me, you know, when I'm dealing with a, with a, with a bride, you know, sometimes they, they, they asked that and they're like well, why are you, you know, more expensive than this other company? I was like, well, first, I'm a real company right. You know I'm not just doing this on the side. You know, like you know, we have insurance. You know we've been in business for 10 years, blah.

Speaker 2 10:52

But yes, insurance is always one of the things that we bring up to our client or potential clients because they're like hey, you need to make sure that you hire vendors that, uh, that have insurance right, you know, you never know, and a lot of times they'll say like, oh, my uncle or my aunt is going to do that, and then the venue requires insurance, and then if the vendor that you're hiring does not have it, then they're going to ask you to pay for it. So that's something else that you're going to have to pay for, because to cover them, yeah.

Speaker 2 11:13

And then now that could be like another, like $200 that you weren't anticipating. It's the very end of, you know, a planning process. It's a whole thing. So, yeah, so, always, always, ask for insurance for your companies.

Speaker 1 11:24

See, there's another tipsy, tipsy tip right there, I love it the tipsy tip of the day yes, oh my goodness. So when it comes to um, you know most of the weddings they have like a specialty drink, you know, like the groom's uh drink or the bride's drink, right? Um, is that something that let's say, for example, it comes with the package that they hire you for, or is that like an upgrade?

Speaker 2 11:48

so it's we can do. I never want somebody to have to pay for something that they're not going to need. So I I tell that to our planning clients, I tell it to our bar clients as well. Um, and so we can do. I will say 99.9 are custom packages. So we have like our essentials, where we have everything from like ice to like, you know, stir straws, you know everything and everything in between that will supply. But if you have a signature drink that does not, the ingredients are not in that, depending on what it is like. If you have, like, your signature drink is going to be like a vodka tonic, well, our tonic already comes in the essentials, so we're not going to have to pay extra because you're already paying for that. But if it's something else like, let's say, it's a mojito or something and those things are not in there, so then yes, we add it and we do it by the serving. So that's all in there. So they can add that in. It's a different add-on.

Speaker 1 12:37

Okay, okay. And then earlier, when you mentioned about the bartending, keeping track of who's getting what, how many drinks they've had, and stuff like that, that is so impressive, I'm impressed by that. Seriously, they like that.

Speaker 2 12:49

That is so impressive, like you know, like I'm impressed by that seriously like, yes, someone will come up to the bar and they'll say, hey, another chardonnay, and this is. And they're like, oh my gosh, how do they remember?

Speaker 1 12:59

I know, that is.

Speaker 2 13:00

That is a skill that I do not have. I'm I'm often one that's like I'm talking to somebody.

Speaker 1 13:04

I'm like I forgot this person's name that's me, or even like, like you know, like sometimes I, when we go to I, we go to vendor mixers, all the time, yes, all the time. Sometimes I'm like introduce myself to people and I'm like, oh my gosh, I already met this person before and I feel like I know people by company name versus the actual name of the person, and sometimes it's really embarrassing. But I mean, we work with so many people, so for the bartenders to remember that it's crazy.

Speaker 2 13:31

It is such a skill and so, yeah, and we, all of our bartenders, they are trained, they are, you know, they have to have like a certain amount of training before we even send them off by themselves. But yeah, but it's, I mean, it is a certain, it comes down to customer service. That is one of our biggest things. That is customer service. How do we, you know, interact with your guest? How do we like, even if we have to cut somebody off, we do it quietly, we do it very respectfully, you know.

Speaker 1 13:56

Very demure.

Speaker 2 13:57

Exactly. It's very demure, yes, but we do. We do that so that that way we don't want we don't ever want to embarrass somebody or do something like that. So we, or that wedding is an extension of the client and or you know, the corporate event, you know corporation, whoever has hired us, is an extension of them. So we want to make sure that we are putting our best foot forward. That's one of our biggest things.

Speaker 1 14:22

I like that. You sound so professional, don't I? Oh my goodness so. Is there like a, I guess, a limit, now that we're talking?

Speaker 2 14:34

about that. Is there a limit? Like when do they cut them off? Um, so it really is like if they start coming in and they are, I mean it's like, are they walking, do they have a different type of swagger as they're coming in?

Speaker 2 14:43

yeah, it's their speech, slur, that kind of stuff. And sometimes we'll just say like, hey, you know what, if they come up to the bar, you know what? Here, buddy, have this bottle of water, come back to me in 30 minutes and then let's have another. You know, we'll have another conversation, um. So we'll kind of like talk to them about that first, um, before it's like maybe like a really hard cut off, but we do not. If we see that, immediately all of our bartenders know, like you cannot, because it's not just I mean, it's you're dealing, you know if gets behind the wheel or something like that, that's a lot of it's a lot of responsibility.

Speaker 1 15:14

Yeah, oh, for sure.

Speaker 2 15:15

Yeah, so we want to make sure that everybody is and just safe.

Speaker 1 15:18

Yeah.

Speaker 2 15:18

That's our biggest thing is safety.

Speaker 1 15:20

I like that. How many bartenders are normally out at a wedding, you know? I guess I'm sure it depends on the guest count.

Speaker 2 15:27

Yeah, it does on the guest count, but I guess an average um on average. So we normally do um. So actually this past weekend all 30 of ours were out, all, every single. We had every like, every single person was out but um per event. We normally do one bartender per 100 people. Now if it gets 150 we're going to add in that second bartender. Now if now I will say, if the client says, I don't care, I want two bartenders for my 80-person wedding, absolutely we will do that. No problem, we can absolutely do that. It also depends on are there a lot of signature drinks? Is there glassware? That's going to be. So all of those factors go into how many bartenders we actually will recommend.

Speaker 1 16:07

Okay, okay, perfect. Have you ever had to cut off a bride or a groom? You know you're like hey, sorry too much.

Speaker 2 16:16

We had one recently where we actually had to shut the whole bar down because the guests had been drinking prior to the ceremony. So it was not on our bartenders and their serving. So when they already get there, I think there was like a bus or something like that?

Speaker 1 16:32

Oh, like a party bus? Yeah, it was a party bus, they had all. So when they already get there.

Speaker 2 16:34

I think there was like a bus or something like that. Yeah, it's a party bus, they had all traveled on um and everything, so that that was a little bit to where, like, hey, I think we so it and that, and when you do something like that, we don't take that lightly it is the venue manager, the planner, the police officers and the bartenders all talking to make that executive decision and so and then I was not there at that time, but the bartenders did call us because I mean, as the owners, they're like hey, I just want to let you know, this is what's going on. And I really think that and I said, you know, we have to make sure that everybody's safe. And if this is the consensus, and you're there and you're seeing that, um, that tells me like, yes, we need to cut that off. And and we got a review the next day.

Speaker 2 17:07

From then they're like oh my gosh, it was such an amazing party they and it was like a 30 minutes to 45 minutes that we cut it off. That we cut it off before actual end time. So it wasn't that big, but it was still. I mean, you don't ever want to. You don't ever want to have to do that yeah, it's so crazy.

Speaker 1 17:22

I had, uh, I had crazy. This is the crazy, the tipsy story of the of the episode. We had a groom one time that was so drunk he almost beat up my photo booth attendant.

Speaker 2 17:34

They literally had to drag him away from the photo booth, so it was a wedding.

Speaker 1 17:40

It was a few years back. It was at the I'm never going to forget. I was doing a wedding at the St Anthony downtown and this other wedding was at the Westin.

Speaker 1 17:50

I mean down the street street, like it was right there. So it's time to close the photo booth, right, you know? And uh, it always happens. You know, by the time that we're closing, people want to keep going, or it always happens it's like closing time and everyone's like oh my god, one more photo, one more photo, one more photo. You know, and we try to accommodate, but, you know, sometimes we just have to cut it off and be like you know, if we say yes to you, then we're going to have to say yes to the next person and the next person and the next person.

Speaker 1 18:14

So this time it was the actual groom. He came to the photo booth and he was like hey, I haven't taken a picture with my grandma. You know she, you know she's been sitting the whole night, she's blind, like we, we didn't want to have her walking around and stuff like that and stuff like that. Can I, can you, you know, take a photo with of us or whatever? So the photo booth then was already taken down. So he calls me and I'm like sure, I'm like, you know, like let's make sure we get that photo right. You know, he's like well, I was already like halfway taking it down, or whatever. I was like, just I mean, put the umbrella back, turn the camera back on, like, let's, let's do it, let's. So he told the girl I'm like, yeah, just go get her, you know we're good, I'll you know, when you go get her I'll start setting it up again or putting it back together.

Speaker 1 18:53

So then I guess like 15 minutes went by and he never came back and then, you know, my attendant calls me and he's like, hey, it's been like 15 minutes and and photo booth is back up, like what do I do? And I was like, well, you know, we waited 15 minutes. So let's just, you know, tell the planner, yeah, that we're gonna take it down. So he's like, okay, cool. So he starts taking down and the groom comes, he's taking down and he starts yelling at him like, cursing at him, like almost going at him oh my gosh, why didn't you wait?

Speaker 1 19:27

And blah, blah, blah this is my grandma and la la and blah blah blah this is my grandma and la la la, like he was like, like they literally dragged him away because he was getting ready to punch my photo booth attendant. It was so bad, it was so horrible. But the thing is like you know these people are. I mean, they've been drinking all day.

Speaker 2 19:43

I mean yeah exactly.

Speaker 1 19:44

so you know, I thought that was going to be the end of the story, you know, of course. You know I was going to send an email like maybe, like this sat night, I was going to maybe send an email on Monday morning or whatever. So I'm finishing up my wedding at the St Anthony and I get an email from the groom.

Speaker 1 20:00

Oh, my God, and this is like 1 am on a Saturday after they got married. He's in the hotel room, probably like just emailing me, and he's emailing me and he's like this is so disrespectful, I want my money back, you breach your contract and blah, blah, blah. And you didn't do this and your attendant did that and I'm like, oh my god, I'm like I'm not even gonna respond to this email. It's 1 am. You know you are obviously drunk emailing me. You know, on something that you, you made the scene, you know, so it was so crazy to me, like that was so crazy, but that that goes to show you like people get really drunk, they do. And oh, my god, I love this because that's not the end of it. No, that was 1 am. I get another email. Of course, I don't see it until the next day around like 4 am, another one, but this time is the bride oh gosh and same thing.

Speaker 1 20:51

You know, like she kept going, like it was a continuation of the the groom's email, and now they were just finding excuses to to argue.

Speaker 2 20:59

You know they had purchased and you're not even in the conversation yet.

Speaker 1 21:02

Yeah, yeah, they, they had purchased, uh, like a, like a hardcover album for the photo booth. And she's emailing me at 4 am and she's like where is the book? We didn't get the book and blah, blah, blah. I'm like girl it's. Of course I didn't reply, but I was like girl it's 4 am, like what are you doing? And I'm like I can't give you a book if I don't have photos. Like with a with a book. Like we get the photos from the night and then we design the book, we send it out to get printed and then we mail it to you. Like you know these things, we talked about it when you signed your contract. Why are you emailing me at 4 am? It was just a that has been my craziest story with with a bride and a groom and it's again I think alcohol had to do with it because I mean, that's not normal. Like it's your wedding night. Why are you in the hotel like emailing us? So later we found out that almost every vendor get an email during that time period.

Speaker 1 21:56

No, they were trying just to complain about everything, to try to get money back from every single vendor that's absolutely the venue told me, the planner told me like I think the dj told me like every day that's how they spent their wedding night, emailing people to get their some sort of money back.

Speaker 2 22:14

I will tell you this a lot of I think a lot of clients don't realize we are all friends yeah, we talk to each other, we talk to each other. And so if something's going on and something crazy like this happens, we're going to reach out to every single person that's out that wedding and be like, hey, is this, was this your experience, is this, you know how? And I, they don't know and they do not realize that we talk to each other.

Speaker 1 22:34

It's so crazy, but anyways, oh my God, we are running out of time, oh yes. I know you have some exciting news for us that I want you to share with our listeners.

Speaker 2 22:41

Yes, so right when this is dropping. So we are going to be going ahead and I'm going to make an announcement. So, as bartenders for you, we are like I said you guys go ahead and provide all the alcohol, and that is how that company is run, with mixers and everything my husband and I because we don't have a lot, because we don't have more on our plate, or you know we decided let's just add one more thing. We actually started another business. It is bartenders to you. This is a sister company of bartenders for you and this company actually has its liquor license. So we can do cash bars, we can do anything if you want to actually purchase the alcohol from us, and then we can actually take it to the venue and everything. So we can do that. And so now we've got, we can service both different types of events and so hopefully open up a lot more doors. How?

Speaker 1 23:29

exciting Congratulations. I love, I love the bartenders for you and our bartenders to you.

Speaker 2 23:34

So, and it was so funny, we're like, how can we make this more complicated for everybody? But if they reach out to bartenders for you and then just with the questions that we ask it just it's you know we can say, oh, that would be better for our sister company and this is a Tipsy Guest exclusive. It's so true, you heard it here first.

Speaker 1 23:52

That's right. Thank you so much, melissa. Thank you, I love having you here and again, we will be posting her social media, her website, on the show notes and the episode blog, so make sure you check that out and hire them for your wedding. They are incredible to work with. So thank you and I'm sure you'll be back. I love talking to you. I'm sure I'll have you back. Thank you so much. All right, thank you to our listeners. Next time We'll see you Bye. Thanks for listening to the tipsy guest podcast. If you know someone who could benefit from these tips, spread the love and share it with them. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. Next round's on us. Same time, same place, cheers. This podcast is brought to you by MBP Photo Booth. No-transcript.