I've seen a few posts lately on DIY wedding pages from couples asking for bar advice from other couples. A couple of posts are implying caravan bars are "too expensive" and want advice from other couples of how they navigated the bar on the day.
Firstly, caravan bars are cool as f*ck, so you pay for what you get. Of course they're going to be more expensive than a plastic table with a white tablecloth thrown over top with some glasses sitting on it, it's a damn masterpiece! Not only do we need to cover costs for the day but these babies cost between 20k - 40k to build, and return on investment is a part of the show.
So let's weigh up the pro's and con's of spending a bit extra and having a caravan bar at your wedding.
1. Glassware
If you DIY the bar how much glassware are you going to have? How many glasses per person? How do you know what people will drink?
You'll be looking at around $300 worth of glassware whether you hire or buy them. How are you going to store the glasses, are you going to have the cardboard boxes sprawled behind the table for everyone to see? You need enough glassware that you won't run out. Even if you're doing one glass per person some guests WILL want a fresh glass so you'l need to sort out glass washing aswell.
2. Staff
If you're hiring friends to serve the drinks for you, you'll be looking at around
$400 in wages to pay them. If they're friends they're going to be pretty relaxed and won't be too worried about keeping on top of things so don't expect too much of them other than pouring drinks.
3. Ice
How much ice are you going to buy?
$50 worth, $100 worth, $150? Who's going to go get more if you run out? If you've hired a Caravan bar they'd look after this, if you've decided to do it yourself then you're up for a good guessing game, if you run out of ice the friends you've hired either won't bother telling you and people will drink without ice fo the rest of the night, beers will be sitting in warm buckets. Or they'll tell you and you'll stress out because you have to deal with being one staff down and people waiting too long for drinks while one of them goes to buy more ice, something you don't need to deal with on your wedding day
4. Drinks quantities
I see a lot of posts on DIY wedding pages asking how much alcohol a BYO wedding should buy. Online calculators are rubbish, they tell you to buy just as much red wine as white wine and I can guarantee that won't fly on the night. A caravan bar will be able to tell you what's popular and what you don't need much of. Also, if you run out, who's going to go to the bottle shop to restock for you?
5. Bar tools
Ice tubs, wine buckets, tongs, straws, napkins, bottle openers, cocktail shakers, bins, bin bags, tea towels, cloths. By the time you buy all this you'll be down a couple hundred dollars
Once you've purchased all of the above, you'll maybe be saving $500 compared to having a caravan bar. You've also added on a lot of stress and confusion and more than likely made mistakes.
6. Storage
Where the hell are you going to put all this stuff without it looking like a bomb shelter?
There's a reason you'll find post after post on DIY wedding pages about what the hell to do when it comes to the bar. Unless you've planned a wedding before, you're in unchartered territory. On top of getting all this when you hire a caravan bar, you get the peace of mind that NONE of this is your problem. You get unlimited access to a bar genius who will be able to answer all your questions throughout the year, with a wealth of knowledge when it comes to weddings and who more than likely knows your venue.
A caravan bar isn't in everyones budget, so if your priority isn't hiring a caravan bar then use the above info to get planning. If you're in the market for a caravan bar... you've come to the right place! So you can do it alone or you can hire some help, either way you'll have a ripper day!
Cheers.
Kayla
Boozy Suzie Caravan Bar
Mobile Bar hire servicing Newcastle, Hunter Valley & Central Coast weddings