NationStates Jolt Archive

Aren't they? I think they are.

I have the opportunity to abuse the bartenders at a wedding reception this Saturday, and I would like some recommendations of drinks that are commonly offered at open bar events. I like variety.

I want to get shit faced. It's been a long week.

Also, do you have any fun anecdotes from wedding receptions?

I believe I tipped a bartender $15 once.

If you know someone behind the bar, just tell him in advance that if you order a 'cola', he'll give you a whiskey cola. you'll be spiked in no time and no one will have a clue!

Open Bars are wonderful things. First of all, tip for Christ's sake. The drinks are free, let the bartender know your appreciation.

The trick with open bars, is to enjoy yourself without passing out before the night is over. Don't be overeager! Drink enough to get the courage to dance like a buffoon. There's plenty of time to acquire incriminating photos of you, so don't be the one who's incriminating photo is you passed out before the party starts.

A good bar should be able to make any drink.

I'm partial to a nice spiced rum and coke (here in the states, it's generally Captain Morgan's, but I don't know what you have by you.)

Gin and Tonics are popular, I think they taste like Pine Cleanser

whiskey and coke or seven up or sprite

margaritas, daqueris (sp) or other frozen concoctions are nice as well.

I love weddings with open bars...it's really the only reason to go to a wedding, in my mind

A good couple glasses of Jameson should do you nicely...or Meyer's dark rum and cola

A lot of open bars at weddings are just wine and beer which is dissapointing because it's never good wine or beer. I hope you get a fully stocked bar! :)

Gin & Tonic. Lots of it. I like mine with Sprite, but that's because I'm a little bitch and like my drinks sweet.

Creme de Menthe.

Though my advice is probably worthless, since among people I drink with I'm notorious for strange concoctions (what's wrong with Scotch and fanta?:confused: )

if the bartender gives you a drink without you ordering does that count as him tipping me:confused:

also open bars aren't worth having to endure the wedding, unless the cake is really really good or the bridesmaids aren't lying in wait at the bar for unsuspecting dancers :p

they be running and screaming if i went near one thats all i know

First of all, on tipping.

Tip him once - and well - at the start of the night, and then again if you do anything drunkenly stupid near his bar later.

Second, what sort of drinks he'll make will be governed partly by what sort of bartender he is and what sort of wedding it is. If you're at a really nice hotel and he's employed by the hotel - particularly if it's an older hotel - you can get away with ordering classic drinks like a sidecar or a greyhound and he'll know exactly what you want.

A sidecar is pretty good.

Otherwise, stay with simple mixed drinks.

Ideally, you'll end up with member of the wedding party trying to get everyone drunk. I was at one last summer where the groom had a bottle of Crown in his tux and wandered around the reception saying to people with drinks, "Let me smooth that out for ya."

Just get a jack on the rocks, you baby! If it's a nice open bar they'll have Jack Daniels, if it's a super nice open bar it'll be Johnny Walker, if it's a shite open bar it'll be Evan William's or Seagram's. Personally I'd go in and say "OY! Gimme some Jack!" and when he started to pour I'd be like "In a glass? Men don't need glasses! Gimme the whole bottle." and then Beluschi the mother fucker right there. I'm just about to go off on a tanget about how much I love whiskey, so I'll stop right now. Get whiskey and if they don't have whiskey (which would be fucked up) then get some gin and tonics so you can be a classy drunk. Best of luck at the wedding!

I've never tipped a bartender, although that may be because no-one does here and I've never been to an open bar do. I feel incomplete.

Meh. My diet cokes don't cost that much if the bar isn't open, though I suppose it's better if it is.

Give me two Pina Coladas... one for each haand..

*falls off stool*

I love an open bar, I usually sample the range of interesting beers, then move on to the red wine or gin & tonics. :)

I never tip the barman, tipping doesn't happen in Australia.

Creme de Menthe.

Though my advice is probably worthless, since among people I drink with I'm notorious for strange concoctions (what's wrong with Scotch and fanta?:confused: )

Everything! *smites*

Show the bartender your appreciation by offering to go down on him/her/it.

I haven't .. but because I haven't been in bars THAT much.. and when I was I really didn't deal with the bartender. But yeah they deserve a tip.. especially cause they are there sober dealing with a bunch of drunks. I couldn't handle that job.

I haven't .. but because I haven't been in bars THAT much.. and when I was I really didn't deal with the bartender. But yeah they deserve a tip.. especially cause they are there sober dealing with a bunch of drunks. I couldn't handle that job.

I've worked weddings before for Summer catering jobs, I can assure you, we get as drunk as anyone...or maybe that was just me....maybe that was why I was fired....hmmm.

No seriously, depending on how classy this wedding is, I'd suspect the bartenders of having a few on the side, or with guests when asked.

Some very good advice in this thread already...:p

Order six extra large Long Island Ice Tea. Drink them before the first toast.

Ask for wedding stories...I have one...

When I was organizing my wedding reception, I went to talk to the people at the very nice hotel where we were holding the reception, and they asked me if I would like a dressed pheasant as the centre piece of the top table, so I said that I thought that maybe it might put some people of to have what is basically a completely intact dead bird sitting looking at them on the dinner table. They said what would you like instead? I said 'oh I don't know, I will leave that up to you' .....

When we arrived at the hotel following the wedding, I was a bit gobsmacked when I saw the table, for nestling in the centre of it all was a bloody great PIGS HEAD...resplendent with lovely red apple in it's mouth.

The spread was fantastic, we had whole lobster, crabs and salmon in a blue aspic sea, as well as the ummm...head... but I was a bit aghast that after being told that I though that a pheasant might put people off that they though a pigs head was a good idea.

Ask for wedding stories...I have one...

When I was organizing my wedding reception, I went to talk to the people at the very nice hotel where we were holding the reception, and they asked me if I would like a dressed pheasant as the centre piece of the top table, so I said that I thought that maybe it might put some people of to have what is basically a completely intact dead bird sitting looking at them on the dinner table. They said what would you like instead? I said 'oh I don't know, I will leave that up to you' .....

When we arrived at the hotel following the wedding, I was a bit gobsmacked when I saw the table, for nestling in the centre of it all was a bloody great PIGS HEAD...resplendent with lovely red apple in it's mouth.

The spread was fantastic, we had whole lobster, crabs and salmon in a blue aspic sea, as well as the ummm...head... but I was a bit aghast that after being told that I though that a pheasant might put people off that they though a pigs head was a good idea.

:eek:

.. did you have a themed wedding, or something? Us Americans usually pick flowers..

Hoo boy...the last wedding I went to, it was a guy friend of ours and my boyfriend was in the wedding party but I was not. So I got put at the very back table with any leftover friends of the groom who weren't in the wedding party. So it was me, another guy's girlfriend, a single guy who went to school with him, and some people I don't know and didn't notice after the 3rd drink anyway.

Long story short, I ended up pretty shitfaced...it's all a blur after we glued a lampshade to the groom's car and then found out it was actually his mother's car, and then I was in a bar trying to break up wth my boyfriend (lord only knows how we got there since it was across town), then we were looking for my boyfriend's car...I don't even know. A lot of people emailed me later that week asking if I was okay, people I don't remember giving my email to. ;)

Everything! *smites*

That bad? I should note that I came up with the idea after the scotch was half full.

Open Bars are wonderful things. First of all, tip for Christ's sake. The drinks are free, let the bartender know your appreciation.

The trick with open bars, is to enjoy yourself without passing out before the night is over. Don't be overeager! Drink enough to get the courage to dance like a buffoon. There's plenty of time to acquire incriminating photos of you, so don't be the one who's incriminating photo is you passed out before the party starts.

What do tipping, open bars, and appreciation have in common? If I host an open bar, I've already paid for the liquor and the bartender. If I attend an event with an open bar, I'm a guest. If the bartender provides some sort of service, beyond his paid duties, then sure, tip him. But it's not mandatory.

If you appreciate the open bar, tip the host. He's the one footing the bar bill.

The open bar at the event last night was a walking, talking disaster.

I haven't .. but because I haven't been in bars THAT much.. and when I was I really didn't deal with the bartender. But yeah they deserve a tip.. especially cause they are there sober dealing with a bunch of drunks. I couldn't handle that job.


I've worked at a casino, and had to deal with a lot of really drunk people. Many seemed (to me, anyways) to behave like little kids hopped up on sugar. They wouldn't listen to authority (like when I would have to tell them at least half a dozen times that they can't have their bare feet resting on the slot machines), they'd get mad when things weren't working like they wanted, and throw a tantrum (like smash the slot machine glass/monitor, just because they were losing), they'd start hooting and hollering for ANY reason (winning 3 quarters is no reason to wake up half the hotel with your high pitched screams of, "I won, I won").

I could go on with examples, but I could fill an entire thread with stories of stuff I've seen drunk people do at a casino.

:eek:

.. did you have a themed wedding, or something? Us Americans usually pick flowers..

No...we had flowers too, it was just the top table had flowers and a huge centre piece...and the theme of my wedding was I am making a big mistake!
When the time came to make the speeches there was this one guy at the bar, everyone else was sitting down waiting and we had to go call him..which would have been OK, only he was my new husband.....

:rolleyes:

The last wedding I went to was for my aunt at the end of January. Her wedding was at a large aquarium and they had a nice open bar. My dad had his eye on me the whole time to make sure I didn't try to order alcohol since I was underage.

The last wedding I went to was for my aunt at the end of January. Her wedding was at a large aquarium and they had a nice open bar. My dad had his eye on me the whole time to make sure I didn't try to order alcohol since I was underage.

Aquarium? That sounds cool!

And my dad got me my first beer of the night at the last wedding!

We don't usually tip in Australia. What kind of topsy-turby world requires tipping in addition to pay? CRAZY!

I've worked at a casino, and had to deal with a lot of really drunk people. Many seemed (to me, anyways) to behave like little kids hopped up on sugar. They wouldn't listen to authority (like when I would have to tell them at least half a dozen times that they can't have their bare feet resting on the slot machines), they'd get mad when things weren't working like they wanted, and throw a tantrum (like smash the slot machine glass/monitor, just because they were losing), they'd start hooting and hollering for ANY reason (winning 3 quarters is no reason to wake up half the hotel with your high pitched screams of, "I won, I won").

I could go on with examples, but I could fill an entire thread with stories of stuff I've seen drunk people do at a casino.

And why have you not done this?

We don't usually tip in Australia. What kind of topsy-turby world requires tipping in addition to pay? CRAZY!
QFT