19 answered questions
Wedding Bar & Bartending FAQs
The questions couples ask us most often about the bar at their wedding: booking timelines, bartender counts, packages, and how the night itself runs.
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For the full service details, see Bar Packages.
How much does a wedding bartender cost in Dallas-Fort Worth?
Shaker’s bar packages run $15 to $35 per guest for four hours of service, plus bartenders at $50 an hour. A 150-guest wedding on the Specialty Bar with five hours of service and a champagne toast comes to roughly $6,000 including the 20% service charge.
The per-guest figure covers the alcohol, mixers, supplies package and cups for the tier you choose. Staffing is added on top: one bartender per 75 guests at $50 an hour. A 20% setup and service charge applies to the booking.
Every rate those figures are built from is published on the pricing page, so you can see where a total comes from rather than take a range on trust. Send us your date, venue and guest count and we will send you a customized quote.
How many bartenders do we need for our wedding?
One bartender per 75 guests. A 150-guest wedding takes two, and a 250-guest wedding takes four. Add a bar glassware busser at $50 an hour if you are renting glassware, because collecting and washing glasses is a full job on its own.
The ratio matters most at two moments: immediately after the ceremony and immediately after the last speech, when most of the room arrives at the bar within a few minutes of each other. Understaffing shows up as a queue at exactly those points.
How far in advance should we book a wedding bartender?
As soon as your date and venue are confirmed. Saturdays in spring and fall are the first dates to fill in the DFW wedding calendar, and bar service is usually booked after the venue, photographer and caterer, so couples often reach it late and find their date taken.
What is included in a wedding bar package?
The alcohol for your tier, mixers and sodas, the supplies package, nine-ounce cups, bar setup and teardown. Staff arrive at least two hours before the ceremony and finish an hour and a half after the bar closes. Bartender hours are quoted separately.
The supplies package is the part couples underestimate: coolers, plastic cups, an ice serving bucket, tongs, cocktail napkins, straws, pitchers, a serving tray, a tip jar, a water dispenser, garnish bowls and plates, bar towels and pour spouts. It is $275 on its own for BYOB events, and included in every bar package.
The Platinum Call Bar is the only tier that also includes ice, coolers, lemons, limes and napkins in the per-person price. On other tiers, ice is $25 per 50 lb and lemons and limes are $50 if you want them added.
Can we have an open bar?
Yes. The Premium Call Bar at $27 per guest is what most couples mean by an open bar: a full spirits bar with call brands across vodka, whiskey, rum, gin and tequila, plus beer and wine. The Platinum Call Bar at $35 is the top-shelf version.
Couples often describe the Premium Call Bar as the open bar package and the Platinum as the platinum open bar, which is how Shaker’s own site refers to them. The practical difference is brand tier: Tito’s and Espolon on Premium; Grey Goose, Don Julio, Hendrick’s and Maker’s Mark on Platinum, with mid-tier wines instead of house.
How long does the bar stay open?
Package prices are based on four hours of bar service. Extending is $2 per person per hour, up to a maximum of six hours. Most DFW weddings run a five-hour bar, which on a 150-guest Specialty Bar adds $300.
Six hours is the published ceiling for extended service. Bar service hours are separate from staff hours on site: staff are there two hours before the ceremony and for 90 minutes after the bar closes.
What happens if our venue does not allow alcohol?
The Non-Alcoholic Bar at $15 per guest is a complete dry bar: two specialty batch lemonades, a soda package and a sparkling non-alcoholic toast, with the supplies package and cups included. It is designed as a real bar, not a drinks table.
Can we have signature cocktails for the wedding?
Yes. A specialty batch cocktail is $400 for a five-gallon batch (75 nine-ounce servings) and includes the dispenser, ice, cups, straws and garnishes. The Specialty Bar at $23 per guest includes two of them. Choose a signature and you are invited to a tasting.
His-and-hers cocktails are the classic use of this. There are eight signatures on the menu plus seven margarita flavors, and made-to-order drinks like espresso martinis or a French 75 are available at $600 per 100 servings because they are shaken per guest rather than batched.
Do you serve champagne for the toast?
Yes. A champagne toast is $5 per guest, served in glass champagne flutes rather than plastic. A champagne tower is $600 and includes the tower setup plus 100 servings in glass flutes.
Can you set up a mimosa bar while we are getting ready?
Yes. The mimosa bar is $600 and is served two and a half hours before the ceremony with a bartender included: champagne, glass flutes, a variety of fruit juices and mixed fresh berries with supplies and decor. The smoked old fashioned station is the same price and format.
Both are built for the getting-ready window rather than the reception: the mimosa bar for the bridesmaids and family, the smoked old fashioned for the groomsmen and family. Because a bartender is included in the price, they are close to self-contained.
Do you provide glassware, or is everything in plastic cups?
Both are available. Every package includes nine-ounce clear disposable cups. Glassware is a rental: $1 per glass for house glassware and $1.25 for elevated, for four hours of service, and it requires a busser at $50 an hour.
House glassware covers water goblets, rocks glasses, champagne flutes and wine glasses. Elevated adds double old fashioned, martini and Collins glasses. Budget about two glasses per guest, or three if you are running a champagne toast alongside a full bar.
What areas do you serve?
Dallas-Fort Worth. Shaker works out of two locations, Southlake and Dallas, covering Grapevine, Colleyville, Keller, Westlake, Fort Worth, Arlington, Frisco, Plano, McKinney, Denton and the surrounding metro.
If your venue is nearby but not on the list, ask. The list reflects where Shaker works routinely rather than the limit of where it will go.
What deposit do you take, and when is the balance due?
A 50% retainer books your date, and the remaining 50% is due two weeks before the event. Your date is not held until the retainer is received. The retainer is not an extra charge: it is credited against your final amount due.
The retainer is non-refundable, but it is transferable. If you have to cancel, it can be applied to a future event within one calendar year of your original date.
The 50% is calculated on the total of your invoice, so the retainer follows the quote we send you rather than a separate figure.
What is your cancellation and date-change policy?
The retainer is non-refundable, but if you cancel it can be applied to a future event within one calendar year of your original date. Beyond the retainer, what Shaker retains depends on notice: nothing more than 90 days out, 75% of the estimated total between 30 and 14 days, and no refund inside 14 days.
Canceling and rebooking more than once is where that flexibility stops: if an event is canceled a second time, Shaker may cancel and retain what has been paid.
These are the terms as they stand in the contract. Your signed contract is the document that governs, and it is worth reading the cancellation clause before you sign it rather than after.
Are your bartenders certified and insured?
Yes. Every Shaker team member is TABC certified and insured. TABC certification is the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission’s seller-server training, which is the specific, checkable version of the "licensed and insured" claim most bar companies make loosely.
Shaker also holds its own liquor license, which is why the bar packages can include the alcohol rather than requiring you to supply it.
If your venue needs a copy of the insurance, or needs Shaker Bar & Bev listed as additional insured, ask early: certificates take up to a week to issue.
Can our venue get a certificate of insurance?
Yes, and Shaker can be listed as additional insured if your venue requires it. Allow up to a week for a certificate to be issued, so send the request as soon as your venue asks rather than in the final fortnight.
Venue coordinators usually ask for this in writing at contract stage. The turnaround is the reason to forward the request the day you get it.
Are you licensed and insured?
Yes. Every Shaker team member is TABC certified and insured, and Shaker holds its own liquor license. TABC certification is the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission’s seller-server training, which is the specific, checkable version of the claim most bar companies make loosely.
If your venue needs a copy of the insurance, or needs Shaker Bar & Bev listed as additional insured, allow up to a week for the certificate to be issued.
The liquor license is also why a bar package can include the alcohol rather than requiring you to buy it yourself.
What does the 20% service charge cover?
The published rate card states that a 20% setup and service charge applies to bookings. It is a standard event-industry charge covering setup, service and administration rather than a gratuity.
The rate card does not name a base, so we quote it against the full subtotal, which is the higher of the two possible readings and therefore the safer figure to plan against. Whether it applies to the bar package alone or to everything is confirmed on your customized quote.
Do your bartenders accept tips?
A tip jar is part of the standard supplies package, so guests can tip if they choose. The 20% service charge is not a gratuity.
Let’s get your date on the calendar
Tell us your date, venue and guest count and we’ll come back with a real quote. Reviewers say the planning conversation is the best part of working with us.