Your Guide to Ordering Barware for a Backyard Wedding
Backyard weddings present a lot of opportunities to personalize your event to suit your exact tastes. Not only will your big-day be held at a place that's meaningful to you, but you'll also have a lot more freedom when it comes to what you can and can't do—at least in terms of decorations. But tying the knot at home also means that you'll also have to handle the majority of the details on your own, or else hire a wedding planner to coordinate the logistics for you. If you're not used to organizing events of this scale, it can be hard to know exactly what supplies, or how much of them, you'll need to keep the good times going during your celebration. That's especially true when it comes to glasses for wine, signature cocktails, and soft drinks—renting one per person with a few extras in the event of accidents, similar to the approach you'd taken when ordering dinnerware, isn't going to cut it.
Related: Watch Out for These Hidden Rental Costs
Remember that your barware needs will vary based on the style of your event.
It's important to decide on the overall feel of your wedding before you can determine how much—and what types of—barware you'll need, explains Liz Curtis, founder and CEO of Table + Teaspoon. A casual celebration will most likely be outfitted by wine and beer, which will mainly be limited to a few choices of cups. If you're going for a party atmosphere, you may be better suited to having a few signature cocktails that can be pre-made and served quickly in a single style glass. A more elegant affair will require a bartender and a host of different types of barware based on the drinks he or she will make.
Start your order based on headcount.
Curtis suggests foregoing any single-use disposable cups for your event and instead contacting a local rental company to meet your needs. Margot Jones, the owner of Purple Onion Catering, says that you should plan to order one water glass and two wine glasses per guest, especially if wine is being served at the tables. If you are having a full bar, she suggests adding two lowball and one highball glass per guest to the order, too. "An average split usually comes between three different glasses—wine, an all-purpose tumbler, and a low-ball glass."
But remember that these are just averages: You should plan to order extras of everything to ensure that glassware is available throughout the night. Some guests won't want to reuse their glasses, or else they might switch between drinks. It's better to be safe than sorry.
Know that there are ways to cut costs.
Barware comes at an average price of 50 cents per glass, and you can save some money by picking up rentals yourself to avoid delivery fees. Also, if you're hiring a bartender you can ask them what their suggestion is for the number and types of glasses you'll need to provide to prevent over-ordering. "Your bartender should be able to wash glassware quickly if he or she has an assistant to collect used glasses," Curtis says, adding that you should weigh the cost of hiring an extra set of hands against ordering additional barware. "Unless you have wait staff already, I would order the correct number of glasses from the outset, rather than prioritizing washing during your wedding."
Jones adds that you can save a little on barware by foregoing mugs and ordering your beer in bottles as well.
