Booking a bartender should not be more complicated than booking anything else for your event. Here is exactly how it works, start to finish.
The process
- Get a number. Answer six questions in the quote builder — your date, location, guest count and a few details about the event — and you’ll see a real price immediately. No phone tag required to get started.
- Talk through the details (optional). If your event has moving parts — multiple locations, an unusual venue, a specific vision for the bar — reach out through the contact page and we’ll work it out directly.
- Lock in your date. Once the details are set, we confirm your date and get you on the calendar. Popular Saturdays in season book four to eight months out, so earlier is better.
- Plan the bar. In the weeks before your event, we’ll finalize your signature cocktail (see signature cocktails), confirm your guest count and bar hours, and help you size the alcohol order with the alcohol calculator.
- You buy the alcohol. Under New Jersey’s dry-hire rules, you purchase the alcohol from a licensed retailer ahead of the event — see our retailer guide and the full dry-hire explanation if this is new to you.
- We build the bar. On the day, we arrive 60 to 90 minutes before your first guest and have a finished bar standing there before anyone walks in — at no extra charge.
- We run the event. Licensed, insured bartenders pour, pace service, check ID, and keep the bar looking as good at hour four as it did at the start.
- We disappear. Complete teardown happens at the end of the night. You should not find a bottle out of place the next morning.
What we need from you, and when
- Date, address and estimated guest count — as early as possible, ideally when you first request a quote
- Final headcount and bar hours — a couple of weeks before the event
- Any venue-specific requirements (insurance certificates, load-in restrictions, power access) — as soon as you know them
- Alcohol purchased and on-site — ready before we arrive, per the quantities we help you plan
What if my event isn’t standard?
Multi-day events, lagoon-dock setups, marina parties, public-property events requiring a permit — we handle all of it regularly. Tell us the specifics through the contact page and we’ll figure out the plan together.