Maci's Pour Custom Bartending is run by Samantha Moore out of Jacksonville, covering Northeast Florida. Licensed, insured, thirteen-plus years in hospitality before she started it. We have worked weddings alongside her.
Samantha Moore, and a champagne tower service. Photos courtesy of Maci's Pour Custom Bartending.
What it actually costs
Two numbers, added together. First the base package, then a per-head rate for what is being poured.
The base package - from $500
- Covers
- Four hours of service, one licensed bartender, up to 75 guests
- Insurance
- Liquor liability and general liability, included
- On site
- Two hours to set up, one hour to break down
- Included
- Self-serve water station, custom bar sign, and a liquor shopping list built off your guest count
Then pick what you are serving
- The Single
- $3 per person. Beer and wine, with cups, napkins, coolers and ice
- The Double
- $5 per person. Beer, wine and two custom cocktails, plus the mixers, garnishes and straws those need
- The Triple
- $8 per person. Full bar. Your two signature drinks, or a guest can just ask for a jack and coke
Run the maths for 100 guests: $500 base plus $300 to $800 depending on the tier. So roughly $800 to $1,300 for the bar service. The alcohol is separate and you buy it yourself, which is the part that usually saves the money.
You buy the alcohol - and that is the point
Maci's Pour is a dry hire bar. She legally cannot sell you the liquor, so you buy it and she pours it.
Retail beer and wine costs a fraction of what a venue bar charges per drink, so on paper this is the cheaper route by a wide margin. The trap is guessing the quantity. She sends a shopping list based on your final headcount, which is the difference between running dry at nine and paying for a case of prosecco you will still have at Christmas.
Ask your venue one question before you price anything
Does the venue run its own licensed bar, or is it bring-your-own?
If the venue has its own bar, you do not need a mobile company and you should not be paying for one. If it is bring-your-own, somebody licensed has to be behind that bar and this is a real line in your budget rather than an extra.
One phone call sorts it out and it can move your total by four figures.
Things that cost nothing extra to ask about
Her enhancements list is worth a look even on a tight budget, because a couple of these do more for the room than the money suggests.
Worth asking about
- Dirty soda bar
- Custom sodas, syrups, creams and garnishes. Cheap, and the guests who are not drinking finally get something built for them
- Mocktail menu
- Alcohol-free drinks designed to be ordered, not settled for
- Infused water station
- Self-serve with fresh fruit. Included in the base package, and in a Florida summer it earns its place
- Cocktail tower
- The stacked coupe tower for the toast. The most photographed thing on any bar
- Extra hands
- More bartenders, bar backs, or servers for cocktail hour and reception clean-up
- Custom linen bar menu
- Your two drinks, printed properly, so guests stop asking what the options are
Why a DJ cares who is behind the bar
Selfish reason, and we will be honest about it. The bar is the first place guests walk after the ceremony, so wherever it sits is where your whole crowd spends the opening hour. If it is set up somewhere sensible and visible, that crowd is already in the room when we open the dance floor. If it is shoved into a hallway, we are pulling people back from somewhere else all night.
Samantha builds the bar to be looked at, which means it tends to get put somewhere people can see it. That helps us.
Maci's Pour Custom Bartending • Jacksonville, serving Northeast Florida • macispour.com • (904) 397-5068 • she asks for 48 hours to come back with an estimate
Tell her AE sent you.