I rarely leave negative reviews, but unfortunately our experience with Straight Up Bartending at our wedding was extremely disappointing.

Communication before the event was slow, and there was unnecessary confusion regarding our deposit. We had originally paid through our catering company, yet months later we were asked to provide proof of payment instead of the bartending company first confirming it with the caterer.

Before the wedding, I requested garnishes for our cocktail hour drinks. This request was discussed with Lisa, confirmed, and even reflected on our updated invoice. I also changed our signature cocktail to a Whiskey Sour. I specifically asked whether they needed my recipe and was told they didn't because they knew how to make it.

Unfortunately, neither expectation was met. None of the requested cocktail garnishes were provided, despite the request being acknowledged and added to the invoice. The Whiskey Sours were also poorly executed, they lacked lemon flavour, the egg white foam was flat, and they ran out of egg whites before serving the expected number of cocktails.

The biggest issue, however, was the alcohol service itself.

Despite having plenty of liquor remaining, guests were repeatedly refused shots. My wife (the bride) was even denied when she requested drinks for our family. At one point she reduced her request to just four shots for our parents and was still refused.

Several guests also mentioned that one of the bartenders appeared unfriendly and gave unpleasant facial expressions while serving drinks.
What made this especially frustrating is that no one at our wedding was intoxicated. There were no aggressive guests, no one vomiting, no one slurring their speech, and no one creating problems. We purchased our liquor based on previous weddings and even reduced our order after the bartending company reviewed it. Despite that, we still ended the night with nearly half of our wine, spirits, and soju left over.

In all the weddings I've attended, I've never experienced bartenders restricting service to an entire wedding without any obvious safety concerns.

I completely support responsible serving and refusing service to intoxicated individuals when necessary. However, that simply was not the situation at our wedding.

Overall, we were left disappointed by the communication, professionalism, execution, and customer service. Unfortunately, the bartending became the only complaint we heard from our guests after the wedding.

The bartenders were great but they sneakily brought out a tip jar halfway through the evening when we had already paid them tip prior to the event without asking. I found that tacky and weird. I didn’t want guests spending any money .

We had two bartenders from Straight Up at our wedding and they were both a dream to work with. The lines moved quickly, and they always kept the mood high. We had multiple guests tell us how thrilled they were to find out their favourite mix was available for highballs; the variety was phenomenal!

They were also really helpful in guiding us through the process of getting our special event license, which would have been much more stressful otherwise.

Finally, for those buying their own booze, our bartenders were very considerate of our hope to return whatever wasn't consumed after the wedding. It's not like there were 6 half-finished cases of beer that we just had to hold onto, everyone was served as they wanted (with no overserving) and we were left with thoughtfully stacked boxes of unused alcohol that BCL will have no problem taking back.

Hire with confidence!

My husband and I worked with Lisa and Adrian for quite some time since our wedding celebration was postponed from 2020 to 2021 and we were so happy having them as our bartending service vendor! They were so helpful, knowledgeable, flexible, and just amazing to work with all around. Our bar was flowing during the night and the service was so professional and we couldn't''t have asked for any better. We would highly recommend Straight Up Bar Services for any event/wedding and/or celebration!

The bartender was another vendor that we took our time deciding on. Thankfully A Little Ivory Events and Weddings recommended Straight Up to us. Lisa and Adrian were very responsive, and easy to communicate with during the whole process, particularly around how much alcohol to purchase. We had a toonie bar, which worked out perfectly. Thank you Adrian for doing such a stellar job on the night!

WOW! We could not have been more happy to have straight up bar services at out wedding. Lisa and Adrian were so great to work with; very organized, reliable and friendly. The drinks were great, especially the slushy drinks! I would highly recommend straight up bar services - Michelle & Brandon

These guys helped make our wedding day memorable. We had so many of our guests compliment them. They were organized, professional and super easy to work with. No question I had was too much for them, Adrian always took the time to answer all of them. Our wedding signature drink was a hit. We hired them because we met them at another wedding, and were just as impressed with them there. I highly recommend that you hire Straight Up Bar Services for your next event.

We just had Straight Up Bar Services at our wedding this past weekend, and they were AMAZING! All our family and friends kept commenting at how professional and funny both Adrian and Rob were and they definitely made the night memorable. I have nothing but wonderful things to say about both of them....they kept our guests happy and extremely satisfied. We would recommend them hands down, no questions asked. Thank you guys for making our wedding so great!

Straight Up Bar services did a wonderful job at our wedding. They were extremely professional and well prepared. Many guests complimented on how great of a job they did! You supply the booze and they bring the rest! We highly recommend them for your event and are very well priced.