BottomZ Up Bartending & Events

Slowish email response but on the day of they were great and perfect. We had them supply corkage and we supplied alcohol and kept it simple with no signature drinks. They let us know when we ran out of something so we could have someone run for more. No problems whatsoever. We simplified the corkage by providing our own glasses to reduce waste as well and they were accommodating to that! We ran a donation jar style payment instead of open bar/toonie bar, and tipped out the bartenders in advance.

Pros:

The service was great day-of. The staff was very friendly and efficient and they, unexpectedly, wandered through the tables during dinner taking drink orders which was a wonderful surprise!

Cons:

It took days (and often multiple emails) before we got an answer to many of our questions. At the same time, we had to answer the same question time and time again... My wife and I had 2 signature cocktails as part of our wedding. We told BottomZ Up what they were on our intake form. We were asked if we were having any about a month before the wedding and we told her again (maybe she just wanted a copy in our email chain, so fair enough). Then we told her again when she asked about them in another email (again, not what they were, but if we were having any or not). When we did our last walkthrough of the venue prior to the wedding she asked again... The day before the wedding I wrote up a recipe card to leave on the bar because I had no confidence that the cocktails were going to go to plan.

We had an open bar for our wedding and, as part of the fees, had to pay a gratuity to the servers. We were told this was to offset the fact that with an open, cashless bar the staff wouldn't be tipped. That made sense, so we were happy to tip them out in advance. On the night of the wedding, they put out a tip jar anyway.

We asked about it and were told that the oversize novelty martini glass full of cash wasn't a tip jar, but was just decor (which we found a bit...odd, because who has one big receptacle as their only decor?) and that "if guests insist [on tipping] then we tell them they can put it in there."

"If guests insist"...

That, along with the total amount of tips we were told they received, I find incredibly hard to believe. Insisting is what you do after you've been rebuffed. If I offer you a tip and you refuse and tell me you've already been tipped out and I say "no, please take it," THEN I'm insisting. If I offer you a tip and you accept it, that's just taking tips. I find it extremely unlikely/unbelievable that any of our guests (who were told they wouldn't need any cash for the night) were waved off before being told they could put their tips in the "decor".

The tip jar issue (and how disingenuously it was handled when we brought it up) were the only problems on the night of the wedding. The disorganised communication was annoying, but it's the double dipping on tips which is why I recommend people look elsewhere.

Shelley and her team at Bottomz Up were wonderful. The bartenders at our wedding were fast, friendly and attentive to the bride to ensure I had everything I needed/wanted. They also set up, transitioned and took down the decor at the venue and everything was done exactly how I asked. (And I was quite particular about how I wanted things done).