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Dear Bartender: I am getting married this upcoming May and I need a little help in figuring out the way in which my bar will operate.

We will have one bartender to serve out nearly 130 guests plus some helpers to assist with taking orders and beer. While we were thinking smaller kegs and kegerators for the bar, I am rethinking that perhaps bottles would be better, keeping them in large galvanized buckets with ice. Not only that but I wouldn’t have to deal with four different cooling units.

What do you think? Kegs? Bottles? Or a combination?

Second question. What kinds of alcohol will I need to create a full bar for my guests and per your experience how much will people drink. I figured that the advice of an expert might come in handy ’cause I am lost at this point.

Thanks a ton.

Dear Groom: Per my experience, people will drink half as much again as you think they will. Trust me on that one.

And just to clarify: I’m not a wedding planner, etiquette expert or professional caterer. You’re getting a bartender’s opinion. (You also didn’t ask an environmentalist, which is why I’ll tell you to go with the beer in bottles.)

There’s no need to stock your bar like you’re a hotel or an airport. Scotch, rum, vodka, gin, ice, some mixers and a decent red and white isn’t too little, provided you have a few non-alcoholic choices and you’ve already taken care of the champagne for the toast. And, there’s actually nothing to stop you from serving just the champagne. A wedding reception is just a party, albeit often a big one, and the liquor logic is the same: you serve what you want, in your best effort to make your guests happy. That said, you know better than I if one of your guests is gonna be crushed that you’re fresh out of Rumplemintz.