Build Your Own Martini Bar: Glam Wedding Ideas on a Budget

Save on the drinks budget and look super classy in the process! DIY a make-your-own Martini bar for your wedding reception. A fun and glam alternative to the open bar. 😉 Check out these ideas and these trending Martini recipes.

Save on your wedding alcohol budget. Make-your-own martini bar for an ultra glam wedding reception.

Hosting an open bar is pretty expensive when compared to offering a few signature drinks. Let your guests mix, shake and mingle while enjoying your make-your-own Martini bar. 😉 Add a few signs with martini recipes – lots of them below – to the tables and let them enjoy their creations during cocktail hour.

Hiring a barman to help prepare and mix the drinks will cost you a bit more as well as offer some added entertainment. Remember to also serve some nonalcoholic, or “mocktail” options. Consider adding some personalized cocktail napkins bearing clever phrases like “When life hands you lemons, make Lemon Drop Martinis”, “Keep Calm and Drink a Martini”, “We like it Shaken, but not Stirred”, or a take on Sex and the City “Classy & Fabulous”.

Let’s go over what you need to build your DIY Martini bar, how much to buy and some of the most popular and trending cocktail recipes to choose from. Cheers!

What You Need for a DIY Martini Bar: The Basics

Just six simple and easy-to-find elements turn a regular bottle of vodka or gin into the make-your-own martini bar of your dreams. Your guests will love the ability to create their own drinks and you’ll love not having to throw down the cash for multiple kinds of alcohol.

1. Vodka and Gin. You want to cater to all your guests and some swear that a true martini has to have vodka and others will not even sip a respectable martinis unless it’s made with gin.
2. Vermouth. A must for any martini bar. You cannot create a Martini without vermouth.
3. Cocktail shaker. Be true to the Bond style and let your guests shake their martinis if they so desire.
4. Martini mixing glass and stirrers. Usually, Martinis are served stirred. Let your guests mix their own on mixing glasses where they will stir their cocktails to perfection.
5. Martini Garnish. Olives, cocktail onions, olive juice, lemon slices, citrus rind, maraschino cherries, and any other additions you’d like to put in your cocktail. Citrus garnishes will be more fragrant and olives and onions will give it a more savory flavor.
6. Ice. Most martinis are served up (in a cocktail glass without ice), but you will need ice both to keep your bottles cool (especially the vermouth) and to throw in with the other ingredients while stirring.

Cocktail hour may be quite entertaining with this martini bar service with signature drinks. Can’t wait for that first icy sip!

How Much to Buy to Build your Martini Bar for a wedding Reception

In order to know how much you will need to build your martini bar make a list of all the ingredients needed for each type of Martini you will be offering. Multiply times 3 (the average number of Martini’s per person during 4 hours) and then multiply again by the number of guests. It wasn’t so hard, was it?

Build your make-your-own martini bar. Don’t forget the garnish!

Popular Martinis

A Martini consists of Gin or Vodka which is shaken or stirred in a mixer with ice, and then poured in to a chilled glass which contains vermouth, and then garnished with an olive or a lemon twist. (Add a pearl onion and you have a Gibson). The more vermouth, the “wetter” the Martini and the less vermouth concocts a “dry” martini.

The most popular martinis are the Dirty Martini, Dry Manhattan, Dry Martini, Fifty-Fifty Cocktail, Gibson, Gimlet, Gin Martini, and the Manhattan. Check out these classic and popular martini recipes and pick a couple for your martini bar! Enjoy!

Build a custom Martini Bar for your wedding reception and save on the drinks budget.

Dirty Martini Recipe

A twist on the classic dirty martini. But don’t worry, we haven’t changed the recipe. Just how it’s served! This dirty martini recipe makes 3-4 shots depending on the size of your shot glasses.

Dirty martini shots.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 oz Olive brine or olive juice
• 1 Olives
• 4 oz Vodka or gin
• 1 splash Water

Mix all the ingredients (except the olive) in a cocktail mixer with 2 ice cubes.

Put it in a frozen martini glass and the olive on a wooden stick.

How to Make a French Martini

Add some delicious fruit to your cocktail with the original 1980s McNally’s recipe.

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