How to Plan the Perfect Wedding Drink Service Timeline
Your bar might just be the unsung hero of your wedding day. From that first champagne pop to the last espresso martini of the night, drinks set the tone, lift the mood, and keep the celebration flowing. And if there’s one person who knows how to make sure your drink service runs seamlessly, it’s Trish Thorn, Chief Drinks Lady from The Little Bar Cart Sunshine Coast.
Drinks That Flow, Moments That Shine – Tips from a Sunshine Coast Pro
Trish has been serving up good times across the Sunshine Coast for almost six years, bringing style, sparkle, and plenty of personality to every celebration. As the Chief Drinks Lady (and self-confessed champagne enthusiast), she’s turned The Little Bar Cart into a must-have for couples who want a relaxed, beautiful, and perfectly timed bar experience.
“The flow of the day depends so much on what’s in people’s glasses and when,” Trish says. “We use drinks to set the tone for each part of the day – celebration, relaxation, and transition. When the drinks flow right, the whole day flows right.”
I couldn’t agree more! As a wedding photographer, I’ve seen firsthand how much a great bar team can elevate a wedding — not just by keeping everyone refreshed, but by creating those fun, candid moments that make the day unforgettable.
How to Plan the Perfect Wedding Drink Service Timeline
Here are Trish’s top tips for planning a drink service that keeps everyone smiling and the celebration running smoothly:
Celebrate – Straight After “I Do”
The first stage is all about celebration. Think post-ceremony champagne, a cheeky cocktail, or even a champagne tower (which Trish insists every couple should say YES to!). It’s that moment of joy when everyone’s ready to toast the newlyweds.Relax – While You’re Off Taking Photos
After the ceremony, guests often have an hour or two while you’re getting photos taken. Keep the vibe social and light with a cocktail hour - think spritzes, mocktails, or something refreshing that’s easy to sip.Transition – Dinner to Dance Floor
For dinner, beer, wine, champagne or sparkling, then once dinner wraps up and the party begins, it’s time to bring out the spirits or a fun cocktail round. Trish loves an espresso martini to pair with cake - it gives everyone that “let’s dance!” energy to carry into the night.
Pro Tip: Keep your dinner service drinks simple. Beer, wine, and champagne let your beautiful meal shine and avoid noisy cocktail shakers interrupting those heartfelt speeches.
My Favourite Takeaway from This Episode
Trish’s passion for making people feel relaxed and cared for really shines through. My biggest takeaway? Drinks are more than just beverages — they’re part of the story. When you plan your drink timeline thoughtfully, your day flows naturally from one beautiful moment to the next.
And yes… her rule of thumb is now officially mine too: Always say yes to a champagne tower!
Listen to the Full Episode
You can listen to the full episode featuring Trish Thorn from The Little Bar Cart Sunshine Coast right here 👉 Pop the Question – How to Plan the Perfect Wedding Drink Service Timeline – with The Little Bar Cart Sunshine Coast
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And a big thanks to my guest, chief drinks lady Trish Thorn from the Little Bar Cart Sunshine Coast, for joining me and sharing her expert advice on how to plan the perfect wedding drink service timeline. You can find her here:
💻 The Little Bar Cart
📸 Instagram: @thelittlebarcartsunshinecoast
💬TikTok @thelittlebarcartsuncoast
Episode Transcript
Lou (00:00.046)
When I got married, we hired bar staff to serve drinks at our wedding. And honestly, it was one of the best decisions that we made. It instantly lifted the vibe from our wedding being a house party to something a little bit more polished and relaxed. And after photographing so many weddings over the years, I realised that a great bar can actually totally make or break your party.
So from those gorgeous cocktails to perfectly timed toasts, it's the magic ingredient that makes everyone celebrate. And I'm super excited today to have Trish from the Little Bar Cart with us. Trish and I have known each other. Hello. By the way, everyone, we've got Kiki again here today. She's saying hi. She wants some kisses. Trish and I have known each other for a couple of years, and I always love working with her. The vibe is always fun.
She's a great girl, she's fun and bubbly and loves to make sure that everyone's happy and that they have a drink in their hand, whether it be a cocktail or a mocktail. So hi Trish, thanks for joining me today. Hi. Kiki says hi. So Trish, for those who don't know you, can you just tell us a little bit about yourself?
Trish Thorn (01:08.522)
Hello? Hi Lou, hi Kiki, thanks for having me.
You
Trish Thorn (01:22.579)
Yes, thank you. So hi, I'm Trish. I'm the chief drinks lady for The Little Bar Cart Sunshine Coast. We've been operating on the coast here for nearly six years, which is completely wild to think. Starting just about six months before the world shut down back then. Terrific time to start an events business. Yeah, yeah.
Lou (01:38.833)
great timing, great timing.
Trish Thorn (01:44.438)
My background was in banking for many, many years and my girlfriend Yolanda and I used to do all of the morning teas, know, we organized Christmas parties, we'd do the fundraising events that you see businesses, corporates do. And everyone would always say to us, you guys should do this for a living, you know, this is amazing, the food's fantastic, the drinks are amazing, like blah, blah, And eventually, you know, Yolanda and I went in different
off to different businesses. And then one day she called me and she's like, we just need to do this. Let's just do it. And so we did. And yeah, it's been six years now and it's a heck of a lot of fun. No one goes to a wedding to have a bad time.
Lou (02:31.357)
No, no, not at all. And your bar cart, my gosh, it's so cute. And I just realised, I've never asked you, do you actually have a name for the bar cart?
Trish Thorn (02:36.733)
Idiot.
Trish Thorn (02:42.161)
I call her Betty, but I don't generally share that. Yeah, Betty the bar cart. Yeah.
Lou (02:43.711)
Betty.
Betty the bar cart, yeah, she is so cute. I just love her. And for most people, well, you'll be able to check out the show notes later and see what The Little Bar Cart looks like if you guys haven't seen it, but she's absolutely gorgeous. She's like, what would you call it? Like a little like car?
Trish Thorn (03:04.981)
Generally when men see her, the first thing they say is, it's so cute. That's the first thing out of the bloke's mouth. And then they say, it looks just like Brum. If you remember Brum from when we were kids, yeah. So it's kind of got a real vintage feel to it. It's very classy. It's very elegant. And when she's got her lights on and all the glassware hanging, she's really beautiful. yeah, have a look at the photos.
Okay, Trish, our question today is how do you plan what to serve and when at a wedding?
Trish Thorn (06:22.867)
Fantastic question. One of the things people don't realise is how much the flow of the day depends on what's in people's glasses and when. So you want to have a timeline that keeps everyone happy, keeps the energy up, keeps the energy balanced, and keeps the guests knowing what stage the day is at in order for the day to run beautifully. So we use drinks to set the tone for each part of
Lou (06:36.507)
Yeah.
Lou (06:42.158)
Okay.
Trish Thorn (06:50.129)
the day. So I like to split the day into three sections. The first one is celebration. So think post-ceremony champagne service, post-ceremony champagne tower. It's time to, you know, to toast the happy couple and to do what we like to call a little bit of a woo girl. Champagne is light, it's celebratory and it's super photogenic.
So that's the celebration portion.
Lou (07:45.456)
Hey. Yeah.
Trish Thorn (07:47.441)
Then we move into the relaxation portion. And so this is where we start to think about, you know, how the ceremony's done, you've come out, you've had your group photos and so forth, and then it's time for the newlyweds to disappear and have their photos done. And that can take sometimes sort of an hour and a half to two hours, depending on what's being planned. And so then what do you do with all of those people? What do you do with them?
The simple answer is you send them to me. So a fantastic thing you can do, that's a perfect time to have a cocktail hour or make it a light cocktail hour or to serve some spritzes, know, something light and fresh like an Aperol spritz or a limoncello spritz, something that gives your guests something social to do.
Lou (08:16.067)
Yep.
Lou (08:36.292)
Yeah.
Trish Thorn (08:39.538)
While you are off checking photos because let's be frank your photos are a huge part of the day and you do not want to rush that so Send them to us. We'll look after them the second part to I'm sure I'm so excited. Sorry. I'm talking over the top of you This The second part to the relaxation phase is actually during your dinner service and your food service so
Lou (08:50.21)
Okay.
Lou (08:53.956)
No, that's great. I love it. love your enthusiasm. Perfect.
Trish Thorn (09:07.633)
It's at this point that we recommend that you transition to keeping things nice and simple. So beer, wine, and champagne or sparkling. It's not the time for spirits. It's not the time for cocktails because you want something that's fairly neutral. And I say that not meaning to downplay the value of beer, wine and champagne. But you want something that's fairly neutral so that your food shines. That's the moment for that.
Lou (09:31.011)
Right.
Lou (09:34.785)
Okay.
Trish Thorn (09:36.72)
I'm just going to refer to my notes. So if we can just cut there for a second, sorry. I Wrote like a whole thing. There's two pages of it
Lou (09:41.805)
We could do that.
Trish Thorn (09:49.424)
Okay. Okay. Okay. I'm ready. So keeping it nice and simple during dinner service is a fantastic way to make sure that your food shines. You really want to emphasise the effort that you've put into making that really special for everybody. And it also means... Yeah.
Lou (09:52.589)
Good.
Lou (10:08.344)
do you talk to the chefs or the catering staff to find out what food they have? Do you pair those drinks with the food?
Trish Thorn (10:20.037)
We absolutely can do that. We've done that before for some of our bigger weddings, but ultimately it's up to you. If you want us to pair something, if you want us to do a custom something, we're absolutely on board with that all the time. Yeah.
Lou (10:34.911)
Love that, love that.
Trish Thorn (10:37.519)
So the last thing that you want during your dinner service is to have the sound of a bar effectively while you're trying to enjoy your meal. You don't want cocktail shakers, you know, making a whole lot of noise in the background. And you don't want a whole lot of noise of people coming to the bar while your dad's trying to make his beautiful toast or something like that. So keep it really, really simple. And that will ensure that dinner service goes off without a hitch.
Lou (10:47.682)
Yeah
Trish Thorn (11:07.376)
And then the third period is what we call the transition period. So you're thinking about cutting the cake, you're thinking about the dance floor finally getting happening, and that's the time to think about spirits and or bringing cocktails back into the mix. know, things that are going to get people's energy back up, get them onto the dance floor, you know, where you're going to spend a good three, hopefully more hours.
you know, letting loose with your family and friends. And that's the best part. often personally, think an espresso martini is actually a really great thing to serve with cake because instantly the mood just goes, yeah, we're here to party. It's that time. Yeah.
Lou (11:35.413)
Yep.
Lou (11:49.57)
my gosh, yes, an espresso martini, one of my favourites. They're always a crowd pleaser, aren't they?
Trish Thorn (11:54.363)
so much fun. They are. Yeah, definitely. Some people think they're a bit cliche, but I think cliche that one right on up. Yeah.
Lou (12:02.755)
Oh no, totally. I love it. I love it. Forget cliche. Cliche means it's a classic. Yeah. So Trish. Yes. Yes. So Trish, from what you just told me, there's, what were you saying? Is there three, four stages? Three.
Trish Thorn (12:04.816)
You
Trish Thorn (12:08.874)
Yeah, that's what I think. If you're onto a good thing.
Trish Thorn (12:21.907)
stages that I kind of like to work with. Yeah, so celebration, relaxation and transition.
Lou (12:30.005)
Lovely. So the celebration is after the ceremony, a champagne celebratory drink. Then the second stage is the cocktail hour or relaxation for the cocktail hour. that? And dinner service. Great. And then the third stage is the transition.
Trish Thorn (12:39.875)
Relaxation, yeah.
Yeah, and dinner service.
Trish Thorn (12:51.917)
Yep, where we're going from sitting down and having dinner into the party, hitting the dance floor, cutting the cake and having a whole lot of fun with your loved ones.
Lou (13:00.939)
Fantastic. love that. That's so cool. Thank you. That's some great tips there. Now, Trishy, next part to our little podcast episode today is our pop the question. So I've got a wedding themed mystery question in my trusty little camera here, and we're going to pull one out. So it's a complete mystery to you and I. Okay.
Trish Thorn (13:13.392)
it's so cute!
Trish Thorn (13:20.046)
Mm-hmm
Lou (13:28.436)
So our question today, I've got Kiki's hair on me. Our question today is,
Okay, what wedding song do you never want to hear again?
Trish Thorn (13:38.927)
gosh!
Trish Thorn (13:45.232)
I'm the worst person to ask that because I love all of the wedding songs. All of them. Yeah. I could not even count on all of my fingers and all of my toes the number of times that we have not pushed behind the bar or on the dance floor, you know, with the newlyweds and all of their loved ones. Yeah, I'm a wedding song tragic, actually. It's the worst question you could ask me.
Lou (13:50.91)
so do I. Yeah.
Lou (14:12.542)
No, that's good. That's a great answer. I was actually at a wedding the other day and they did Rock the Boat. Do you know Rock the Boat? Which they have in Ireland. It was made famous in the TV show Derry Girls. I absolutely loved it. Cracked myself up. The dance floor had two rows with the bride and groom in front. The parents of the bride and groom were down there as well doing Rock the Boat and it was just hilarious. Yeah.
Trish Thorn (14:19.895)
Yeah!
Yes.
Trish Thorn (14:37.785)
Brilliant. Brilliant. I've actually never seen Rock the Boat in real life. I have seen it in that episode of Derry Girls though, and it's marvellous. Yeah. Very fun. Very fun.
Lou (14:45.277)
Yes, yeah, so good. Okay, so Trish, before we go, I would like you just to, again, give our couples just those tips really quickly, something that they can take away with them. So when they go and look at hiring a bartender and bar service, that timeline that you were talking about, what should they ask again?
Trish Thorn (15:11.449)
So think about the timing. When is it time to celebrate? When is it time to relax? And when is it time to transition? Think about what's the plan for your guests while you're off having your photos done. And then my third and very most important tip is always say yes to a champagne tower. Always. me too. Yeah. And the photos are so amazing. So good. Yeah. Big fan.
Lou (15:30.215)
Hey, yes. I love the champagne towers. So much fun. Yes. Yeah. So good. Well, thank you so much for joining me today. Now, if people want to look at hiring the beautiful little bar cart, where can they find you on the socials?
Trish Thorn (15:48.726)
On the socials, you can hit us on Instagram or on ye olde Facebookay at The Little Bar Cart Sunshine Coast. We're also on TikTok, The Little Bar Cart Suncoast That's it. Yeah.
Lou (15:54.35)
Okay.
Lou (16:04.028)
Awesome. Well, thanks again for coming. Thanks everyone for listening to Pop the Question. For more tips and advice and inspiration, you can head on over to my website, which is imagesbylouobrien.com forward slash pop the question. I'll also have all the show notes and how to contact Trish over there. So thanks again, Trish. Have a great day. It's great chatting to yo
Trish Thorn (16:27.799)
Thanks so much, Lou. Great chatting to you too. I'll see you soon. Bye.
Lou (16:31.245)
Yep, bye.
Podcast link - How to Plan the Perfect Wedding Drink Service Timeline
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