Private bartending services since 2021
Sommelier-led bar service for weddings in Cashiers & Highlands
Celebrate the rest of forever with the right crew. We come to you: barns, private estates, rented halls, backyards. If your venue has no bar and no team, that is exactly the event we are built for.
My wife and I started Pour Calvin to bring excellence and warm hospitality to couples getting married in Western North Carolina and beyond.
The bar is where your guests will spend most of the evening. A team that can build a real cocktail and choose wine with intent changes what that evening actually feels like, and it is the difference between a drink station in the corner and something people remember.
What you get
Every package includes
- Experienced bartending staff who have run service in private venues and unstaffed spaces
- Wine selected by a working sommelier, chosen for your menu and your guests
- Liquor ordering guidance with exact quantities, so you buy once and buy right
- Guided help applying for your North Carolina ABC temporary permit
- Consultation on event setup, spatial flow, and guest experience
- Bar tools, glassware, and ice handled
- Full setup, service, breakdown, and cleanup
How it works
Five steps, and four of them are ours
Tell us about your day
Send your date, venue, and rough guest count. You get a real quote within one business day.
We build the menu together
A conversation about your dinner, your guests, and what you actually like to drink. Not a form.
You get an exact shopping list
Specific bottles, specific quantities. No leftover cases, no running dry at nine.
We handle the permit with you
We will tell you exactly what to file and when.
We show up early, leave it clean
Setup, service, breakdown, and cleanup are ours. You are getting married.
The wine
Most bar services can pour wine. Fewer can build you a list.
Gabriel has served as sommelier for a hotel lounge in Cashiers since 2022, with sommelier training through the Court of Master Sommeliers. Nikayla works in wine retail in the same town. Between us, we are buying, tasting, and selling wine in this market every week of the year.
That means your wine is not an afterthought ordered by the case because it was on sale. It means someone asked what you are serving for dinner, and thought about the fact that your reception is outdoors in August and a heavy red will sit untouched all night.
If you have a cellar and would rather pour from it, we can help you choose, and we will handle it properly.
Zero-proof
Looking for a zero-proof alternative?
Not a drinker, sober-curious, or wanting to make your event accessible to everyone? We will happily curate a list of mocktails, dirty sodas, tea lattes, and more to keep your party booze-free and family friendly. The zero-proof menu gets the same attention as the cocktails.
Pricing
Weddings
All hours listed are total time on site, including setup and breakdown. A standard eight-hour wedding booking runs roughly five and a half hours of guest service.
8 hours, one bartender
Up to 50 guests full bar, up to 75 beer and wine.
$820 plus travel
Includes ABC permit assistance and menu consultation.
8 hours, two bartenders
Up to 100 guests full bar, up to 150 beer and wine.
$1,220 plus travel
Adds a second service point and passed welcome cocktails.
Private parties
6 hours, one bartender
Up to 50 guests full bar, up to 75 beer and wine.
$480 plus travel
6 hours, two bartenders
Up to 100 guests full bar, up to 150 beer and wine.
$780 plus travel
Third bartender $65 per hour, for guest counts above 150 or multi-station bars.
Booking a 30% non-refundable retainer holds your date. Balance due 14 days before.
Overtime $75 per bartender per hour past the contracted end time.
Gratuity a tip jar is provided unless you prefer otherwise. If not, we add an 18% service charge in its place.
Holidays quoted at a 30% premium.
Guest counts above these tiers are absolutely welcome. Quotes will differ from the examples above, and we are happy to talk through venues of any shape and groups of any size.
Where we go
Service area and travel
Western North Carolina. Cashiers, Highlands, Glenville, Sapphire, Lake Toxaway, Sylva, Cullowhee, Dillsboro, Franklin, Waynesville, and Brevard.
The Southeast. We take events in South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee. Reach out early for out-of-state dates so we can get permitting squared away well ahead of your day.
Destination weddings. We travel, and we are set up to do it affordably. We keep standing accommodations in Utah and Alaska, which means a destination wedding in either state costs a fraction of what flying in a bar team normally would.
Travel fees cover fuel and vehicle wear, not padding. Sylva, Cullowhee, Dillsboro, Webster, and Cashiers are included. Highlands, Glenville, Sapphire, Lake Toxaway, Franklin, Waynesville, and Brevard are a flat $50. Beyond that, quoted directly.
Questions
Frequently asked
Do we need a permit?
For most private events where you are providing the alcohol, you will likely need an ABC Special Occasion permit. We will walk you through exactly what to file and when.
Do you provide the alcohol?
North Carolina rules mean the host purchases the alcohol in most private event scenarios. We will give you an exact list with quantities and specific bottles.
How many bartenders do we need?
One per fifty guests for a full bar, one per seventy-five for beer and wine. Made-to-order cocktails push that up. We will tell you honestly rather than upsell you.
How far in advance should we book?
Peak season runs May through October and those dates go early. If your date falls in that window, reach out as soon as you have a venue.
Our venue has nothing. No bar, no ice, no glassware.
That is our favorite kind of event. Tell us what the space has and we will bring the rest.
What if it rains?
It will. We plan for it.
Tell us about your event
Send your date, your venue, and a rough guest count. You will get a real quote within one business day, not a form letter.
The bird
What’s the martlet about?
The bird in our branding is a martlet, a mythical bird known for having no feet. A martlet never roosts. It moves forward with purpose, and in heraldry it traditionally marked the son who inherited no land and had to earn his standing entirely through his own effort.
That is the work we are doing, and we would rather go wherever we are needed than wait for anyone to come to us.
Calvin is a middle name shared by both of Gabriel’s grandfathers.
