Anyone have a dry reception?

My went to a family friend's wedding and it was dry because both the ceremony and reception were at their church. It was very simple and very boring.

We had a dry wedding. But then again our reception was in the fellowship hall of the church. We don't drink hardly any at all and really neither do our friends or family. It was a lot of fun.

Please, if you have a dry wedding make sure there are plenty of options! I was at a dry wedding last Summer and all there was to drink was lemonade, iced tea and water!!! I was so angry - I drove almost 8 hours to attend this wedding and was not informed that I should have brought my own soda.... They also did not serve a "meal"; only appetizer type food. FAIL!

ETA: The reception is for the guests - know your crowd!

The priest gives us wine during our wedding service but we are getting married in a banquet hall so there are no worries about liquor licenses and open bars are 99% the norm. Plus, there is a Greek dance were you do shots off the floor, a dry wedding wouldn't work.

I think it depends on your crowd and your expectations for the reception. If your friends/family are mostly non-drinkers, alcohol will probably not be missed. I was MOH for my friend's wedding and it was dry. It was more of a social reception...after dinner people mostly mingled and chatted. There wasn't any dancing. The reception lasted about two hours, which was perfect for the atmosphere. It was by no means a party atmosphere. I think if you plan a 5 hour reception and expect people to dance and get hyped up, without alcohol you will probably be disappointed. If your friends/family are drinkers, they will probably bitch about the lack of alcohol. I think it's all about managing your expectations and knowing your crowd.

We have catered a number of dry events. You know your guests, how will they react? I think the motivation is important. You are a recovering alcoholic or you don't drink because of your religious views are the 2 big reasons we see. Your friends should know you well enough to understand why you wouldn't have alcohol. If you simply don't want to pay or some folks don't drink, I don't see that as something most people will understand.

I have never been to a dry reception, our friends and families would think we lost it if we had a dry reception. They enjoy a good party including alcohol. However in my area a cash bar is the norm and and open bar is extremely rare and vendors often look at you like you're nuts if you want an open bar. I know most people here think an open bar is necessary but I didn't realize it was a common thing until I came on here. We will provide wine for the dinner and then it will be a cash bar. This is what will be the expectation of guests.

We will be having a dry reception as well. I didn't want to but it was one of the things we compromised on.

FH doesn't drink at all. He doesn't believe adults should be drinking around kids and we will be having a kid friendly wedding. We live in the middle of no where (literally) and FH didn't want to have on his conscience that someone could be get into an accident leaving our house (where the wedding will be). I completely understood what he was saying so I agree and compromised with him to have wine (Moscato) for the toasting and cake.

FH also feels that for people to celebrate with us they don't need to have alcohol do it. It should be done because they want to. Either way, I knew it was a losing battle, it saved us money and risk so I didn't fight the battle for long. Somewhat dry reception we will have. I was able to get more food in the process and we will be offering lots of options for non alcoholic drinks.

Majority of our guests know how FH is so they either come and have non alcoholic fun or not come at all. Either way I will have fun.

Thanks ladies! A lot of good advice. Except for my moms family, I'm pretty sure most of our guests drink, so we'll probably offer wine and beer (liquors not allowed at our venue so that makes that decision easy anyway). My mom doesn't like it for religious reasons, but I think she's accepted the fact that's its gonna happen lol.

I'm glad this was posted to get others insight. I know my family so we are only doing beer and a few hard liquors . My gran gran wants us to get some Daily's for the older guest. LOL I budgeted $350 for the alcoholic beverages .

I've been to two dry weddings in my life. Short and sweet, both receptions. Nobody grumbled about the lack of alcohol at the reception, but after dinner, most of the guests took off. From what I could see, it was basically family that stayed behind.

We had an in between. Our wedding was in a dry county so no one has a liquor license nor can they serve anything we brought. DHs family is very religious and non-drinking. My family, well we like our alcohol at parties. To appease both we let them know the law was the prohibitory factor even though we couldnt serve they could bring their own if they wanted. So it was BYOB basically. Had we brought we couldn't have had a bartender and I just think it would have been a mess. It turned out well for everyone

I went to a dry wedding in March and it was awful. Plus, the only beverages they did serve were Lemonade, Pink Lemonade, and Sweet Tea. Didn't even have water.

My family would riot if I didn't serve alcohol. Seriously.

I might grumble about a dry wedding, but I think I'd still have a good time if there was good music and food!

I know a lot of people on here are totally against cash bars and that is fine. That's their opinion and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. We had a cash bar and it worked out perfectly for us. DH's family DOES NOT drink with the exception of a hand full of his cousins. My family DOES drink. Our wedding was small, only 120 invited. It would have costed us an extra $8 per person for just beer and wine. When the cash bar was only $100 and the drinks were cheap. It worked out perfectly because only half of the people we invited showed up so we would have paid for 60 to drink who didn't even show up! No one complained and i made to sure to tell everyone ahead of time! Everyone still had a great time. We probably would have a great time if it would have been dry as well. Do whats best for you and your FH and both of your families.

DH and I don't drink. In addition, there's a lot of hurt feelings on his side of the family (nasty divorce between unforgiving people with poor social skills to begin with), so it seemed cheaper AND prudent to make sure everyone was sober.

No one complained to us, they stayed and danced till the end, and the only hiccup was my dad and step-mother brought a bottle of wine for their table. WTF?! It was NOT a BYOB situation! Luckily, I didn't find out till much, much later and it really wasn't an issue at all-- just 'the principle of the thing.'

So I say, 'go dry if you want!' People who say they 'just can't have fun if there's no alcohol' really should check out AA.

I've never been to a dry wedding and I've rarely ever even heard of a dry wedding.

I think its actually quite refreshing to see so much support for having a dry wedding-- more so, doing what's best for your own wedding (FH, family, location, etc). and not just going with the "norm".

My family and friends would literally riot if I tried this, but its nice to see there are people doing alternative things out there.

If your FH really wants alcohol, I say go for it. I think there are ways to make it less expensive. I don't think we are doing a full on open bar; we'll probably do a host bar with just bar and wine. But we're also having an afternoon reception, so I feel less pressure to have a full bar. If it's definitely not in the budget, though, I say skip it. If it's going to cause financial stress, it's not worth it.

I have never even seen one. Probably the worst excuse for this is that there are drunks in the family; they'll find a way to drink and adult people who like to have a drink at a party.

Alicia pretty much nailed it. Pigs would fly before I planned a party that based 100 people's choices on the bad choices of five of them. They can make the decision to come or not.

Adults at parties, for the most party, expect liquor of some sort. If it's not there, they'll stay for the least possible polite time and leave. It would never fly in my group.

edited to add; I've done a number of weddings for people in recovery. None of them have been dry weddings.

I wanted to serve alcohol at my wedding but we have decided against it. I am having a dry wedding: 1st- We have people that do not know how to act when they drink. 2nd- I am not a drinker. 3rd- We will have a mix crowd (kids, ministers, pastors, drinkers, and non-drinkers). 4th- My venue requires liquor licence, a million dollar life insurance policy and I will have to pay for security!!!! The 1st and 4th reason was really our main issue. We will have a party bus for the wedding party to get right before the wedding begins (if they choose too) and others will have to drink in the parking lot (once again if they choose too).