Coffee/Espresso Bar

1 - Search dry wedding on here

2 - Don't have a dry wedding. My FH is in recovery as well (along with 5 of our guests), but we have 84 other guests who would enjoy a glass of wine with dinner. I'm not going to ask 84 people to forgo a glass of wine at a celebration for 6 people's comfort.

3 - Have a few awesome non-alcoholic drinks in addition to your bar. An espresso bar is cool if you have a barista. We're doing house-made iced coffee, herbal iced tea, and sparkling lemonade.

We are having a coffee/tea bar HOWEVER, we are also having many many many alcoholic drinks. Don't begrudge your other guests of alcohol because there are recovering alcoholics at your wedding.

There isn't much to the execution of this idea as far as I know, how flavors and marshmallows and such. I won't comment on the alcohol part but maybe add a smores station for with the hot chocolate

An afternoon reception, as opposed to a sit-down evening dinner, might go over better here if you don't want to have any alcohol at all. I like the coffee/cocoa bar idea, and only you know how your guests might respond to not having alcohol available.

Maybe have some Bailey's and vanilla vodka that people could add if they want?

ETA: words

I am having barista make real fruit smoothies at my wedding. My wedding is dry and all my guest okay with it. You have make sure they have plenty of access to electrical outlets and a sink with water access. Also keep in mind of the noise of the blenders and the machinery that they will use. My reception and wedding are in a huge ballroom. I am putting the barista on the other side of the ballroom so the noise will not effect the sound level of my reception. I don't want my guest shouting over a blender or all they can hear is the noise from the blender. When I booked with my barista these were issues that he brought to my attention. Good Luck!!!!

As someone who is having beer/wine/signature cocktail open bar, and who also has recovering alcoholics coming to the wedding, I don't have a personal vested interest in this debate necessarily, but I do wonder...

If a sincerely held religious belief is a valid reason to have a dry wedding, why is a sincerely held belief in sobriety not?

Presumably the religious belief should actually be more offensive to guests, since the implication also involves the guests themselves- i.e. The wedding hosts believe that drinking is against their religion and is a sin, perhaps even something that could taint one's soul or doom you to hell (depending on severity of the faith), and thus the hosts think that the guests also shouldn't drink or they too will be sinning/hellbound/etc. (I realize I am slightly oversimplifying the spiritual ramifications for some denominations). Religious faith often means that the individual believes they have found the correct/only faith, so isn't the implication that the guests, i.e. sinners who drink, are morally/spiritually lacking rather offensive?

If it is not, then how can a belief in sobriety be offensive when, for recovering alcoholics hosting weddings, the onus and belief is solely on them, usually- i.e. they do not believe that drinking for anyone everywhere is sinful or wrong, they just believe or know that it is not OK for them to do and they may have problems being around it on what is hopefully an incredibly joyful day for them. Isn't it understandable that the hosting couple may not want to be around the very element that nearly destroyed them previously (depending on severity of addiction) on "their" day? There is no implication in the recovering host scenario about the moral status of the wedding guests and I can't see how it could offend anyone, unless you are saying as a guest that your need to have a drink during a 4 or 5 hour period outweighs serious health (both physical and mental) concerns of the couple whom you are supposedly celebrating. It might not be "forgoing alcohol due to the comfort of a few" but actually risking the health of people, again depending on the severity of their addiction and their individual struggle.

And yes, I know that recovering alcoholics need to be able to function around alcohol, but you as a guest don't know where they are in their recovery journey (perhaps it's still quite new and raw and difficult) or know what their triggers are- for the recovering alcoholics I know, the main trigger is high stress/anxiety and planning a wedding and even one's wedding day could certainly constitute high stress- how many posts do we see per day from brides saying OMG I'M SO STRESSED?

Also, many recovering alcoholics find sobriety in tandem with religious convictions- i.e. the twelve steps/AA program is very spiritually-based, so certainly there is an overlap between sobriety and faith there.

My bottom line that I'm attempting to convey is that if you find dry weddings due to the religious beliefs of the hosting couple acceptable, then it's logically consistent to find dry weddings due to the "sobriety" beliefs of the hosting couple acceptable as well.

I would highly suggest making the wedding a late morning or mid-afternoon affair.

I suggest definitely going for the espresso bar instead of just coffee and hire a barista to custom make them for people. That way, it feels like more of a luxury. I went to an event with an espresso bar (it also had an open bar) but everyone was really excited about it! They also had an option to do a latte float and drop a scoop of ice cream in the drink, which was really fun and very popular.

I'm not touching the alcohol debate. The dry wedding threads are happening with increasing frequency -- sometimes several times in one day.

OP, the execution of an coffee/espresso bar is something your venue or caterer should be able to help you with. It's seems pretty straightforward to me. I'm assuming that whomever you've hired to provide the equipment will also help you decide what flavorings, etc. you want to add.

Secondly, and probably the most important issue, is your intention to do a "make-your-own hot cocoa station for the kids." That's an accident waiting to happen (and I'm surprised that a venue is willing to sign off on that). Children creating their own hot beverages is not something I'd ever consider.

I can almost guarantee every wedding is going to have at least one recovering alcoholic at their wedding. However, if you're adamant on having a dry wedding, I would consider a morning or afternoon reception.

@Emily, agreed, though I do see a difference between recovering alcoholics attending (they have a choice to be around alcohol or not with their attendance) vs. recovering alcoholics hosting and being forced to be around alcohol on what could be a very triggering day. Again, I'm not having a dry wedding, but the debate on here about this slightly confuses me.

What time will your reception take place, OP?

I think it'll only work if it's on a cold day. How about an iced tea bar, also - different kinds of tea and fruit and such to add?

I did go to a wedding (OKD) that had a coffee and hot chocolate station at the reception (next to the bar) and I loved it!