Dry Reception Ideas?

At a 7PM wedding, i want dinner and drinks. Sorry. I wouldnt likely come. Move it to like 2 PM and maybe I'd be interested.

I have no problem with dry weddings been to several and they were a blast. You can inform people via word of mouth of if you have a wedding website put it there. I think mocktails are very fun and sometimes prefer them to actual cocktails.

Food is of course a must, alcohol IMO is not.

I don't see why you need to inform people that your wedding will be dry. If it was a cash bar then yes let people know. So they know to bring cash with them. IMO you don't need to warn people about a dry wedding. You can do mocktails if you want. I had a milkshake bar at my wedding.

Food is a priority. There are some great options for alcohol free that have already been posted on here. Good luck.

I did a dry reception and everyone stayed and danced till the end, but we don't hang with a drinking crowd. I like the coffee bar idea as something fun to keep people at the reception-- it will also keep the energetic.

I am amazed that this thread hasn't blown up into a debate about being a good host, whether alcohol is needed in order to have fun, deterring alcoholics etc. I'm having flashbacks to that one chick last spring that had that crazy dry wedding thread lol.

The only reason those debates happen is because the OP of those post always use people getting sloppy drunk as a reason to not serve alcohol. This OP didn't give a reason.

Right, that or budget restraints.

She did say most of her guest will expect a dry wedding. So that lead me to believe it's either one of 2 reason. Religion or either her or FH is a recovering alcohol. I don't think anyone is going to debate those to reasons. Also etiquette wise there isn't anything wrong with a dry wedding.

Can we just go back to the poster with the NYE wedding that is DRY?!

Hi JesterQueen! Welcome to WW!

I am also having a dry evening wedding, although we are having a plated dinner. FH's family and my mom don't drink, and with only our immediate family in attendance no one is expecting alcohol. I have done a couple posts related to this. Some of the best ideas I got outside of mocktails are things like special sodas (someone on here is doing an Italian soda bar), homemade punch, lemonade, etc. Since you are doing a sunset wedding, I think mocktails or some kind of special drinks might be the way to go. You should go with something personal to you as a couple: your favorite non-alcoholic drink.

What kind of heavy appetizers were you thinking? I know a lot of people have said they would expect dinner. In my opinion, it depends on what you mean with the appetizers. I love family style meals where you get a little bit of everything: so if you are playing out your appetizers like that I could see it! Feel free to message me along the way if you get overwhelmed making selections - I'd be happy to let you know if I've heard of any other good ideas!

ETA: we don't really drink ourselves, so we find lots of alternative drinks for fun. Usually smoothies

This is actually kinda crazy...people saying they won't attend a wedding because there is no alcohol. If that's the case, then it will be easy to weed out who your real friends are.

For food it's more Southern and Latin style. So biscuits, fried chicken wings, empanadas, fried plantains, dirty rice...stuff like that.

@JestersQueen - I wouldn't worry about it. Alcohol is a big activity for A LOT of people. Not saying anything against. But it is absolutely easy to have fun without it. I rarely ever drink, and I certainly don't miss it! So if you have people who don't come without booze, forget about 'em!

ETA - that kind of food is the best! As long as it's dense enough to be filling, your guests will be fine!

We're not having a bar at our wedding for a number of reasons (family religion, family history of alcoholism, etc) but I frankly don't think it really matters the reason. It's up to the couple and I don't think you should have to justify it to others.

That being said, I would include something maybe on your wedding website to let folks know the situation so no one is surprised when they arrive. And personally, if I were a guest at your wedding, I would love a mocktail bar.

@OP sounds really good! When I go to any sort of social event as a guest I do not go in with expectations of what food and beverages are offered to me. I just like for there to be some sort of refreshment that is appropriate for the time of day. You will be fine!

Yes, dry wedding on NYE= not good idea!