Dry Wedding Invites

There really isn't a tasteful way to tell them you are only partly hosting a party you are inviting them to. Why no alcohol?

Word of mouth is your best route for this.

There is no such thing as a dry wedding. Guests will sneak it in or go out to the parking lot where they have alcohol in a cooler.

<--- A bunch of these emojis on the invite.

Just kidding...kind of. I'm torn on whether word of mouth is the best route. On the one hand that seems like the correct etiquette, but on that other hand, if I was a guest I would want to know and what if word of mouth doesn't reach me?

I hope you are having an daytime or afternoon reception where this will be (maybe) more accepted.

View Quoted Comment No alcohol for several reasons:

1, neither of us drink and for personal reasons.

2, our dinner reception is in a church (no drinking allowed)

3, our invited friends don’t drink and no one in our bridal party drinks- and it’s mostly family invited anyways. the only people who would desire to drink would be a few distant cousins.

4, we are only having 40-60 people, most of which already do not drink, but some family invited does.

5, I strongly believe if you are going to a wedding you are there to support the couple and their marriage and your priority should not be whether they give you alcohol or not.

View Quoted Comment I personally think if you take alchohol to a wedding that has specifically asked that there be no alcohol, that it is so rude and disrespectful to the couple. I don’t know why you would even attend the wedding if you wouldn’t be okay with no alcohol. Obviously your intentions of attending the wedding shouldn’t be just to drink! Lol

View Quoted Comment Wonderful- that’s nice.

View Quoted Comment

If I saw on the invitation that the reception is at a church I wouldn't expect alcohol. I don't think you need to worry too much about spreading the word before the wedding.

I don’t think you should need to mention the lack of alcohol on the invites. People should be there to celebrate you and your fiancé, not the provision of alcohol. If anyone asks about alcohol at the wedding itself, you can just say that the venue doesn’t allow it.

View Quoted Comment Okay thank you! I didn’t know if others would still wonder!

Yep, I agree that when I receive an invite to a church wedding and reception I assume there will be no alcohol.

We're telling guests the reception at the venue is dry via word of mouth and on the website where it talks about our venue Ours is also in the middle of the day, so less expectation of a bar for us, but word of mouth is working out just fine.

View Quoted Comment I still might- our wedding and reception was at our church and we had plenty of alcohol.

Honestly, I would consider doing a cake and punch wedding from 2-4, then on your invites just put cake and punch to follow. Part of throwing an adult party, especially in the evening, is adult beverages and many people who don't normally drink will have a glass of wine at a wedding. However, you have already stated that your venue is dry, so I'd be sure to put something about it on the website about the venue not allowing alcohol. (Because otherwise people do tend to bring their own, because adults expect adult beverages, especially at an evening event!)

View Quoted Comment Thank you! This is also something to consider! We are doing a dinner reception as a large part of our bridal party is from out of state!

Sounds like you are having a beautiful more intimate wedding with people you are both close too. Since you both don't drink and it is at a church I don't think you need to address it unless someone asks, or simply mention it when you are talking with people about your wedding.

While I will be enjoying wine and champagne on my big day, and love having that option at a wedding I don't think it is fair for people to attack others for their choice of a dry wedding.

Reminder let's be constructive please!

View Quoted Comment Thank you SO much for your support 💕💕 it can be discouraging sometimes.

How about just not inviting the distant people if all those close to you wouldn’t want or expect alcohol anyway?

View Quoted Comment Excuse me- when I say ‘distant’ I mean 2nd-3rd cousins. They are close to me personally, but we just live different lifestyles. I don’t have much of a family, and I hold the family I do have dear no matter the differences!

I've had great times at dry weddings and not so great times with alcohol flowing at the reception. People are there to celebrate you and your beloved. So if people ask, have the coordinator or person handling/serving the food announce elegantly to the guests that "only soft drinks" will be served. No need to even mention the word "alcohol." If they want to drink, they can do so on their own time.

View Quoted Comment I agree. There will be no alcohol ay my wedding which is in a church chapel. I don't associate drinking to having a good time. But i don't drink. So do you because it's your day.