Getting married in the church, with no alcohol allowed?

I had alcohol, and people still left shortly after dinner. You can't stop that from happening. Lawn games sound fun...I had them but don't know if they were used. I would have like little table games as well to get people talking to each other

My sisters wedding was dry. She had a dj but no other form of entertainment. My family just loves to talk and catch up. We danced and just had fun together. I guess you know your crowd but for us it wasnt that big of a deal. Can you not get a different place for the reception and still have the wedding at the church?

KM why did your guest leave? sounds unusual for a party with liquor and music on saturday, was it travel distance ?

OP, id say the food truck idea sounds fun, i would tease the whole thing so people know to stick around

I have attended several receptions held at a church and none of them allowed the consumption of alcohol on the premises. As guests, we went in expecting not to drink, but to have dinner, listen to music and have a good time. I'm sure your family will totally understand.

The food truck sounds good. You can also host an after party at a local bar.

I think it all depends on the crowd, I think you should be fine and put some of the money instead toward fun food! I personally always prefer good food to alcohol!

Angel: Yeah that had something to do with it. Both people who left had a 6 hour drive back home the next day. That and they might have been a little bored. Our reception was definitely geared toward younger people. Basically, if you weren't drinking in dancing, you weren't doing anything. We didn't do a photobooth or anything like that for extra entertainment.

Gotcha makes sense, i have seen older people at weddings leave early but usually all the young ppl- friends of the couple stay til the end

My wedding is the same way, all events will be at my church, and no alcohol allowed. Just have other things around to entertain your guests. (I also plan to have sparkling grape juice or something just to give the illusion of wine/champagne for toasts and such ) Maybe have a photobooth and some other sorts of games and music your family can have fun with (I've seen a bride and groom question game with shoes that is fun to watch )

From how you've described your crowd, they will probably leave early. (Of course there will be a few guests who leave early at any wedding like at KM's.) Personally, I would find a new venue, but since you are set on that, you're going to have to deal with "cheesy" lawn games. You can also have some small tables set up with games like checkers, connect 4, scrabble. Maybe you can do a wedding pinata? Can you have a daytime wedding so that people aren't really expecting drinks?

Adults like to drink. Adults don't like to stand around talking sipping lemonade in the evening. Most adults need a little drink to want to dance. If you want a fun party environment you have to provide the necessities for it.

What time is your wedding? What is the start and end time? If your entire wedding is 5 hours or less and end before 10pm. Then people leaving early may not be a problem.

The plan was to start at 2 and go until 8 or 9. Should i hold it earlier?

So dinner would be at like 4?

What starts at 2pm the reception or the ceremony?

Food truck definitely sounds good, and you could always have sparkling cider for toasts and stuff. It looks just as pretty as champagne and has no alcohol!

Hmm, I don't think you are gonna avoid people leaving early, especially if they were under the impression there would be a bar. I would just ensure your guests knew what to expect. I have seen signs on Pinterest where it's like a next to a big placement of board games and the sign says "grab a buddy and play a game". Maybe you could do that? Or maybe you could even use the games as part of the centerpiece?

Ceremony will be at 2 , dinner will be at 3:45/ 4:00.

I am by no means an expert, but I wouldn't think people would expect to have a throw-down at that time of day anyways. If your family members are big drinkers, they may be disappointed a bit that they can't drink, but they wouldn't expect alcohol at a church anyways. I recently had a dry venue surprise (the venue didn't tell us it was dry until a month after we started talking)....and honestly, I switched venues. However, our wedding is going to be late afternoon, dinner, and dancing. And for us, having alcohol for toasts and dancing was very important, so we switched. So, I would say it really depends on you. Maybe you could have the wedding at the church and the reception at a nearby venue that would allow alcohol? Sorry I can't be more help.

That's weird timing. I would probably leave early and go to my evening plans.

View Quoted Comment Hi Cassie,


I thought of doing the exact same thing with the sparkling grape juice! My fiancé said the church folk might still be iffy about it since it gives the perception of having alcohol. How did yours go? I’m afraid it still won’t fly so I’m not going to ask the pastor. There’s also no dancing either which is a huge part of my culture. I’m afraid my wedding will be a bore if I don’t come up with creative alternatives.