Pre-ceremony drinks?

If you are having your ceremony outside I recommend plain and flavored water. To your point you do not want folks hammered before the wedding. And with the heat it can increase the potential for it. 30 minutes should be the earliest folks arrive.

Second - Hawaii is BEAUTIFUL! Congrats on having your wedding there.

I would probably stick with beer and wine if I was doing this. I know my tummy will get upset if I drink too much champagne.

I love it, and most of my venues do this for a couple of reasons...mood, of course, but also a time to gather everyone so we can actually start at a specific time and enter cocktail hour at a specific time. This is especially helpful on Friday in NJ, where you can't get anywhere in a reasonable time frame. People are stressed and late, and this way, they're not actually late and they become less stressed after a cocktail ;-)

They are almost always a half hour long unless the entire cocktail hour is first. I'm not actually a fan of that because it's kind of hard to get the attention back but I think a half hour is perfect.

On arrival, I usually see a limited bar; sparkling wine and water, possibly a sig drink, but I don't see the need to open the entire bar first, plus it slows down service a bit.

Thank you for the reminder!! I just email my venue and asked to have the bar for the cocktail open before the ceremony. We are doing beer, wine and a signature cocktail for pre-ceremony and cocktail hour (and of course water and iced tea) and then switching to full bar at the reception.

I think Mai tais as a signature drink would be perfect!

I'd do 30 minutes with limited booze or signature drinks!

I've been to one wedding that had pre-wedding drinks available and you could bring your drink to the ceremony with you! It was awesome

I would do flavored waters and maybe passed champagne? At least that's what I would want! Lol

We are definitely already offering a "fruit-infused" water station, but I was thinking some folks might enjoy a real drink as well!

@Celia - 30 minutes sounds reasonable to me! After all, I'm not trying to drag this whole thing out - I want to get the official stuff over with so we can get to the party

@J. Clo - Yes, I'm definitely keeping the heat in mind. We'll be right on the water so I'm hoping for a breeze but nothing cools you down better than a cold drink (of any kind!) And thank you, I'm so pumped for Hawaii! My FH and I went on vacation to the Big Island last year and fell in love with it, so Maui for our wedding seemed like a no brainer.

The places I've seen do this have the 30 minute "hospitality half hour" and pass around waters, lemonade/iced tea, champagne, and a signature drink.

We[re doing champagne and sparkling cider pre-ceremony to help set the mood.

Best wedding I ever went to did this. I like champagne and/or a signature drink. I don't think a full open bar is necessary.

We want to do this...but are having an 11am ceremony, so figure it might be a little much

I've never been to a wedding where this was done but it sounds nice! I don't think open bar is necessary, but maybe beer and wine would be good so you have more options for people who can't drink/don't drink champagne.

@SwissMs I bet you could get away with pre-ceremony mimosas!