PSA: Serve Alcohol at Your Wedding

Emmy, your zombie kittehs look a little drunk...just sayin, lol.

I think it's perfectly fine to have a dry wedding if you have a good reason like religion or one of the people getting married is a recovering alcoholic. Not wanting to pay for it is not a good reason (find a venue that lets you bring your own and buy it at Costco or Trader Joe's) or not wanting your guests to get too drunk (give them enough food and find better friends if you can't trust them to not ruin your wedding over getting too wasted). Even if you have a good reason, you have to do it well. I went to a dry wedding that was fantastic. The groom is a recovering alcoholic and his wife stopped drinking to support him so they decided it would be best to not serve alcohol at the wedding. They made it well known before hand so that no one would be expecting to drink and they had the wedding in the afternoon so that after the bride and groom left to spend some time together, everyone else could go out for drinks.

Aubrey - do people even put on the invitation that it's a dry wedding or that it's a cash bar or whatever? If they did, I wouldn't fucking go.

The most annoying thing is going to a wedding, expecting to be able to have a drink and then being told "JUST KIDDING, NO ALCOHOL" or "JUST KIDDING, CASH BAR!"... Um. Bye.

Am I one of the few people that would prefer cash bar over dry wedding? Do I want to pay for drinks? Nope! But do I want to be able to be an adult and get hammered if I want? YUP! I have never been to a dry wedding but that literally sounds like torture to me and I'm not an alcoholic or need booze to be social.

And just as an FYI I have probably been to over 50 weddings in my life and I have maybe seen someone drunk causing a scene maybe 2 times! And the scene wasn't even that bad, just got cut off for the rest of the night.

And why was this bumped? I really missed a good one while I was on my honeymoon, drinking all the drinks on the beach!

Melissa- I agree I rather pay than have nothing at all. I have never been to a wedding with open bar, mine will be the first. Most provide beer and wine during cocktail hour and that's it. Our package includes it and all our friends drink so for us open bar is a must.

This pisses me off. I am f*cking tired of being told it's my wedding, do what I want, but I am a terrible person for not wanting to spend money on alcohol.

I don't mind having to serve alcohol, but am to the point of tears every time someone tells me to do what I want. It is a lie. It isn't my wedding. It is our wedding. And if family is important enough to compromise for, it's really their party on my dime.

Ughhhhh so many white knights! I'm talking to you, Aubrey and Laura.

I actually am on the fence about this: if we are having our wedding at a B&B with a string quartet for the entire day-- what kind of alcohol would we have? Just some wine?

We are having a champagne toast but what could we serve during dinner?

ETA: Dinner is chicken parmesan and crab stuffed tilapia, if that helps at all?

@Ashlee I would have at least wine, if not beer for the guests. You could also do mimosas or some kind of nice mix drink to fit the B&B atmosphere.

@Ashlee: I think wine and beer would be fine during dinner. If you're also having a cocktail hour, I would add a signature cocktail - something bubbly.

For dinner, would I do like a red and a white wine choice and then a few choices for beer? We are not drinkers so I don't know anything about this, but want to provide options for the guests.

It's chicken so maybe just a white wine and one or two options for beer?

ETA: We aren't allowed to have an open bar at our venue-- the reason for this is that the venue does not have a liquor license-so they are not allowed to sell liquor to us. So we have to purchase all our liquor and then they will distribute it to us, basically. Just fyi.

How is this thread still going??

And Ashlee- most people will tell you to choose a light and dark beer. I don't like beer, so I can't recommend anything beyond that.

** It was dead but there was a resurrection. While it's alive, I figured I would just get some opinions on my own situation rather than starting a whole new thread.

So a white wine, a light and a dark beer?

Ashlee, you know who may be a good person to answer this question, either the chef that is catering (to see what they would pair the dinner with) or a vintner/somalier, they would be able to walk you through some options.

Hahah that's fine Ashlee, I was just surprised to see this as I was looking through the threads! I would say a red and white wine and a light and dark beer. That way you can give people plenty of options. I know there's some places (I think bevmo and Costco, but I could be wrong) that will allow you to return unopened liquor. That was you can over buy and return it later

I agree with Brittany, Ashlee. A white, a red, and a light and dark beer. something for everyone.

I don't care if people drink (: it doesn't bother me. I don't drink though and neither does my FH or anyone in either of our families. Neither him or I have a large circle of friends. The ones we do have all drink, but they said they don't mind if it's alcohol free. So we are going to have an alcohol free wedding, and I think that's okay. (: but I know a lot of people disagree with me, and that's okay too!

Ashlee- If you are allowed to purchase your own alcohol I recommend Bevmo. You can do a tasting and tell the person helping you that you want wines that go on their one cent sale. I had an afternoon wedding and went with a white, a red, sangria, and three types of beer (an IPA, Stella Artois, and a Mexican beer). We ended up returning half of the alcohol because people didn't drink as much as we thought they would and got about $500 back.

I don't think anyone would dance at my wedding without a little alcohol. I'm excited to bust out my whiskey induced moves.

Sure go ahead and have the wedding you want..... have that dry wedding.... I would never come but go ahead..... enjoy your day