Vegan wedding and no alcohol

I don’t believe your beliefs should affect those of your guests. I would simply get your two dishes with the vegan option and then provide a “vegan option available” on the menu. I would assume most of the guests prefer meat. As far as the alcohol are you able to just provide some virgin drinks and maybe some beer? I just know that if I were a guest I wouldn’t be happy with those options. If you had too, maybe provide some special punches.

I wouldn't consider my wedding a time to impose my beliefs on my guests. Actually, there's never a good time to impose your beliefs on anyone. I'd either provide food choices for those coming or elope.

I don’t think you need to address not having alcohol, lots of people have alcohol free weddings and I’m sure a lot of your guests know you don’t drink. I’m sure a lot of your guests also know your dietary preference and I don’t feel like you need to tell them what will be served on a save the date. If you’re already planning to offer a meat option then I especially wouldn’t worry about “warning” them on the save the date haha

You should have non-vegan options available for those who are not vegan. Obviously as well as vegan options for you and your FH and anyone else who is vegan. It's the same as if it were reversed. My future SIL is vegan and we are having options available to her so she can eat, even though we are not vegan. It is your choice whether or not to have a dry wedding though. If you want no alcohol I don't think you really need to tell anyone in advance, as long as you have non-alcoholic beverage options for everyone.

We are having possibly 4x vegans at our wedding, and I am ensuring that they will have vegan entrees & a vegan cupcake. Honestly if I was attending a vegan wedding, I would expect that they would do the same for me (and have food that I would eat).
I’ve also been to a vegan brunch wedding & they had regular French toast, bacon & eggs on one station & vegan stuff on another station.

If you're going to do this, I'd definitely let your guests know. (Probably on the website and through word of mouth.) Honestly, I think this is a "know your crowd"-type issue. I completely understand that many vegans have very strong convictions about the reasons for their choice (moral, ethical, whatever). I respect that, but, personally, I would not be excited about strictly vegan options and no alcohol. However, your friends and family may well be very familiar, supportive, and used to your eating/lifestyle choices. If that's the case, they'll probably expect this and it's not big deal. But, if this is a fairly new choice and/or you know you'll have a number of guests who don't understand/support you choices, I'd make sure they know in advance so they can make decisions that work for them (e.g., deciding to attend, eating before they come, etc.). While we were working with the very experienced coordinator at daughter's higher-end venue, she once mentioned she had a bride who was insisting on a totally vegan menu, and based on the coordinator's experience, she was concerned that it would not go over well with the guests. (The bride & groom were vegans, but they knew virtually all of their guests were not.)

Personally, I eat meat and enjoy wine -- especially when celebrating a special occasion. If I was close to you, I'd come to your vegan & dry wedding, but we'd definitely make sure we had time to eat something more within our preferences before or after if we didn't find your offerings satisfying. So, a heads up would definitely be appreciated.

I agree with PPs. My finace and I are pescetarian but I am still offering a "land animal" meat dish since a majority of my guests have standard diets. I am going to be tasting vegetarian and vegan options though since I know a couple of my guests are vegetarian and vegan so they can still eat and not worry about it.

If you want to have all the food vegan, I would at least suggest providing some alcohol even if it's just beer and wine. I think if the food is vegan and there's no drinks people may be annoyed. Like others said, it just depends how you think your guests will feel.

My fiance and I are not vegans, but we are accommodating those with special dietary restrictions. We included on our invitations a spot for guests to write in any dietary restriction they might have We know we have multiple guests that are vegan/vegetarian so they will get a separate meal since our main menu is buffet style. We also have at least 2 people that have a gluten free diet. Everything on our main menu is gluten free except the pasta, but our venue offers gluten free pasta so if they want pasta our venue is willing to accommodate them. My reason for saying all this is that I would recommend including options for people who do eat meat otherwise you are excluding a portion on your guests. If you decide not to accommodate them, I would not include it on the STD, but maybe mention to people or if you have a website include it on there. Personally, I'd I were attending an all vegan wedding I would make sure to eat something beforehand. As for the alcohol, I think it is totally fine not to have alcohol at your wedding, but I also don't think alcohol. Lots of people do expect alcohol at weddings, but I'm assuming most of your guests know you don't drink so it shouldn't be a surprise that you're not serving alcohol. The biggest downside I could see about telling people beforehand about this is that those that do drink might try to sneak alcohol into your wedding. My fiance's friend got married several years and they made the mistake of telling their friends about the nonalcohol policy and at lot of their friends showed up with alcohol or already intoxicated.

I wouldn't mention this on save the dates, but maybe put this on your website. I disagree from most people above - it's perfectly fine to have a vegan wedding. People will be able to eat one dinner that doesn't have animal products in it, you're not violating any of their dietary restrictions here. You aren't serving them food that they can't eat. But just warn them on your website so if they're dying for some meat, they can have a burger for lunch or something.

Are you open to still serving alcohol at your wedding (even just wine and beer) even though you and your FH don't drink? Otherwise if this definitely has to be a dry wedding, I'd include that on your wedding website as well to give people a heads up so that they aren't expecting an open bar.

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I agree with this. No alcohol is one thing that can occur, but to provide one type of diet for all guests just because you live a certain lifestyle is not fair. If people who don't have restrictive diets are accommodating to those who do at their weddings then it needs to be the same the other way around.

I would have absolutely no problem eating vegan at a wedding and I think it is well within your rights to choose not to serve animal products if you believe it in unethical. You shouldn’t have to compromise your beliefs because someone really likes steak or whatever. It’s not like carnivores CAN’T eat vegan food. I think people just get this idea that vegan food is weird just soggy tofu and it is not. Just offer a variety of hearty foods and maybe let people know via your website so they can plan ahead if they absolutely cannot survive one meal without meat.

View Quoted Comment Yes!!!! I so don't see the big deal here. I'm definitely not a vegan but going out of the box a little for one night would not kill me! It's not like vegan meals are against my morals or anything.

Vegan is a choice or dietary restriction and does not have to be associated with any "belief". I don't think OP has a political agenda.
I don't think it's necessary to state your meal choice but I do think it is necessary to let people know it's a dry wedding if it's at night.
At first i thought this was a fake post. Now I'm really hoping you are having an afternoon wedding. People love meat and alcohol.

I don't see any issue with an all vegan menu. You don't need to change your values to appease wedding guests. You are providing them free food, how much can someone really complain when they aren't paying for it? Maybe it won't be their favorite meal ever but I'm sure they will eat some of the options.
I don't think no alcohol is a big deal at all. Every wedding I've been to in the last few years has been no alcohol (all people of different religions and backgrounds). People are there to celebrate your union, not to get buzzed.
I would consider posting a heads up about the vegan menu on a website but I wouldn't put it on the std or invite. Eating vegan for a night won't kill anyone.

Please don’t make your guests adhere to what you and your FH do. I cannot have Dairy/milk but am not making all my guest adhere to that( except the cake frosting!) my dinner will be lactose free. And anyone w/diet needs will have appropriate meals.

These se people are guests and I am sure that you can avoid the meat/non-vegan dishes. Also, a dry wedding is extremely hard- consider maybe a wine & beer wedding?

So I could definitely see arguments for broadening your offerings, but I also know that there are some pretty tasty vegan dishes out there. And we're having a dry wedding, too (though with lots of meat). I'm a wee bit stressed about the no alcohol, even for an afternoon wedding. I have that info and a full menu on the website, and I put a note on the details card that's going to go out with the invitation about the style of food service we're having, as well as the non-alcoholic drinks. I don't think it should go on your save the dates, but put your website address on there, and then put the info on the website.

If I were you I would give people a heads up at least by word mouth.
We went to a vegan wedding. Luckily they served beer. The food was okay, I personally need protein and meat so it wasn't tasty nor satisfying. But depends on your vendors. They also had an "ice cream truck" which was not ice cream. It was very misleading. Nobody was used to ask the starch and veggies so people were very flatulent all night, luckily the windows opened.

One more thing— after the wedding all the college friends went to McDonald's and bought all the chicken nuggets to eat.
We only learned the day before at what the food was going to be like.

I’d be fine as a guest with the vegan part, cool chance to try some foods I may not normally eat, but would be bummed about it being a dry wedding. I’d still want wine with my vegan food.

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Rebecca,

Hmm interesting thanks!