Etiquette for alcohol?

wickedrentlover

Is there a polite, non-tacky way to ask about alcohol preference on my wedding invitations?  My fiance and I are paying for the wedding ourselves and do not have any help from family.  We only want to serve beer, wine, champagne, and non-alcoholic beverages at the reception.  We also don't want to purchase too much of each, since we are on a limited budget.  Would it be rude to ask for drink preference (beer, wine, non-alcoholic) on the wedding invitation, to help plan out how much of each to buy?

Peledreamsofrain

Not on the wedding invitations, no.  That's not the place to make an alcohol inquiry.  You could do a general poll and call around your family, or even set up a wedding website where you have a voting ticker in place for visiting guests.

Or just have a general selection.  Most people do.  You can't please everyone, and unless your wedding is small, it would be financially crippling to get every alcohol that every person likes.

Fancypantsamy

I think it might be odd, and personally I'm a person who might decide on the day of the wedding that I'm not drinking, or I might decide to have 5 glasses of wine over the course of the night. 

I have a friend who found places where she could return any unopened bottles of wine and cases of beer, so she bought what she could afford and after the wedding returned a bit of it. 

This might also be helpful:

http://www.marthastewart.com/271304/party-calculator

Simply Fated

It's definitely not a question for the invitations, but I think it would be okay to ask around to get an idea of what people prefer. It would suck to buy cases of wine only to find no one likes wine, so I definitely see what you're concerned about.

cwaggoner07

Yes, we had beer and wine, and we double checked with the liquor store that we could return unopened bottles of wine. We also only had beer that someone in our immediate family drank at home so we gave them all the leftover beer. My dad drank like a king for weeks. It definitely didn't go to waste. Yeah, we overpurchsed, but it ended up totally working out,

lyndausvi

I think that is really odd.       

Beside I couldn't know months out what I would want to drink or even how much.  I'm generally a beer drinker, but tend to drink wine at weddings.   Although I change my mind based on my mood at the time.  Some days I drink more than others.

I'm not sure if it's available where you are having your wedding, but we provided all the alcohol for our wedding.  The store let us bring back any un-opened bottles.  It made ordering easier knowing we could return anything we didn't use.

Lisa50

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_etiquette-for-alcohol?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:138cc1bb-f921-411e-a141-2cd20abc78ccPost:c4923a70-7940-4b5f-8b6e-ae990b16be3e">Etiquette for alcohol?</a>:
[QUOTE]Is there a polite, non-tacky way to ask about alcohol preference on my wedding invitations?  My fiance and I are paying for the wedding ourselves and do not have any help from family.  We only want to serve beer, wine, champagne, and non-alcoholic beverages at the reception.  We also don't want to purchase too much of each, since we are on a limited budget.  <strong><font color="#000080">Would it be rude to ask for drink preference (beer, wine, non-alcoholic) on the wedding invitation</font></strong>, to help plan out how much of each to buy?
Posted by wickedrentlover[/QUOTE]

Yes, it would be rude to ask for a drink preference on the wedding invitation.  You might want to consider omitting champagne; that might be very difficult to plan quantity. 

If you don't have a caterer to help plan beer/wine quantity, here's a calculator that might help: <a href="http://www.fivepointsbottleshop.com/index.php/party-event-planning-consultants/party-calculator" rel="nofollow">http://www.fivepointsbottleshop.com/index.php/party-event-planning-consultants/party-calculator</a>.  You can also ask the bartender at your favorite watering hole what he or she would recommend.

Jen4948

Don't do this on wedding invitations.  It is totally okay to serve a limited drink menu, such as beer, wine, and non-alcohol, but no hard liquor, for example.