Making my Dry Reception less.... Dry?

katanne9 · December 2009

Both Fi and I, and our families don't drink (religious reasons). Same is true for extended families. There is never any alcohol at familiy functions, etc, so a lot of people probably wouldn't even notice that we aren't having alcohol at the reception. However, I'm very aware that some of our guests WILL want to have some alcohol available. I would be okay with having beer/wine during the cocktail hour, but I highly doubt my parents (who are paying) would go for it.

Obviously all our friends invited know this about us, and are expecting it. But, how can I make the beverages more exciting for my guests beyond soda and punch? I've thought of signature mocktails, espresso bar.... ideas?

jenn.daniel · December 2009

I'm a big fan of sparling grape juice. If your wedding is in winter, you could serve hot chocolate.

danieliza1127 · December 2009

Coffee bar with different syrups and stuff to put in coffee

Hot Chocolate bar with marshmallows, peppermint, syrups, etc

Soda bar with flavored syrups to add to coke, sprite, or sparkling water (like vanilla coke, cherry coke, etc)

Those are popular ideas that a lot of people use. I like the soda bar idea the best, I know my H and I would both do that!

megk8oz · December 2009

Ooh, I like Dani's idea of a soda bar.

I'm not sure if you have Sonic in your area (I'm sure they've got a website where you can see all of this stuff though), but their big "hook" is having over 140-something,100 drink combinations. They have all different flavor shots you can add to regular soda, but then they also have their own specialty sodas like strawberry limeade and Ocean Water (Which is sprite with coconut flavoring that's colored blue).

I also am a fan of the sparkling juices.

To me, anything with bubbles is a good idea, lol.

iamjoesgurl · December 2009

When we got married, I did not want to have alcohol (for the same reasons) but DH felt that his family and friends would expect it so we compromised and had it for 2 hours (cocktail hour and an hour of dinner). We only got 3 kinds of wine and 3 kinds of beer. It cost about $100 for everything and we had about 60 guests who drank. So it didn't cost a lot if you could do it yourself.

For the guests that don't drink alcohol, I thought it would be nice to dress up the coffee table which also had hot chocolate and hot tea. I made chocolate spoons (which were a huge hit) and flavors with pumps. I got a sugar free and two regular flavors at a local grocery store. I ordered one flavor online at the site where I got the pumps. We also had chocolate powder (like you would find at Starbucks to put on your coffee). I got some compliments so I know that some of our guests really appreciated it.

I like the idea of flavors for sodas too. That is unique and fun.

gottahavashorti · December 2009

PP's hot chocolate/coffee bar sounds delicious. Maybe a variety of teas and Jones sodas as well. Pink and regular lemonade, and various iced teas if it's a summer wedding - sweet, unsweetened, raspberry, peach.

megk8oz · December 2009

Oh, Gottahavashorti's right, check out Jones' sodas. They come in a million different colors and flavors (It's like Jelly Belly Jelly Beans ... but with soda).

mbcdefg · December 2009

I would love to see some different lemonades at a dry reception. Sodas with some mix-ins (cherry syrup and cherries, lemons, flavored syrup shots, I understand that whole peanuts are popular in the South, etc.) would also be nice.

iamjoesgurl · December 2009

The Torani syrups that I have suggest that you use them in sparkling water. I have raspberry and vanilla. The raspberry would also be great as a flavoring in lemonade (although it might make it too sweet??). So sparkling water with some flavoring syrups may be another idea to think about. If you do end up going with syrups and want a good place online to get them from, I recommend Lollicup (they had the best prices I could find and were great to deal with). You might even be able to find online coupon codes if you google them. They send me emails with special deals so I know they are out there.

lavieboheme73 · December 2009

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_reception-ideas_making-dry-reception-less-dry?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:5Discussion:cabaa97b-156b-4b9f-8995-0b3037b08961Post:dc2ff2c5-c498-4ecd-8aa0-d1c4c0acd1ea">Re: Making my Dry Reception less.... Dry?</a>:
[QUOTE]Oh, Gottahavashorti's right, check out Jones' sodas. They come in a million different colors and flavors (It's like Jelly Belly Jelly Beans ... but with soda).
Posted by megk8oz[/QUOTE]

I don't know if they still do this or not, but they used to do custom labelling too. Bonus!! <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-cool.gif" border="0" alt="Cool" title="Cool" />

lavieboheme73 · December 2009

P.S. They still do personalized labels. Here's the link: http://www.myjones.com/weddings/

LOVELACE2B · December 2009

Not having liquor is not so bad, and you are right its all about you. You could get really creative with this though, truly. You could still have a "BAR" set up and serve non-alcoholic bneverages in maartini/ wine glasses. kind of like a signature drink. You could fiz it up with any kind of spritz or soda falvored beverage with a juice mix. so it wold be like a cocktail but no alcohol.

you can have really fin with this- just because there isnt liquor doesnt mean that it wont be good. plus if parents wont go for it- dont even risk it!

tommyandy · December 2009

Since you are getting married in August, how about a lemonade bar? You can also rent a frozen daiquiri / margarita machine for virgin cocktails. I bet watermelon would be super refreshing & in season.

kimberlyann1974 · December 2009

We WERE going to have a barista who did coffee bars, hot chocolate and Italian sodas..which would have been awesome! But, we had a big venue change do to some major financial things that came up and are no longer going that route..I don't remember the exact cost, but I remember thinking it was much more reasonable than I expected it to be.

The virgin cocktail and lemonade bar would be cool too. Or maybe even some interesting teas..like lavender infused tea..mmmm

bingqilin00 · December 2009

What about having non-alcoholic beer? I believe there is one brand called O'Douls. I like the idea of having fun non alcoholic drinks served in martini glasses, or making non alcoholic margaritas, too.

simplebride_24 · December 2009

I do not drink a whole lot myself, and to bring myself into the wedding spirit a bit more one of my bridesmaids made me non-alcoholic martini's (which is the only thing i do drink if I do have alcohol), they were amazing. So her and I went out the next weekend and had a girls weekend with all the other bridesmaids and had these and tried a ton of other flavors, they were all great.

You can do almost anything. If you are still stuck after all the info that you have gotten from all us girls, try googling it.

tommyandy · December 2009

What exactly goes into a non-alcohol martini?

Lkystrz · December 2009

While our wedding wasn't dry, very few people had a drink. We had bottled sodas in strange and vintage flavors when people came in the door in place of punch. Many of my parents' friends were so excited about these flavors they haven't had since high school.

samm779 · December 2009

I totally relate-my fi and I are also having a 'Dry' Reception as neither of us drink at all.I've been stressing that a little bit but my caterer has already come up with some signiture 'mocktails' as you so aptly put it and I also love the idea of a coffee bar of some sort-like a mini-starbucks thing I think. I figure the people who really care about us-aren't going to care whether or not we have alcohol and the people who would only show up for free drinks-will be weeded out.

I-am-me · December 2009

It's so nice to see someone else considering ideas like this... we are having a dry reception as well and I am nervous that some of my family will be disappointed. I like these ideas a lot; I'm considering the coffee bar thing as well and I really like the soda bar idea. One thing that my fi suggested was to have something with different flavors of gelato for people to try... I'm not sure how it would work as we haven't discussed it in detail, but it seemed like a good concept. I have also heard of ice cream sundae bars, with all different toppings for people to choose from.

Question - fi and I don't drink. To the guests who normally do drink socially, do you think "mocktails" would seem fun or tacky? I like them, but I'm looking for other opinions.

katanne9 · December 2009

thank you everyone! these are all GREAT suggestions!!! now i just have to see how much i can afford!!

i-am-me I don't think mocktails would be tacky. There are a lot of tasty alternatives to cocktails that I've had in restaurants and would love to duplicate!

Making my Dry Reception less.... Dry?

Re: Making my Dry Reception less.... Dry?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards