Dry wedding in Vegas, anyone else?

vegasbride2015 · November 2014

My fiance doesn't want alcohol involved in our reception, and we don't want to tack on an extra $500-600 bill to our package for just beer, wine and soda. Anyone else doing this? I don't want alcohol either, and we are already facing some objection from future FIL, who is a bit of a lush. My sister had a dry wedding, for religious reasons (we aren't), and people were sneaking outside to drink (we were as well), mostly because the reception was long and dull (5 hours, with music but it was long and drawn out). I don't want ours to be boring but we are on a 2 hour clock for our reception, will have food, cake, and dancing. Anyone else having a dry wedding while in Vegas??

hmgiffor · November 2014

Was your sister's wedding in Vegas? I would say you should have at least beer/wine. I think many of your guests would be disappointed to travel and not have anything. They also may be more likely to sneak away early instead of enjoying your wedding.

vegasbride2015 · November 2014

We are having a dinner/alcohol the night before, but we don't want it as part of our wedding day. For my fiancé, he doesn't want to have blurred memories if we drink too much, or see his dad make an ass of himself (which apparently happens a lot at family events, including weddings and funerals). If they sneak away, that's their prerogative, but inside the chapel (where we are having it), it just won't be made available. Not sure why alcohol is necessary for wedding guests. My sisters wedding was not in Vegas.

AndreaZubia85 · November 2014

I think people will be disappointed to travel to sin city and not at least have beer or wine offered. You can limit what people have especially if there's no liquor. But in my opinion I think you should offer people that travel for a destination wedding the choice. However if you're from vegas and your guests live in vegas and its an off strip location then that may be a different scenario....

vegasbride2015 · November 2014

Well, as mentioned before, cost is a big issue. My chapel has a set fee. It isn't in our budget, along with our wishes. I might think of an after party idea post reception and take out those who wish to drink. Thing is, my family isn't into the drinking thing, so that will be okay. Right now the only ones we are concerned about are his dad, and maybe his uncle. I am thinking the compromise might be to maybe host an after party, do a round of beers or whatnot and maybe some bubbly for me and my guests who don't drink beer, after wards. Again, I am wondering if anyone has done a dry wedding? How did it go?

spoon1984 · November 2014

I think it should be offered even just beer and wine. I rarely drink myself and didn't have anything to drink on my wedding day but our party of 11 could order anything they wanted at our dinner at Canaletto. Perhaps just limit it to say half a bottle of wine each for those that would like to have an alcoholic drink. So it's available but there's not enough for people to get drunk.

Jixxt · November 2014

I agree with others here. I think it should be made a available if people are travelling to the city of sin for your wedding. That said it is YOUR wedding... Do what YOU want! Just be prepared for the bitching

destinationtake2 · November 2014

The people you are concerned about will most likely find a way to drink anyway. I get that it is not necessary for you and your FI as well as not in your budget but just be prepared for that. I have seen a couple dry weddings and people either snuck alcohol to the reception (if they knew ahead of time) or disappeared for long periods of time to visit available bars nearby (they were hotel weddings so it wasn't hard). So a)people will drink if they really want to and b) they may complain about the effort they had to make in order to do so.

In Vegas, of all places, I would be pretty surprised to attend a dry wedding. Not that every event in Vegas has to be "girls gone wild" but it's such a major party city. If it's at all possible, as others suggested, I would at least offer beer and wine.

Knottie83318556 · November 2014

I'm sorry I've no experience of a dry reception in Vegas, however I just wanted to say I really think you should do a dry reception if its what you want. I understand your concern of it being dull - but if the reception is only two hours long I really don't think it will be an issue (surely people can not drink for two hours?). Dull receptions in my experience are when I'm hungry (i.e. being forced to wait for hours for food - nothing is fun when I'm hungry) and when there is endless formality (does everybody in the room really need to give a speech before I can eat?). A really good compromise would be to do as you say and host an after party - that would be perfect!

Its your wedding reception - do what you want. As a guest I wouldn't care!

vegasbride2015 · November 2014

Knottie83318556 said:
I'm sorry I've no experience of a dry reception in Vegas, however I just wanted to say I really think you should do a dry reception if its what you want. I understand your concern of it being dull - but if the reception is only two hours long I really don't think it will be an issue (surely people can not drink for two hours?). Dull receptions in my experience are when I'm hungry (i.e. being forced to wait for hours for food - nothing is fun when I'm hungry) and when there is endless formality (does everybody in the room really need to give a speech before I can eat?). A really good compromise would be to do as you say and host an after party - that would be perfect!
Its your wedding reception - do what you want. As a guest I wouldn't care!

Thank you. This is exactly what I am getting at. I have a feeling 2 hours will fly by rather fast too.

Our compromise will be for everyone to come back to our room to celebrate with some champagne and beer. I think that is fair.

tovegasorbust · November 2014

My fiancee and I do not drink and I would say that 50% of the guests don't drink either. We are doing a reception at a restaurant, and we are not planning on offering alcohol as an option (we are having guests select beef, chicken, veggie with the RSVP card, and I am telling the restaurant the number of each dish ahead of time so there will be no ordering at the table). I agree with what Knottie said. If a person cannot go two hours without drinking, there are bigger problems there. They are free to go out after the reception and drink to their hearts content.

destinationtake2 · November 2014

Having drinks after in the room is fair, I agree! I don't so much think of it as people being unable to make it two hours without a drink as I think that a round or two on the bride and groom at some point is just a nice treat, particularly in a case where everyone has spent money to travel to attend the wedding. Whether this is during a meet and greet, wedding reception, after party etc isnt a huge deal. I could survive a dry reception! Lol

KikiMira · November 2014

I do agree with most people on here but from what I know now, 2 hours will barely get your dinner and cake in let alone much dancing... It'd be nice to offer your guests drinks and you will hear about it but that 2 hours will fly by... Oh and for the record, there was no way myself or the groom had time to get trashed at our 4 hour reception, we were just to busy.

Do you have plans for after the reception or is everyone free to do as they please for the evenng?

vegasgroom · November 2014

My only advice is if you're going to do it, make it known in advance. I personally have a strong dislike for dry wedding receptions, but at least if I know in advance, I can bring some booze.

vegasbride2015 · November 2014

KikiMira said:
I do agree with most people on here but from what I know now, 2 hours will barely get your dinner and cake in let alone much dancing... It'd be nice to offer your guests drinks and you will hear about it but that 2 hours will fly by... Oh and for the record, there was no way myself or the groom had time to get trashed at our 4 hour reception, we were just to busy.

Do you have plans for after the reception or is everyone free to do as they please for the evenng?

We do (groom, myself and our bridal party), but will be offering a champagne/beer toast in our suite after the reception.

I kind of figure 2 hours will be tight as it is, so I am going to make a small playlist and only do a first dance. Neither of us want to do a daddy-daughter/mommy-son dance.

@vegasgroom we announced that it was a dry wedding to our families, so far we got a "boo" from future FIL but FI told me not to worry about it.

aggiespartan · November 2014

If you're getting married in Vegas, I would think that you would have to expect that if people want to drink, they will find a way to drink. If for no other reason than in Vegas, alcohol is available 24 hours a day no matter where you are. When we go visit, we grab a beer when talking through casinos and are rarely without a drink in hand.

vegasbride2015 · November 2014

If they want to drink, that is their prerogative, we just won't be serving it at our wedding. If someone got out of hand,we would quietly ask them to tone it down. But we don't foresee that happening.

hashtaggroomzilla · November 2014

I would never be happy at a dry wedding.

You'll most certainly be remembered as "that damn destination wedding in VEGAS without alcohol". I most certainly remember every dry wedding I've been to, and I only had to drive 20 miles for those.

destinationtake2 · November 2014

vegasbride2015 said:

If they want to drink, that is their prerogative, we just won't be serving it at our wedding. If someone got out of hand,we would quietly ask them to tone it down. But we don't foresee that happening.

This whole thing really depends on the group you're inviting. In my case, all of our friends are drinkers and having drinks for them would be as expected as food and I'd feel like a terrible host if I didn't include it for ANY event. But that would be my case. On the one hand, I think you realize a dry wedding in Vegas isn't the norm which is why you posted but on the other, it really depends on your guests. It sounds like this won't be an issue for the majority of yours. I made the comment about people finding a way to drink because you mentioned being concerned about FFILs behavior as one of the reasons not to serve alcohol. I think some of us just wanted to point out that if he (or anyone else) really want to, they may get or bring it anyway. That said, I definitely hope everyone is on their best behavior and that your wedding is wonderful!

(also, a good point from the person who mentioned just how short two hours is. I hadn't thought of that but, very true.)

vegasbride2015 · November 2014

Well, most of the people who are coming aren't big drinkers. In the group we have maybe 2-3 people who are (out of 26), and one in particular that I am concerned about, but in the end, the fair compromise will be to do an after party for sure. I am concerned about FFIL, but my FI has told me (after we were discussing this), it shouldn't be an issue. We're also doing a dinner in our suite the night before and hosting our guests and serving beer and wine then as well.

hmgiffor · November 2014

That sounds like a good plan @vegasbride2015. In the end, you have to do what you are comfortable doing.

amelisha · November 2014

As long as there are soft drinks available it's etiquette-acceptable to serve no alcohol...but don't be surprised if your guests pregame or bring some along. Even people who aren't big drinkers have been known to let loose on vacation (especially a Vegas vacation.)

You can't control other adults behaviour, though. Just do what you want and that you can afford as long as it does involve appropriate amounts of food and drink (non-alcoholic included.)

vegasbride2015 · November 2014

Yeah, I had mentioned that above. Like I said, if anyone gets out of hand we will politely pull them aside to talk to them. I don't care if they pre-funk or whatever, or slip out for a drink as long as no one acts like a fool.

amelisha · November 2014

You're really going to pull people aside and scold them on your wedding day?

...I can think of a lot of things I plan to do that day, but honestly, trying to parent grown adults isn't going to be one of them. I'm honestly not trying to be snarky here but I just don't think it's anyone's place to be pulling your guests aside to talk to them about their behaviour. They're your guests, not your kids. I dunno, I just can't imagine doing that or wanting to. I love my friends and family just the way they are, which does occasionally include drunk and high-spirited, and if they're having a good time, so am I. I figure my wedding day isn't the time to be stressing out about whether someone is a little loud.

vegasbride2015 · November 2014

IF it were particularly heinous, yeah, I have no problem with that. And I am not "stressed out" about it. I stated above that we don't foresee that happening, but if something crossed the line (like possibly putting our reception at danger of being kicked out, or something that is against their rules), then yes, I will say something. I should have clarified that.

amelisha · November 2014

As for "stressed out"...well, your wedding isn't for more than ten months and you are already concerned enough to post about it.

I think you're borrowing trouble and this is not something you need to try to control.

vegasbride2015 · November 2014

Well, the thread did spiral a bit out of control and I will admit that I did put out too many "what ifs" or scenarios that might not even happen, so I apologize for that. My biggest question was if anyone had a dry wedding in Vegas. It does seem strange to many, but we found a good compromise and hopefully the 2-3 drinkers in our group will be okay with it.

Dry wedding in Vegas, anyone else?

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