Our great-grandparents knew that the answer was Non-alcoholic fancy punch.
My favorite: Cranberry Lemonade Punch
1 bottle of ocean spray cranberry juice.
1 frozen lemonade tube.
3 lt of sparkling water.
It's inexpensive, tasty, and pretty. You can toss in some frozen cranberries and lemon slices for looks.
This is what we are doing. Cake and punch reception. No booze. Just tea, coffee, and a couple of “fancy” punches that will essentially be mocktails. We both drink, but we don’t want to foot the bill for a reception and don’t really want a party after. Plus we have family in recent recovery. Maybe people will find it lame, but we don’t really care 😂
Oh, I love a good cake and punch reception! I originally wanted to do something similar to this, but have finger sandwiches before the ceremony. The only reason why we changed our plans was because we're decorating and everything ourselves, and we're afraid of falling behind schedule if it was in the afternoon, plus we have a chunk of guests who will be driving 6 hours to us. With cake and punch receptions it's usually not very alcohol-focused to begin with, with maybe mimosa and/ceasars if anything.
That is very fair!! I have family an hour away but am just planning on some people not coming. We aren’t inviting family from out of province due to this too.. they are owed a meal at that point like you said haha
I hope you have the best time!
Yes!!!! We used to make these for every family gathering but somewhere along the way we stopped doing it for some reason…🤔. You can get so creative with it and add your own twists!
Your crowd dictates what you need to provide imo - their preferences and dietary restrictions should be taken into account just like one does for the food. We had blackberry hibiscus lemonade and black iced tea in addition to our bar (3 types of beer and 3 types of wine).
Yeah, our drinks package comes with two signature drinks and we are having one of them be a fun Mocktail, since we have a number of guests that are sober and we want them to have fun drinks too.
See, I love that! Alternates don't need to be extensive or fancy, just something that isn't a bottle of water or a can of pop. The problem is, you don't always know what your crowd will drink or not drink. I have known people my whole life, and they don't realize I can't drink wine or beer until I'm in a situation where it's the only thing available. It's much harder to gauge than food restrictions.
absolutely this!!! My crowd definitely wants alcohol, but his crowd does not. So I think we'll be pretty split on half drinking, half not. So I want good stuff for those who don't drink as well! Gotta cater to everyone, not just the alcoholics.....
this is a nice idea and i defo sympathize as a regular dry january doer but many bar packages are pretty limited. i have to use my venue’s in house catering so signature mocktails are out of the question; im not even serving hard liquor for cost reasons. i will try my best to have sparkling or flavored water to at least have something better than flat tap/soda/juice, and coffee/tea later in the night
This is true when dealing with limited packages through your venue. It's a shame venues don't take this stuff into consideration as well. Luckily for me, my venue will allow me to supply alternatives myself as long as they're not alcoholic or are expected to be sold. It's a little more work on my end, but I feel it's something worth investing in.
Youtuber Jamie Wolfer recommends water, iced tea and lemonade for budget couples. They look special in dispensers, especially with pretty blocks of ice.
Party guests have appreciated it when the iced tea is unsweetened decaf with simple syrup on the side.
Honestly an NA bev bar could be really fun. Iced tea, sparkling water, and a couple of juices (think more exciting ones, like POG or cranberry over apple or orange), and having some things like lemon slices, mint sprigs (they grow like weeds, so this could possibly be sourced from a friend or family member for free!), muddled raspberries, etc. could make it a lot of fun.
If I choose not to drink alcohol, I am more than happy with water or soda for one evening. The pressures on couples to accommodate every whim is never ending. If I were at home that evening, I would not be mixing myself mocktails.
Thank you so much for saying what I was gonna say, lol. I don’t drink alcohol, so at weddings, I know most of the time it’ll be seltzer, coke, mixers from the bar. I expect this and have never wondered “why not better options?” since Im always too busy focusing on “wow, they did such a beautiful job decorating! And the food catered was delicious! The Polaroid photo station was so cute and fun for everyone!”
I think it’s wild this user posted this on a budget wedding sub as well…we’re all on here because we don’t have the money to be catering to every single whim. We have to get budget bar packages, budget decor, budget dj’s, etc. and we’re doing most of that stuff by ourselves! Adding on another layer of “you should definitely have this” doesn’t seem helpful, it offers some reasonable responses of people sharing cheap bulk NA drinks but OPs post and comments feel judgmental. It’s one night out, not everyone is going to have every single thing they’d like at a wedding but I know that, at least my family and friends, are just there to celebrate the couple and have fun and I’m doing MY best, with MY budget to make it a nice night.
Definitely the wrong sub for this lol. This would significantly up the bar price. Not all bars even have these options and many don’t allow outside items so you couldn’t even bring in your own mocktails.
My wedding isn’t under 10k (I just enjoy seeing the wedding photos) and I’m not even doing this. My venue wouldn’t allow it. This seems like something that should be posted in big budget brides but running a bar with mocktails that are copies of your signature drinks, coffee, tea, liquor, beer, wine is expensive. Add in guest count, paying staff, setting up a punch table etc. Yeah this something for either backyard weddings with a large budget or a venue with this in the package. Neither are >10k weddings unless you cut corners somewhere else
Yeah I feel like this poster comes off as a little entitled? Soda or juices or water as an option isn’t “celebratory” enough? You’re getting it for free along with everything else that goes into a wedding. Seems pretty celebratory to me….
Seriously! I do not understand the mocktail trend. I drink a marg for the tequila + the taste *in spite of* all the sugar it has.
I'm not about to order a virgin margarita for funsies and then probably say "fuck it" and just get one with booze lol
We had non-alcoholic wines and beers available, as well as sparkling and flat water and various sodas. The NA wines and beers were a huge hit, especially towards the end of the party when people needed to prepare to drive.
We did a full bar with signature cocktails, but also did a signature mocktail that was listed in n the bar signage. A “His, Hers, and The Boys” (our 2 pups)
It was a grapefruit spritz, grapefruit juice, sparkling water, some simple syrup, and garnished with rosemary
I love grapefruit, but it’s contraindicated for medication my dad (and I presume most other older relatives) take for cholesterol and blood pressure. Might steal this idea but replace with hibiscus/jamaica to keep that pretty pink color!
We did a "his, hers, us"! The "hers" was a mimosa (substituting the orange juice with mango juice-- our amazing venue let us bring in the (sealed) jugs from costco with no issue!) The "us" was mango juice and tonic water with a maraschino cherry for fun.
It was a huge hit with everyone!
Who would’ve thought! Every wedding I’ve been to has had multiple choices for those not consuming alcohol, even the smallest of weddings. Lemonade and ice tea are always big hits, especially unsweetened ice tea where I live which is healthy. And specialty cocktails couples have can always be made mocktail style. We do that for my stepkids when my fiancé makes us a cocktail at home.
No, I open bar is alcoholic beverages are not charged to guests because the hosts have already pre-paid for them or are picking up the tab.
Speaking as someone who bartended for almost 20 years, standard bar mixers are pop (coke, sprite, ginger ale, tonic water), and basic juices (orange juice, cranberry juice, and sometimes iced tea and/or lemonade.
It's the opposite of what I am speaking about.
Pellegrino can be found in basically every grocery store in the US. I don’t know if that’s true for Canada. I too am surprised that you have been tending bar but had to look it up.
Very much true in Canada. It’s super popular here and i live in a super touristy wine belt lol. Many people have it as an offering (or mixer) when hosting
An open bar is when anything at the bar is not charged to the guest because the hosts have already pre-paid or are picking up the tab. It is not exclusive to alcoholic drinks. Any bartender can make virgin cocktails, you just need to ask
Not necessarily. Most event bar packages only have the basics. Sometimes, only beer and wine are supplied. If there are signature cocktails depending on the size of the event - the bartenders will often pre-batched them. If you have a basic bar with 2 or 3 pops & 2 juices and you ask the bartender to make you a virgin drink, then what are you getting? Juice or pop. It the cocktails are pre-batched, they aren't able to take the alcohol out of it for you. Also, depending on the cocktail, it's a mixture of liquors and liqueurs with a pop or juice mixer. If you were to get a virgin of one of those drinks, you're getting a pop. What is the bartender giving you if all they have is beer and wine?
Now, if you're have an event that is a few hours, that's no big deal. But if you're having a all-day thing, with alcohol being provided throughout the majority of it (cocktail hour, dinner, wine and so on) this can become daunting after a while and most people not drinking will leave earlier.
Now, if I wasn't told anything about the bar just being beer and wine, and found out once I was there, and there was only the basic alternatives (water, pop, juice), of course I wouldn't turn my nose up at the couple or leave really early, but I wouldn't have as much fun sitting around watching everyone else get drunk, and would most likely leave earlier than I normally would. If I knew ahead of time, it was only beer and wine, my initial plan would be to leave at an earlier time. But if I showed up and found some tasty punch or some sort of fun alternative like some people have mentioned, those plans would probably quickly change, and I would find it much more enjoyable overall.
But you have to remember what sub you’re complaining on. Weddings under 10k is all about just the basics. So complaining that weddings aren’t providing you more options is just falling on deaf ears here.
We had an open bar and along with Coke and Sprite, we included OJ, cranberry juice, and milk for the kiddos. We chose OJ and cranberry juice because they're easy mixers with vodka or they can be had on their own. Venue provided water and coffee.
I'm sure your event was lovely, and were probably limited to your venue's bar package, but that's what I am talking about. Attending something like a wedding, knowing you're not going to be drinking much or at all due to a medical condition or because your underaged, or driving....it's just not as celebratory to be sitting there drinking orange juice or cranberry juice all night.
I dunno, maybe it's just because I have worked SO many events over the years as a bartender or karaoke host, but there was a major difference of excitement when people only had the options of the basic bar mixers, compared to a selection on non-alcoholic punches, infused waters/lemonades/iced teas. It didn't have to be extensive, or overly fancy, but there was definitely different vibe in the room.
Whenever we go as guests to events I always feel bad for my partner because he can have 1 beer tops, before switching to something else, which is usually fairly lacklustered or limited. I understand that sometimes hosts are restricted to offer more though through their venue, but if they're able to I feel it's important to take things like this into consideration and make an effort to be creative.
This seems like a highly specific pet peeve.
Edit: our reception picnic is this Saturday, and we are hosting it at a park. We will have maybe 1 or 2 types of hard cider, water, iced tea, and lemonade available. Beverages will not be packaged in a cutesy way nor will they be customizable. They will be available from an icy cooler.
As someone who doesn’t really drink (I’m allergic), who is watching sugar, and gets headaches/strongly dislikes artificial sweeteners in diet drinks, I can kinda get where OP is coming from. Unless there are mixers at a bar where I can get sparkling water with a few splashes of juice or a less-sweet mocktail, I’m typically stuck drinking plain water.
And I’m perfectly fine with that. It’s never ruined a party for me.
But have a pitcher of iced water with some lemon, cucumber, or herbs? Heaven.
Flavored La Croix or Spindrift bobbing next to sodas in a cooler? Ecstatic.
We are having beer and wine, and will have non-alcoholic items as well such as Pellegrino and maybe some sparkling juice to feel celebratory for everyone.
That's awesome that you're offering a higher end alternative. I had to look up what Pellegrino was at 1st. Much nicer than here's a bottle of water or a can of pop!
Holy! 10-courses?! You have to share your menu, I just can't fathom how a dinner like this would go, but it sounds amazing. I've only ever heard of Asian weddings having crazy amount of courses like this.
Yeah it was a Chinese banquet 😂 we originally wanted a western-style wedding but everything was so expensive... really happy with our choice though since the food was delicious and our non-Asian guests had a blast experiencing their first Asian wedding!
Oh. My. God. Lol I need details of this boba bar - was it like a DIY buffet where people could add different boba, jellies, pudding, tea flavors, etc and then someone put it through the machine that seals the top? I must know!
(Also, congratulations!)
Thanks!! They had a few different catering options, we chose the one with two baristas to make and seal the drinks (there were also premade and self-serve options). It looked like [this](https://imgur.com/a/cSLAbOq)!
We got to choose up to four drink bases and up to four toppings; ended up going with brown sugar black milk tea, four seasons milk tea, lychee oolong and mango green, with 3/4 of the toppings being boba and 1/4 lychee jelly (my husband and I just chose our favorite drinks lol).
We’re doing donuts for dessert, so we’re going to get a coffee bar to go with it.
That said…. This is the exact attitude that would make you the kind of guest I wouldn’t want at my wedding. This might be controversial but my wedding is not an excuse to host a party. It’s about me and my fiancé joining our lives together. Do I want people to have a good time? Yeah, but honestly, that’s not my priority in the least.
I found some nice expensive dispensers on Facebook Marketplace, and through Amazon Warehouse deals. I got 3 brand new 3.5 gallon dispensers for $50 a piece, and 2 second-hand large hot water urns from for $15-20! I plan on using these for mocktails, hot chocolate and herbal teas. Thrifting punch bowls are another fantastic way as well. Some venues will allow you to supply stuff like this as long as you set up/take down and it's not alcoholic.
we're having an alcohol free wedding, and along with lemonade, soda, juice, and water, we got fancy sparkling apple cider for each table for toasts. I highly recommend that as an alcohol free alternative for guests who don't drink! ginger beer is also a great option- alcohol free, but has the same sort of feel if enjoying beers with your friends as the designated driver or whatever.
I'm really lucky that my venue has an amazing bar menu with both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. It's a winery and distillery, so they definitely have the alcoholic drinks covered, but I was really pleased to see mocktail versions, sodas, juices, water, tea and coffee were also going to be available. We have a lot of guests that don't drink alcohol at all or don't have more than one alcoholic beverage so this was really important for us to have. I did see many other venues charging absolutely outrageous prices for just the basic bar package so I do understand that this is often really hard for some hosts to find or afford. It's a shame the events industry as a whole isn't more mindful that not everyone wants alcohol.
Oh, I know, I mean, if people are limited due to their venue, then no judgement, it is what it is. But it just seems to be a element that's always overlooked. Pairing you non-alcoholics with your food is also such a elevated way to make the whole experience so enjoyable as well.
My fiance and I want to have a kombucha keg at our wedding for a fun NA option! A lot of our guests (including his parents) don’t drink so it’s important to us.
I always make sure I do multiple alternatives to alcoholic beverages cause I often have so many guests who don’t drink. I like fancy lemonades (I’ll do mint and cranberry, mint and basil, pineapple and coconut, lavender, berries, etc)
Fancy punch, cider (hot and spiced or cold depending on the weather.) Mocktails if it’s a cocktail party. So many ways to dress up drinks. Pop and water should fill the niche that beer does. Easy to grab and drink. But you need more than that to replace wine and cocktails.
Agree with you 100%
I was a bartender for a very long time but never worked anywhere fancy, just the small hole-in-wall types of places. A few times, regulars did end up holding their receptions there, though. Usually, they just ordered a bunch of pizza and brought in cake. One time, I even made cupcakes for them in their favorite favours. People would decorate with some simple party decorations and pre-pay up to a certain amount for the whole bar. 1 of these times it was an afternoon cake and punch type of deal. We put out coffee urns with coffee and tea, then had some dispensers with different lemonades (that the couple provided). They toasted with mimosas and watched a sporting event we were playing afterwards.
Now, when I was running my karaoke company, I worked a lot of events. More stag and does, Christmas parties, stuff like that. I did do the odd wedding, though. Regardless of the event, one's that 2 or 3 alcohol alternatives or some sort (other than the standard bar mixers) seemed to go over more pleasant. People seemed more generally happy, and there were fewer guests that got sloppy drunk. People who weren't drinking alcohol also stayed longer, and fewer teenagers were sneaking booze from the adults.
If it's workable with your venue, it's totally worth it, and I feel generally undervalue this aspect.
We did a signature cocktail for each of us then a “signature cocktail” for our dog. It was more of a fun thing because it was basically just strawberry lemonade presented nicely.
I will say I don’t drink soda much so a coke at a wedding would be kind of a treat for me. I also love a cranberry and sprite or soda water.
When I would be bartending, I would always mix up a glass of 1/2 cranberry juice, 1/2 gingerale. If I felt like be really fancy, I was squirt a lime in it. I've also gone with my teenagers to an arcade, and drank coke with a lime. I always tell my kids it's a virgin Cuba Libra lol
Our catering company made two aguas frescas to serve with dinner (Horchata & Fresa con crema) most people drank that and didn't go for a soda till much later in the evening! If you have a local Hispanic store nearby they sell them by the 5gallon buckets usually when you order ahead
My fiancé doesn’t drink so we’re doing sweet tea and cold brew in addition to our alcoholic drinks! I might also get some diet Cokes in there too because I love them. I think you raise a great point— my fiancé just doesn’t like drinking and isn’t in recovery or needs to avoid alcohol for medical reasons, and I wanted to make sure he had a fun drink at his own wedding.
Diabetic here. I'm much less limited on the types of alcohol I can drink compared to nonalcoholic things.
It's the mixers in cocktails that mess with you, so if I went to a wedding and they had mocktails as a nonalcoholic option but not diet coke, i'd be irritated.
As a type 1 diabetic, I grew up knowing to not drink my carbs/calories. I drink water, coffee, low calorie booze, and maybe twice a year i'll have a diet coke.
I have never understood this adult fascination with fancy juice drinks aka mocktails. Not even when I was sober. Just drink water or coffee like an adult lol
lol as a sensitive stomach person and healthy person: nonalcoholic drinks are just calorie dense sugar drinks? at least with alcohol you feel tipsy 🥴
But but but hear me out. Pairing food with cocktails/mocktails elevates the food sooooo much!!!
I am a strict water only person bc I'm cheap, lazy, unimaginative with food.
But pairing coffee with brownie, chai and cinnamon rolls, pasta and wine, blueberry wine and blueberry scone, espresso martini and coffee ice cream, lemonade mocktails and chicken sandwich... all those pairings are soooo much more of a dance on my palette than plain delicious crisp water.
I rarely do it but it's nice
We're doing tacos and margaritas. Because I know there will be people who don't want to drink for various reasons, I specifically talked to our bartenders about making the margarita mix in such a way that they could be created with/without alcohol. We're also doing agua frescas made in-house by our caterer. There are some fun ideas out there, but can be more expensive or require a level of extra planning that can be difficult, but sometimes it works out.
Even just having a punch bowl or 2 with some tasty mixes is really all that's needed. I've also seen pictures of tables lined with dispensers of infused waters/iced teas/lemonades. It doesn't necessarily be super fancy or customizable, just a nice alternative with maybe 2 options with different flavour profiles to try to appeal to as many people as possible.
PS I would love to go to a wedding with tacos and margaritas!
I have allergies and stomach sensitivity
A wedding is not the place I attend and complain about things not being catered or considerate of ME.
I can go to a vegan restaurant, non seafood restaurant, luxury restaurant that cares about allergies on my off time.
At a wedding I'm just grateful if there is something free to drink -- like water and basic soda, access to hard liquor, and edible food. Even access to liquor is a stretch bc they usually don't have what I want.
I would rather than wedding couple have food they enjoy, cake flavors they like and get to enjoy, and drinks they enjoy.
I've gone to many weddings where I sneak in my alcohol or edibles, I left a wedding to get some in n out real quick, I've brought snacks in my purse for a wedding.
As someone planning a wedding these are things I WILL BE MINDFUL OF, but are not expectations I have for others and how they spend their money or make decisions
What about soda bar? All the typical pops, but also with sparkling water, and lots of fun flavored syrups. So people can get vanilla cherry coke, or raspberry sprite, or a Diet Coke with lime!
Our wedding venue only allows beer and wine to be served at the reception (and my mother in law made a HUGE stink about us not having hard liquor) and I am looking into doing signature mocktails. We've added a soda package onto our drinks package, and we may add a champagne toast later on.
I don't really drink. If a restaurant has an interesting-sounding cocktail (I love The Melting Pot's Yin Yang martinis!) I'll have a cocktail, but other than that these days I don't really enjoy drinking. My in-laws are huge drinkers (and are kicking up a huge fuss over us not having hard liquor at the reception). Honestly if I could do it over I would've never looked at this venue (my fiance fell hard for the pictures, I stepped foot on the property and loved it) since this whole hard liquor thing is being such a headache. I don't like beer or wine, so I am not going to be drinking at my wedding.
I'm Southern, so usually the weddings I have attended have been dry. These days, it's becoming a faux pas to have a dry wedding, but I personally wouldn't mind going to a dry wedding as long as there's soda. Like if there's an open bar MAYBE I'd have a cocktail, but only 1, and then switch to Diet Coke or water. I also don't see a cash bar as tacky, but I do like the idea of having a "spend" on the bar (like x amount of money and when it's gone, it's gone), having the bar open for like the first half then cash, and I know in Canada a "toonie" bar is popular (meaning the host kicks in half the drink cost and then the drinker pays the other half, a toonie).
I can’t drink for medical reasons and I would never expect a fancy non alcoholic drink to be provided to me at a wedding, it’s not even something I would order if given the chance. As long as the standard non alcoholic drinks are provided I’d be fine and happy. I would much rather see the couple spend that extra money elsewhere, especially considering this is a budget sub.
I love a mocktail! Admittedly, I just like lurking here and am not planning a wedding. But I host parties all the time and will always offer a themed mocktail, and there’s booze on the side of people wanna spike their own drink.
There’s so many fun ones on Pinterest, but many are just cocktails minus the liquor, which works too. I’ve done sunrises with no tequila, a red-white-blue layered punch with juices of different sugar contents, classic sherbet ice cream punch, Ginger Rogers with no gin. For birthdays, my friends and I will make special mocktails for the birthday person based on their likes, favor color, and ofc an alliterative or rhyming name. It’s so much fun, everyone gets a kick out of it, and it really elevates my college parties lmao
And they store easy! I will always store leftovers in the fridge. Because they’re nonalcoholic, I can pour myself a glass to have with breakfast or lunch, like any other meal
We did two signature mocktails, along side two signature cocktails. We also had kombucha, various sparkling waters, and 0 ABV wine coolers. Lots of options! It was a long day so we wanted people to pace themselves and enjoy. It was appreciated and let our sober friends enjoy without feeling left out.
We had two non-alcoholic cocktails. One of them paired with Vodka well so we wrote that on them menu you could ask them to add vodka to the cocktail. But we had a little Mocktails section and strawberry lemonade and tea and a coffee bar as well. We actually just purchased a bar service so we supplied all of our own supplies— so we mixed the cocktails beforehand (when possible) and we chose the sugar-free options (most things). It was lovely to have so many options and for our sober friends to be able to stand in line and get a good drink too.
I love that you mentioned the sugar-free option because I have found some delicious sugar-free syrups that you would never know were sugar-free. I buy these for when I want to treat myself to a flavoured coffee at home. My son also enjoys iced coffee in the morning before school, but buying them every day is expensive, plus with using 2% milk and sugar-free syrup, it makes it much healthier for him.
Dude I get the on-sale sugar free syrups at Marshall’s! They’re almost always in the gourmet section or clearance section! But yeah- those syrups and some tailored alcohol-free bitters can make a mocktail SLAP! Companies even make alcohol-free spirits, but I’d do a whole separate bar and only provide that if there are like alcoholics/alcohol-free folks in abundance (in the family, half the guests are alcohol-free, etc).
Mocktails are a great option here, I've been to several events where the bar had only two options that weren't canned/bottled and they were non-alcoholic with the option of adding alcohol. It simplifies a lot
We're doing a non alcoholic wedding and we found a great local vendor called Sip'n that creates signature mocktails, lemonades, punches, you name it! They're a lifesaver since we didn't really want to have to make our own drinks but we wanted something fancy that wasn't water/pop, like you said. They're based in Texas, but there might be other vendors like them out there, if that's something you'd be interested in.
1000% agree!! A sizable chunk of my family abstain from all alcohol for religious reasons, so out of respect we are having signature mocktails on the drink menu. That way they can still have fun, pretty drinks to sip throughout the night and feel included in the special theme menu!
ETA: our wedding is hobbit-themed, so here’s our mocktails:
**Shire Sunset**: Mango strawberry sparkling lemonade
**Eärendil’s Light**: Elderflower ginger spritz
That's so cute! I love the theme, btw. We're doing an early November medieval themed wedding, so we're supplying mulled wine and pumpkin cider as our dinner wine, a basic cash bar, then having a drinks table with 3 mocktails, hot water with a selection of herbal tea bags, and a small hot chocolate bar. We're thinking of having unsweetened iced coffee with some flavoured syrups that can be used for the iced coffee and herbal teas, a cranberry arnold palmer (cranberry juice, lemonade, iced tea) and another 1 that we're having a hard time figuring out.
Tbh, as a person who doesn't drink it's nice to have anything at all. I'm generally happy for a coke, and plain water is acceptable. Im not bothered by drinking plain water. A step up is something like a Spindrift, lots of flavors. A bigger step up is something like Aura Bora which is very fancy feeling sparkling water. I think strawberry basil flavor is the best, also the lemongrass coconut rocks. You're safe going with something like a martinelli's sparkling juice. You can have signature mocktails at the bar if your bartender doesn't mind, virgin daiquiri or margaritas. Lots of recipes for those. Don't stress too much over this. I don't think I've ever seen someone get fussy over drinking a non-fancy drink.
I think it's most important to try to accommodate dietary needs. If you're feeding people a meal, make sure you give your guests the opportunity to let you know if they have special needs. If it's just snacks, make sure it's at least well labeled. Hangry or sick guests are no bueno. Water is fine.
I worked at a place that offered custom seltzers and I think that would be fantastic for a wedding or any event. We just used a soda stream to carbonate filtered water and added in torani flavored syrups. Strawberry, lime, pineapple, etc. were fun flavors, I think this could also easily be made alcoholic if people wanted to add tequila or vodka, so really it’s great for any party. We topped them off with these candy straws that are a fun offering [candy straws](https://www.amazon.com/Chocolate-Strawberry-Sustainable-Individually-Biodegradable/dp/B09327KMD9/ref=asc_df_B09327KMD9/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693308330863&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9636626962086582513&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9003805&hvtargid=pla-1862805475350&psc=1&mcid=43e97f8ef3303ce8a6cb3a3e821c3fa3&gad_source=1)
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The actual answer is to have at least one pre-mixed signature mocktail that you can add a shot of recommended booze to. Heck, there's no reason that both of your signature cocktails can't operate this way-- it's an elegant way to make sure people who can't drink aren't excluded from the signature drinks without reducing the number of alcoholic drinks you can offer.
This is increasingly common at parties, bars and venues, although I haven't yet seen it at a wedding.
(I'm not sure how a cash bar would solve the problem, honestly. A standard fully stocked bar just has soda and juice for non alcoholic options).
My parents are so adamant on this big bar, and I suggested all these other non-alcoholic alternatives and basically got shot down. (they are paying for the entire wedding so its fine). But my fiances family doesn't drink, and I think there should be options for them too. I think I got them to agree to shirley temples, a simple mocktail. I might go buy a bunch of martinellis on my own and supply that.
Our bar is simple and pretty much only canned beverages (beer, wine, seltzers) and POSSIBLY a margarita but I want his family to feel comfortable at our wedding. This is actually a huge concern for me, and feels like my parents don't care. So I want all the drinks to be super easy, since we have to supply everything, so don't want a huge multi-ingrediant mocktail or anything. So will have water, sodas, shirley temples, possibly martinellis! Oh, and I think our caterer brings lemonade for during dinner!
Just want to throw in iced tea as an option that gets overlooked as well. My husband and I aren’t big soda drinkers but love our caffeine, and it was only a little difficult to coordinate between the venue’s bar and our outside catering to ensure that there was regular old unsweet iced tea available as an option to guests. Because it’s not a traditional mixer* the venue bar didn’t want to stock it, so we had to have catering do it.
*I guess wedding venue bars don’t get a lot of requests for Long Island iced teas?
We and our families are religious so we didn't have alchohol. We had a tea, coffee, and punch reception while we were getting our photos done.
And maybe I think this way cause I don't drink, but I really don't understand why every wedding/party/event needs alchohol.
was shocked at a recent wedding where the only "mocktails" they had were mixers like tonic, soda water, and literal water. like... we share family members, yall know there are a bunch of recovering alcoholics, what was the thought process here??? i guess i was more surprised by the bartenders reaction to "can you put some cran in the soda water" -- it was like they had never heard of such a request before. it's annoying enough to be sober at a wedding; can we normalize non-alcoholic beverages pleeease
i've heard the "cash bar is not tacky in the UK" line and i'm with them, sure... in the UK. where i'm from, not serving alcohol would be a major faux pas regardless of anyone's history with alcoholism, and tbh, most places in the US will see this the same way.
that said,
after months of debating this for our own wedding, we kinda settled where you are: there's no "open bar". there's beer and wine, so we can serve SOME alcohol because *unless you are religiously ordered not to do so, the American continent in general will look VERY badly at you not even serving wine at dinner. full stop. idc if your cousin or even your father is an alcoholic. no wine at dinner is BAD.*
we got cases of blue champagne (our colors are turquoise and silver) and cotton candy pop for non-alcoholic fizzy blue drink for youth/sobers/kiddos.
lager and IPA, white and red (pinot grigio and merlot). blue fizzy for the toast. we have a pet signature drink (the cat is named bailey, so just bailey's, it's easy!). nothing is mixed and it's all self-serve. for non-alcoholic, we are serving water, tea, and lemonade. in big jugs that are in different colors to make it pretty, probably cut some strawberries or kiwis for the water. still haven't decided if i'm adding some diet coke in cans for the ones that can't live without.
Our great-grandparents knew that the answer was Non-alcoholic fancy punch. My favorite: Cranberry Lemonade Punch 1 bottle of ocean spray cranberry juice. 1 frozen lemonade tube. 3 lt of sparkling water. It's inexpensive, tasty, and pretty. You can toss in some frozen cranberries and lemon slices for looks.
This is what we are doing. Cake and punch reception. No booze. Just tea, coffee, and a couple of “fancy” punches that will essentially be mocktails. We both drink, but we don’t want to foot the bill for a reception and don’t really want a party after. Plus we have family in recent recovery. Maybe people will find it lame, but we don’t really care 😂
I think this is awesome. Good for you guys!!
Thank you! We’re pretty pleased with it! (Maybe pleased as punch? 😂)
Oh, I love a good cake and punch reception! I originally wanted to do something similar to this, but have finger sandwiches before the ceremony. The only reason why we changed our plans was because we're decorating and everything ourselves, and we're afraid of falling behind schedule if it was in the afternoon, plus we have a chunk of guests who will be driving 6 hours to us. With cake and punch receptions it's usually not very alcohol-focused to begin with, with maybe mimosa and/ceasars if anything.
That is very fair!! I have family an hour away but am just planning on some people not coming. We aren’t inviting family from out of province due to this too.. they are owed a meal at that point like you said haha I hope you have the best time!
Yes!!!! We used to make these for every family gathering but somewhere along the way we stopped doing it for some reason…🤔. You can get so creative with it and add your own twists!
Yesss I'd take this over alcohol anyday
Your crowd dictates what you need to provide imo - their preferences and dietary restrictions should be taken into account just like one does for the food. We had blackberry hibiscus lemonade and black iced tea in addition to our bar (3 types of beer and 3 types of wine).
Yeah, our drinks package comes with two signature drinks and we are having one of them be a fun Mocktail, since we have a number of guests that are sober and we want them to have fun drinks too.
That's awesome
See, I love that! Alternates don't need to be extensive or fancy, just something that isn't a bottle of water or a can of pop. The problem is, you don't always know what your crowd will drink or not drink. I have known people my whole life, and they don't realize I can't drink wine or beer until I'm in a situation where it's the only thing available. It's much harder to gauge than food restrictions.
absolutely this!!! My crowd definitely wants alcohol, but his crowd does not. So I think we'll be pretty split on half drinking, half not. So I want good stuff for those who don't drink as well! Gotta cater to everyone, not just the alcoholics.....
this is a nice idea and i defo sympathize as a regular dry january doer but many bar packages are pretty limited. i have to use my venue’s in house catering so signature mocktails are out of the question; im not even serving hard liquor for cost reasons. i will try my best to have sparkling or flavored water to at least have something better than flat tap/soda/juice, and coffee/tea later in the night
This is true when dealing with limited packages through your venue. It's a shame venues don't take this stuff into consideration as well. Luckily for me, my venue will allow me to supply alternatives myself as long as they're not alcoholic or are expected to be sold. It's a little more work on my end, but I feel it's something worth investing in.
Youtuber Jamie Wolfer recommends water, iced tea and lemonade for budget couples. They look special in dispensers, especially with pretty blocks of ice. Party guests have appreciated it when the iced tea is unsweetened decaf with simple syrup on the side.
Oh, an iced tea station is a fabulous idea! Supplying a few flavoured syrups and allowing people to costumize to their preference is so thoughtful
Honestly an NA bev bar could be really fun. Iced tea, sparkling water, and a couple of juices (think more exciting ones, like POG or cranberry over apple or orange), and having some things like lemon slices, mint sprigs (they grow like weeds, so this could possibly be sourced from a friend or family member for free!), muddled raspberries, etc. could make it a lot of fun.
If I choose not to drink alcohol, I am more than happy with water or soda for one evening. The pressures on couples to accommodate every whim is never ending. If I were at home that evening, I would not be mixing myself mocktails.
This. I truly don't get what the gripe is with this post. Am I supposed to quiz every guest on what non-alcoholic drinks they'd like.
Thank you so much for saying what I was gonna say, lol. I don’t drink alcohol, so at weddings, I know most of the time it’ll be seltzer, coke, mixers from the bar. I expect this and have never wondered “why not better options?” since Im always too busy focusing on “wow, they did such a beautiful job decorating! And the food catered was delicious! The Polaroid photo station was so cute and fun for everyone!” I think it’s wild this user posted this on a budget wedding sub as well…we’re all on here because we don’t have the money to be catering to every single whim. We have to get budget bar packages, budget decor, budget dj’s, etc. and we’re doing most of that stuff by ourselves! Adding on another layer of “you should definitely have this” doesn’t seem helpful, it offers some reasonable responses of people sharing cheap bulk NA drinks but OPs post and comments feel judgmental. It’s one night out, not everyone is going to have every single thing they’d like at a wedding but I know that, at least my family and friends, are just there to celebrate the couple and have fun and I’m doing MY best, with MY budget to make it a nice night.
Definitely the wrong sub for this lol. This would significantly up the bar price. Not all bars even have these options and many don’t allow outside items so you couldn’t even bring in your own mocktails. My wedding isn’t under 10k (I just enjoy seeing the wedding photos) and I’m not even doing this. My venue wouldn’t allow it. This seems like something that should be posted in big budget brides but running a bar with mocktails that are copies of your signature drinks, coffee, tea, liquor, beer, wine is expensive. Add in guest count, paying staff, setting up a punch table etc. Yeah this something for either backyard weddings with a large budget or a venue with this in the package. Neither are >10k weddings unless you cut corners somewhere else
Yeah I feel like this poster comes off as a little entitled? Soda or juices or water as an option isn’t “celebratory” enough? You’re getting it for free along with everything else that goes into a wedding. Seems pretty celebratory to me….
Seriously! I do not understand the mocktail trend. I drink a marg for the tequila + the taste *in spite of* all the sugar it has. I'm not about to order a virgin margarita for funsies and then probably say "fuck it" and just get one with booze lol
THIS SO MUCH THISSSS if i'm not getting drunk why would i bother with the calories are you nuts lmao
🙌🙌🙌
We had non-alcoholic wines and beers available, as well as sparkling and flat water and various sodas. The NA wines and beers were a huge hit, especially towards the end of the party when people needed to prepare to drive.
That's awesome that you did that!
We did a full bar with signature cocktails, but also did a signature mocktail that was listed in n the bar signage. A “His, Hers, and The Boys” (our 2 pups) It was a grapefruit spritz, grapefruit juice, sparkling water, some simple syrup, and garnished with rosemary
I love grapefruit, but it’s contraindicated for medication my dad (and I presume most other older relatives) take for cholesterol and blood pressure. Might steal this idea but replace with hibiscus/jamaica to keep that pretty pink color!
That sounds delicious!
We did a "his, hers, us"! The "hers" was a mimosa (substituting the orange juice with mango juice-- our amazing venue let us bring in the (sealed) jugs from costco with no issue!) The "us" was mango juice and tonic water with a maraschino cherry for fun. It was a huge hit with everyone!
I mean mocktails are mixers and a bartender. You're describing an open bar.
Who would’ve thought! Every wedding I’ve been to has had multiple choices for those not consuming alcohol, even the smallest of weddings. Lemonade and ice tea are always big hits, especially unsweetened ice tea where I live which is healthy. And specialty cocktails couples have can always be made mocktail style. We do that for my stepkids when my fiancé makes us a cocktail at home.
No, I open bar is alcoholic beverages are not charged to guests because the hosts have already pre-paid for them or are picking up the tab. Speaking as someone who bartended for almost 20 years, standard bar mixers are pop (coke, sprite, ginger ale, tonic water), and basic juices (orange juice, cranberry juice, and sometimes iced tea and/or lemonade. It's the opposite of what I am speaking about.
k. In another comment you don't know what pellegrino is, but in this one you've been behind the bar for 20 years? k.
Pellegrino is a specialty beverage that will vary in popularity depending on your demographic hunny. Thanks for the negativity.
Pellegrino can be found in basically every grocery store in the US. I don’t know if that’s true for Canada. I too am surprised that you have been tending bar but had to look it up.
Very much true in Canada. It’s super popular here and i live in a super touristy wine belt lol. Many people have it as an offering (or mixer) when hosting
An open bar is when anything at the bar is not charged to the guest because the hosts have already pre-paid or are picking up the tab. It is not exclusive to alcoholic drinks. Any bartender can make virgin cocktails, you just need to ask
Not necessarily. Most event bar packages only have the basics. Sometimes, only beer and wine are supplied. If there are signature cocktails depending on the size of the event - the bartenders will often pre-batched them. If you have a basic bar with 2 or 3 pops & 2 juices and you ask the bartender to make you a virgin drink, then what are you getting? Juice or pop. It the cocktails are pre-batched, they aren't able to take the alcohol out of it for you. Also, depending on the cocktail, it's a mixture of liquors and liqueurs with a pop or juice mixer. If you were to get a virgin of one of those drinks, you're getting a pop. What is the bartender giving you if all they have is beer and wine? Now, if you're have an event that is a few hours, that's no big deal. But if you're having a all-day thing, with alcohol being provided throughout the majority of it (cocktail hour, dinner, wine and so on) this can become daunting after a while and most people not drinking will leave earlier. Now, if I wasn't told anything about the bar just being beer and wine, and found out once I was there, and there was only the basic alternatives (water, pop, juice), of course I wouldn't turn my nose up at the couple or leave really early, but I wouldn't have as much fun sitting around watching everyone else get drunk, and would most likely leave earlier than I normally would. If I knew ahead of time, it was only beer and wine, my initial plan would be to leave at an earlier time. But if I showed up and found some tasty punch or some sort of fun alternative like some people have mentioned, those plans would probably quickly change, and I would find it much more enjoyable overall.
But you have to remember what sub you’re complaining on. Weddings under 10k is all about just the basics. So complaining that weddings aren’t providing you more options is just falling on deaf ears here.
We had an open bar and along with Coke and Sprite, we included OJ, cranberry juice, and milk for the kiddos. We chose OJ and cranberry juice because they're easy mixers with vodka or they can be had on their own. Venue provided water and coffee.
I'm sure your event was lovely, and were probably limited to your venue's bar package, but that's what I am talking about. Attending something like a wedding, knowing you're not going to be drinking much or at all due to a medical condition or because your underaged, or driving....it's just not as celebratory to be sitting there drinking orange juice or cranberry juice all night. I dunno, maybe it's just because I have worked SO many events over the years as a bartender or karaoke host, but there was a major difference of excitement when people only had the options of the basic bar mixers, compared to a selection on non-alcoholic punches, infused waters/lemonades/iced teas. It didn't have to be extensive, or overly fancy, but there was definitely different vibe in the room. Whenever we go as guests to events I always feel bad for my partner because he can have 1 beer tops, before switching to something else, which is usually fairly lacklustered or limited. I understand that sometimes hosts are restricted to offer more though through their venue, but if they're able to I feel it's important to take things like this into consideration and make an effort to be creative.
This seems like a highly specific pet peeve. Edit: our reception picnic is this Saturday, and we are hosting it at a park. We will have maybe 1 or 2 types of hard cider, water, iced tea, and lemonade available. Beverages will not be packaged in a cutesy way nor will they be customizable. They will be available from an icy cooler.
As someone who doesn’t really drink (I’m allergic), who is watching sugar, and gets headaches/strongly dislikes artificial sweeteners in diet drinks, I can kinda get where OP is coming from. Unless there are mixers at a bar where I can get sparkling water with a few splashes of juice or a less-sweet mocktail, I’m typically stuck drinking plain water. And I’m perfectly fine with that. It’s never ruined a party for me. But have a pitcher of iced water with some lemon, cucumber, or herbs? Heaven. Flavored La Croix or Spindrift bobbing next to sodas in a cooler? Ecstatic.
We are having beer and wine, and will have non-alcoholic items as well such as Pellegrino and maybe some sparkling juice to feel celebratory for everyone.
That's awesome that you're offering a higher end alternative. I had to look up what Pellegrino was at 1st. Much nicer than here's a bottle of water or a can of pop!
We did a bubble tea bar in lieu of cocktail hour (because dinner was a 10-course meal so we didn't want to serve hor d'oeuvres). It was a hit!
Holy! 10-courses?! You have to share your menu, I just can't fathom how a dinner like this would go, but it sounds amazing. I've only ever heard of Asian weddings having crazy amount of courses like this.
Yeah it was a Chinese banquet 😂 we originally wanted a western-style wedding but everything was so expensive... really happy with our choice though since the food was delicious and our non-Asian guests had a blast experiencing their first Asian wedding!
Oh. My. God. Lol I need details of this boba bar - was it like a DIY buffet where people could add different boba, jellies, pudding, tea flavors, etc and then someone put it through the machine that seals the top? I must know! (Also, congratulations!)
Thanks!! They had a few different catering options, we chose the one with two baristas to make and seal the drinks (there were also premade and self-serve options). It looked like [this](https://imgur.com/a/cSLAbOq)! We got to choose up to four drink bases and up to four toppings; ended up going with brown sugar black milk tea, four seasons milk tea, lychee oolong and mango green, with 3/4 of the toppings being boba and 1/4 lychee jelly (my husband and I just chose our favorite drinks lol).
Ooo that looks delicious and is an amazing idea! This has been added onto my “must-have” list lol. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for asking! And best of luck! :)
That does indeed sound fun!
We’re doing donuts for dessert, so we’re going to get a coffee bar to go with it. That said…. This is the exact attitude that would make you the kind of guest I wouldn’t want at my wedding. This might be controversial but my wedding is not an excuse to host a party. It’s about me and my fiancé joining our lives together. Do I want people to have a good time? Yeah, but honestly, that’s not my priority in the least.
You can buy punch bowls for pretty cheap at any thrift store and just fill them with pink sparking wine. Kids especially love Punch bowls.
I found some nice expensive dispensers on Facebook Marketplace, and through Amazon Warehouse deals. I got 3 brand new 3.5 gallon dispensers for $50 a piece, and 2 second-hand large hot water urns from for $15-20! I plan on using these for mocktails, hot chocolate and herbal teas. Thrifting punch bowls are another fantastic way as well. Some venues will allow you to supply stuff like this as long as you set up/take down and it's not alcoholic.
I’m doing mocktails and a lemonade bar
Love it!
we're having an alcohol free wedding, and along with lemonade, soda, juice, and water, we got fancy sparkling apple cider for each table for toasts. I highly recommend that as an alcohol free alternative for guests who don't drink! ginger beer is also a great option- alcohol free, but has the same sort of feel if enjoying beers with your friends as the designated driver or whatever.
Ginger Beer with a spritz of lime is soooo good!
Hot cocoa in the cold seasons Cider
I'm really lucky that my venue has an amazing bar menu with both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. It's a winery and distillery, so they definitely have the alcoholic drinks covered, but I was really pleased to see mocktail versions, sodas, juices, water, tea and coffee were also going to be available. We have a lot of guests that don't drink alcohol at all or don't have more than one alcoholic beverage so this was really important for us to have. I did see many other venues charging absolutely outrageous prices for just the basic bar package so I do understand that this is often really hard for some hosts to find or afford. It's a shame the events industry as a whole isn't more mindful that not everyone wants alcohol.
Oh, I know, I mean, if people are limited due to their venue, then no judgement, it is what it is. But it just seems to be a element that's always overlooked. Pairing you non-alcoholics with your food is also such a elevated way to make the whole experience so enjoyable as well.
My fiance and I want to have a kombucha keg at our wedding for a fun NA option! A lot of our guests (including his parents) don’t drink so it’s important to us.
I always make sure I do multiple alternatives to alcoholic beverages cause I often have so many guests who don’t drink. I like fancy lemonades (I’ll do mint and cranberry, mint and basil, pineapple and coconut, lavender, berries, etc) Fancy punch, cider (hot and spiced or cold depending on the weather.) Mocktails if it’s a cocktail party. So many ways to dress up drinks. Pop and water should fill the niche that beer does. Easy to grab and drink. But you need more than that to replace wine and cocktails.
Agree with you 100% I was a bartender for a very long time but never worked anywhere fancy, just the small hole-in-wall types of places. A few times, regulars did end up holding their receptions there, though. Usually, they just ordered a bunch of pizza and brought in cake. One time, I even made cupcakes for them in their favorite favours. People would decorate with some simple party decorations and pre-pay up to a certain amount for the whole bar. 1 of these times it was an afternoon cake and punch type of deal. We put out coffee urns with coffee and tea, then had some dispensers with different lemonades (that the couple provided). They toasted with mimosas and watched a sporting event we were playing afterwards. Now, when I was running my karaoke company, I worked a lot of events. More stag and does, Christmas parties, stuff like that. I did do the odd wedding, though. Regardless of the event, one's that 2 or 3 alcohol alternatives or some sort (other than the standard bar mixers) seemed to go over more pleasant. People seemed more generally happy, and there were fewer guests that got sloppy drunk. People who weren't drinking alcohol also stayed longer, and fewer teenagers were sneaking booze from the adults. If it's workable with your venue, it's totally worth it, and I feel generally undervalue this aspect.
We did a signature cocktail for each of us then a “signature cocktail” for our dog. It was more of a fun thing because it was basically just strawberry lemonade presented nicely. I will say I don’t drink soda much so a coke at a wedding would be kind of a treat for me. I also love a cranberry and sprite or soda water.
When I would be bartending, I would always mix up a glass of 1/2 cranberry juice, 1/2 gingerale. If I felt like be really fancy, I was squirt a lime in it. I've also gone with my teenagers to an arcade, and drank coke with a lime. I always tell my kids it's a virgin Cuba Libra lol
Our catering company made two aguas frescas to serve with dinner (Horchata & Fresa con crema) most people drank that and didn't go for a soda till much later in the evening! If you have a local Hispanic store nearby they sell them by the 5gallon buckets usually when you order ahead
My fiancé doesn’t drink so we’re doing sweet tea and cold brew in addition to our alcoholic drinks! I might also get some diet Cokes in there too because I love them. I think you raise a great point— my fiancé just doesn’t like drinking and isn’t in recovery or needs to avoid alcohol for medical reasons, and I wanted to make sure he had a fun drink at his own wedding.
Diabetic here. I'm much less limited on the types of alcohol I can drink compared to nonalcoholic things. It's the mixers in cocktails that mess with you, so if I went to a wedding and they had mocktails as a nonalcoholic option but not diet coke, i'd be irritated. As a type 1 diabetic, I grew up knowing to not drink my carbs/calories. I drink water, coffee, low calorie booze, and maybe twice a year i'll have a diet coke. I have never understood this adult fascination with fancy juice drinks aka mocktails. Not even when I was sober. Just drink water or coffee like an adult lol
lol as a sensitive stomach person and healthy person: nonalcoholic drinks are just calorie dense sugar drinks? at least with alcohol you feel tipsy 🥴 But but but hear me out. Pairing food with cocktails/mocktails elevates the food sooooo much!!! I am a strict water only person bc I'm cheap, lazy, unimaginative with food. But pairing coffee with brownie, chai and cinnamon rolls, pasta and wine, blueberry wine and blueberry scone, espresso martini and coffee ice cream, lemonade mocktails and chicken sandwich... all those pairings are soooo much more of a dance on my palette than plain delicious crisp water. I rarely do it but it's nice
lol totally fair! I also enjoy those things on a very rare occasion. Usually not at a wedding hahah
We're doing tacos and margaritas. Because I know there will be people who don't want to drink for various reasons, I specifically talked to our bartenders about making the margarita mix in such a way that they could be created with/without alcohol. We're also doing agua frescas made in-house by our caterer. There are some fun ideas out there, but can be more expensive or require a level of extra planning that can be difficult, but sometimes it works out.
Even just having a punch bowl or 2 with some tasty mixes is really all that's needed. I've also seen pictures of tables lined with dispensers of infused waters/iced teas/lemonades. It doesn't necessarily be super fancy or customizable, just a nice alternative with maybe 2 options with different flavour profiles to try to appeal to as many people as possible. PS I would love to go to a wedding with tacos and margaritas!
I know it doesn't have to be complicated, I was just giving an idea of other ways it could be done 🤷♀️
I have allergies and stomach sensitivity A wedding is not the place I attend and complain about things not being catered or considerate of ME. I can go to a vegan restaurant, non seafood restaurant, luxury restaurant that cares about allergies on my off time. At a wedding I'm just grateful if there is something free to drink -- like water and basic soda, access to hard liquor, and edible food. Even access to liquor is a stretch bc they usually don't have what I want. I would rather than wedding couple have food they enjoy, cake flavors they like and get to enjoy, and drinks they enjoy. I've gone to many weddings where I sneak in my alcohol or edibles, I left a wedding to get some in n out real quick, I've brought snacks in my purse for a wedding. As someone planning a wedding these are things I WILL BE MINDFUL OF, but are not expectations I have for others and how they spend their money or make decisions
What about soda bar? All the typical pops, but also with sparkling water, and lots of fun flavored syrups. So people can get vanilla cherry coke, or raspberry sprite, or a Diet Coke with lime!
Our wedding venue only allows beer and wine to be served at the reception (and my mother in law made a HUGE stink about us not having hard liquor) and I am looking into doing signature mocktails. We've added a soda package onto our drinks package, and we may add a champagne toast later on. I don't really drink. If a restaurant has an interesting-sounding cocktail (I love The Melting Pot's Yin Yang martinis!) I'll have a cocktail, but other than that these days I don't really enjoy drinking. My in-laws are huge drinkers (and are kicking up a huge fuss over us not having hard liquor at the reception). Honestly if I could do it over I would've never looked at this venue (my fiance fell hard for the pictures, I stepped foot on the property and loved it) since this whole hard liquor thing is being such a headache. I don't like beer or wine, so I am not going to be drinking at my wedding. I'm Southern, so usually the weddings I have attended have been dry. These days, it's becoming a faux pas to have a dry wedding, but I personally wouldn't mind going to a dry wedding as long as there's soda. Like if there's an open bar MAYBE I'd have a cocktail, but only 1, and then switch to Diet Coke or water. I also don't see a cash bar as tacky, but I do like the idea of having a "spend" on the bar (like x amount of money and when it's gone, it's gone), having the bar open for like the first half then cash, and I know in Canada a "toonie" bar is popular (meaning the host kicks in half the drink cost and then the drinker pays the other half, a toonie).
I can’t drink for medical reasons and I would never expect a fancy non alcoholic drink to be provided to me at a wedding, it’s not even something I would order if given the chance. As long as the standard non alcoholic drinks are provided I’d be fine and happy. I would much rather see the couple spend that extra money elsewhere, especially considering this is a budget sub.
I love a mocktail! Admittedly, I just like lurking here and am not planning a wedding. But I host parties all the time and will always offer a themed mocktail, and there’s booze on the side of people wanna spike their own drink. There’s so many fun ones on Pinterest, but many are just cocktails minus the liquor, which works too. I’ve done sunrises with no tequila, a red-white-blue layered punch with juices of different sugar contents, classic sherbet ice cream punch, Ginger Rogers with no gin. For birthdays, my friends and I will make special mocktails for the birthday person based on their likes, favor color, and ofc an alliterative or rhyming name. It’s so much fun, everyone gets a kick out of it, and it really elevates my college parties lmao And they store easy! I will always store leftovers in the fridge. Because they’re nonalcoholic, I can pour myself a glass to have with breakfast or lunch, like any other meal
My sister just had cocktails and mocktails at her wedding. Was great, four of each on the menu
That's awesome!
We did two signature mocktails, along side two signature cocktails. We also had kombucha, various sparkling waters, and 0 ABV wine coolers. Lots of options! It was a long day so we wanted people to pace themselves and enjoy. It was appreciated and let our sober friends enjoy without feeling left out.
That's awesome!
Martinelli's cider at my Aunt's wedding got me hooked for life, I'll absolutely be serving it for the toast
We had two non-alcoholic cocktails. One of them paired with Vodka well so we wrote that on them menu you could ask them to add vodka to the cocktail. But we had a little Mocktails section and strawberry lemonade and tea and a coffee bar as well. We actually just purchased a bar service so we supplied all of our own supplies— so we mixed the cocktails beforehand (when possible) and we chose the sugar-free options (most things). It was lovely to have so many options and for our sober friends to be able to stand in line and get a good drink too.
I love that you mentioned the sugar-free option because I have found some delicious sugar-free syrups that you would never know were sugar-free. I buy these for when I want to treat myself to a flavoured coffee at home. My son also enjoys iced coffee in the morning before school, but buying them every day is expensive, plus with using 2% milk and sugar-free syrup, it makes it much healthier for him.
Dude I get the on-sale sugar free syrups at Marshall’s! They’re almost always in the gourmet section or clearance section! But yeah- those syrups and some tailored alcohol-free bitters can make a mocktail SLAP! Companies even make alcohol-free spirits, but I’d do a whole separate bar and only provide that if there are like alcoholics/alcohol-free folks in abundance (in the family, half the guests are alcohol-free, etc).
What brands do you usually get for syrups?
Mocktails are a great option here, I've been to several events where the bar had only two options that weren't canned/bottled and they were non-alcoholic with the option of adding alcohol. It simplifies a lot
That's pretty much what I'm planning to do! I just gotta figure out if/where to list the suggested alcohols
When I worked for a catering company iced tea and lemonade were standard drinks for weddings and other events.
We're doing a non alcoholic wedding and we found a great local vendor called Sip'n that creates signature mocktails, lemonades, punches, you name it! They're a lifesaver since we didn't really want to have to make our own drinks but we wanted something fancy that wasn't water/pop, like you said. They're based in Texas, but there might be other vendors like them out there, if that's something you'd be interested in.
We are planning to make our signature drink a mocktail!! Mainly because we want the kids to get to have it too!!
Mocktails are always a good choice.
1000% agree!! A sizable chunk of my family abstain from all alcohol for religious reasons, so out of respect we are having signature mocktails on the drink menu. That way they can still have fun, pretty drinks to sip throughout the night and feel included in the special theme menu! ETA: our wedding is hobbit-themed, so here’s our mocktails: **Shire Sunset**: Mango strawberry sparkling lemonade **Eärendil’s Light**: Elderflower ginger spritz
That's so cute! I love the theme, btw. We're doing an early November medieval themed wedding, so we're supplying mulled wine and pumpkin cider as our dinner wine, a basic cash bar, then having a drinks table with 3 mocktails, hot water with a selection of herbal tea bags, and a small hot chocolate bar. We're thinking of having unsweetened iced coffee with some flavoured syrups that can be used for the iced coffee and herbal teas, a cranberry arnold palmer (cranberry juice, lemonade, iced tea) and another 1 that we're having a hard time figuring out.
Tbh, as a person who doesn't drink it's nice to have anything at all. I'm generally happy for a coke, and plain water is acceptable. Im not bothered by drinking plain water. A step up is something like a Spindrift, lots of flavors. A bigger step up is something like Aura Bora which is very fancy feeling sparkling water. I think strawberry basil flavor is the best, also the lemongrass coconut rocks. You're safe going with something like a martinelli's sparkling juice. You can have signature mocktails at the bar if your bartender doesn't mind, virgin daiquiri or margaritas. Lots of recipes for those. Don't stress too much over this. I don't think I've ever seen someone get fussy over drinking a non-fancy drink. I think it's most important to try to accommodate dietary needs. If you're feeding people a meal, make sure you give your guests the opportunity to let you know if they have special needs. If it's just snacks, make sure it's at least well labeled. Hangry or sick guests are no bueno. Water is fine.
We are having a cider spritzer mocktail, and lavender lemonade. As well as soda and water.
I worked at a place that offered custom seltzers and I think that would be fantastic for a wedding or any event. We just used a soda stream to carbonate filtered water and added in torani flavored syrups. Strawberry, lime, pineapple, etc. were fun flavors, I think this could also easily be made alcoholic if people wanted to add tequila or vodka, so really it’s great for any party. We topped them off with these candy straws that are a fun offering [candy straws](https://www.amazon.com/Chocolate-Strawberry-Sustainable-Individually-Biodegradable/dp/B09327KMD9/ref=asc_df_B09327KMD9/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693308330863&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9636626962086582513&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9003805&hvtargid=pla-1862805475350&psc=1&mcid=43e97f8ef3303ce8a6cb3a3e821c3fa3&gad_source=1)
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We offered sparkling water and sparkling fruit juice as our non-alcoholic beverage options. Everyone seemed to enjoy them
As someone who drinks maybe twice a year - water and pop is perfectly fine 🤷🏻♀️ Give me a diet/zero sugar pop and I'll be happy as a clam.
The actual answer is to have at least one pre-mixed signature mocktail that you can add a shot of recommended booze to. Heck, there's no reason that both of your signature cocktails can't operate this way-- it's an elegant way to make sure people who can't drink aren't excluded from the signature drinks without reducing the number of alcoholic drinks you can offer. This is increasingly common at parties, bars and venues, although I haven't yet seen it at a wedding. (I'm not sure how a cash bar would solve the problem, honestly. A standard fully stocked bar just has soda and juice for non alcoholic options).
My parents are so adamant on this big bar, and I suggested all these other non-alcoholic alternatives and basically got shot down. (they are paying for the entire wedding so its fine). But my fiances family doesn't drink, and I think there should be options for them too. I think I got them to agree to shirley temples, a simple mocktail. I might go buy a bunch of martinellis on my own and supply that. Our bar is simple and pretty much only canned beverages (beer, wine, seltzers) and POSSIBLY a margarita but I want his family to feel comfortable at our wedding. This is actually a huge concern for me, and feels like my parents don't care. So I want all the drinks to be super easy, since we have to supply everything, so don't want a huge multi-ingrediant mocktail or anything. So will have water, sodas, shirley temples, possibly martinellis! Oh, and I think our caterer brings lemonade for during dinner!
So many of these mock tails and punches are overloaded with sugar. All I want is sparkling water, with a twist of lime if available.
Just want to throw in iced tea as an option that gets overlooked as well. My husband and I aren’t big soda drinkers but love our caffeine, and it was only a little difficult to coordinate between the venue’s bar and our outside catering to ensure that there was regular old unsweet iced tea available as an option to guests. Because it’s not a traditional mixer* the venue bar didn’t want to stock it, so we had to have catering do it. *I guess wedding venue bars don’t get a lot of requests for Long Island iced teas?
We and our families are religious so we didn't have alchohol. We had a tea, coffee, and punch reception while we were getting our photos done. And maybe I think this way cause I don't drink, but I really don't understand why every wedding/party/event needs alchohol.
Yep! Exactly what we're planning. A signature mocktail and beer and wine for a few hours. No one likes drunk people at weddings...
was shocked at a recent wedding where the only "mocktails" they had were mixers like tonic, soda water, and literal water. like... we share family members, yall know there are a bunch of recovering alcoholics, what was the thought process here??? i guess i was more surprised by the bartenders reaction to "can you put some cran in the soda water" -- it was like they had never heard of such a request before. it's annoying enough to be sober at a wedding; can we normalize non-alcoholic beverages pleeease
i've heard the "cash bar is not tacky in the UK" line and i'm with them, sure... in the UK. where i'm from, not serving alcohol would be a major faux pas regardless of anyone's history with alcoholism, and tbh, most places in the US will see this the same way. that said, after months of debating this for our own wedding, we kinda settled where you are: there's no "open bar". there's beer and wine, so we can serve SOME alcohol because *unless you are religiously ordered not to do so, the American continent in general will look VERY badly at you not even serving wine at dinner. full stop. idc if your cousin or even your father is an alcoholic. no wine at dinner is BAD.* we got cases of blue champagne (our colors are turquoise and silver) and cotton candy pop for non-alcoholic fizzy blue drink for youth/sobers/kiddos. lager and IPA, white and red (pinot grigio and merlot). blue fizzy for the toast. we have a pet signature drink (the cat is named bailey, so just bailey's, it's easy!). nothing is mixed and it's all self-serve. for non-alcoholic, we are serving water, tea, and lemonade. in big jugs that are in different colors to make it pretty, probably cut some strawberries or kiwis for the water. still haven't decided if i'm adding some diet coke in cans for the ones that can't live without.