Alcohol at wedding reception?  

you have to consider your guests and your venue.

my family all drink a lot. that's just a fact.

if we'd had the reception somewhere where there was an option for a paying bar, no one would have considered that a problem. they would never assume we would pay for them to drink.

but we had our reception in my mums orchard. so there was no paid bar. all food and all drink had to be brought in by us on the day. although we did put in with the information notes in the invites, where we had directions between the venues and so on, a note saying that we have done our best to provide enough food and drink, but if anyone is willing to bring extra, it will help keep the party spirit flowing.


about a year and a half before our wedding, my uncle also had a wedding with the reception in the orchard. and he ran out of beer. not wine, just the beer, but as I don't drink wine, I then had only soft drinks availiable.

so we were determined to do our best and the whole time in between, if there was a good offer on beer or wine, we would stock up.


and we ran out of nothing. his parents even arranged a few barrels of real ale, which is an area we'd not even considered.

and we didn't run out. but that's no matter, we had plenty of beer for months afterwards.

in that sort of situation, if it's not something that will go to waste you are better overproviding than not.

but ultimately, if you can't provide much or any alcohol, it's your wedding. just make sure the guests know upfront, so if they want to have any they can make arrangements.

I agree with you that it's additional expense. More than that, some people may be intoxicated which can cause trouble. For me, I prefer to have juice than alcohol. The people who will eat in the wedding reception needs a drink and they will be contented with a grape juice, just like the juice that Jesus Christ made in the wedding at Cana. That would be the best juice. Have a wonderful wedding.

I don't think its a must. Its preference, I had a dry wedding, there are alcoholics in my family and there is no way I would have wanted that craziness at the wedding. Neither my husband or I drink and so we decided and since we got married in his parents back yard and they don't drink it was just best not to have it. Plus we got married in the afternoon, so it wasn't expected. Just do what you FEEL is right, for you and your partner, don't think you have to make others happy.

Oh and for "champagne" we had sparkling cider so it "felt" fizzy and fun. If you want champagne and other drinks, and can fit it into your wedding budget then go for it. But it certainly isn't a necessity.

I don't know,if it is a tradition to serve wine to the guests or not.You will have to do it,if it is. I am a non drinker and alcohol is more or less banned from any social gathering where women and children are involved.Only non alcoholic drinks like juices,cold drinks,beverages or milkshakes are allowed. Corporate gathering are an exception.

When my husband and I got married we did not serve any alcohol. All we served was sparkling cider for the toast. We served punch instead of drinks and it had really helped us save money. If you need to cut expenses alcohol would be the one I cut. I want to wish you all the best.

I really don't think that it's a must. Personally, I think that whether or not there is alcohol present at a wedding depends on several different things, such as the guests, the venue, the couple's tastes, and such. There doesn't need to be alcohol. My husband and I didn't have any alcohol at our wedding.

I dont and cant drink due to medical issues. If I were getting married I wouldnt serve alcohol or have a limit such as champagne or make them pay. Why should I pay when I cant have any?. I know some who would disagree but I dont any. In the end its all up to those getting married.

When I went to my friend's wedding, I thought that there would be no alcohol. My friend, her husband and both of their families don't drink because of their religion, and I thought that they would have chosen to have a party without any alcohol. I am not from the same religion, but it wouldn't have been a problem to me if there had been no alcohol.

At my own wedding we had alcohol. Both of our families like to have a glass of wine etc, and we knew that they would get pretty disappointed if we had a party without alcohol, but if our families had been like my friend's family we would probably have chosen a party without alcohol.

A few wedding I know of they served no drinks to anyone. if you wanted drinks you brought it yourself. less people were drunk. No fights came about and the whole thing was nice. My reception we had wine the guest had beers.

It's not a must. It depends on what you want. After all, it's YOUR day and not anybody else's (except your future spouse, of course!).

For us, we chose not to have alcohol at the wedding. We had six different branches of family there (two mothers, two fathers, and stepfather/stepmother) and the majority of people from all of those families were alcoholics. We didn't want something stupid like some drinking ruin our day and cause a bunch of drama, so we said no drinking. Some people got mad and annoyed, but we said if they felt like that then they didn't need to come to the reception if they didn't want to, we were fine with that.

In the end, it worked out OK. Those that really felt they needed to drink had a couple in their cars and nobody acted stupid or drunk, so we were fine with it. We used soda for the toast, which was also OK because we were both too young to legally drink anyway, so it didn't hurt our feelings a bit. xD

You really should talk to your fiance about it and discuss what you both want to do. If you don't want to pay for it, you can always offer to have them bring whatever they want to drink. Or you can have a pay-for-your own bar, but you would also need to pay for the bartender, but they would pay for their drinks. You could also call the place where you're having the reception and ask what options they suggest. They might be able to help you with that.

Good luck in deciding and I hope you have a wonderful wedding!