You've Been Served

Couples often face the dilemma of what to serve at their wedding. Beer and wine only? Full bar? Specialty drinks? Here is some advice to guide you through the process.

1. Check with your venue first. If you’re getting married at a winery, chances are the venue has already made the decision for you — you’re usually limited to wine and beer, and the wine you serve must be theirs. The one exception is that if they don't have a bubbly varietal, they’ll usually allow you to bring in sparkling wine or champagne.

2. Hosting a morning or afternoon wedding? Consider just serving Bloody Marys and Mimosas, which will keep your bar tab down.

3. Most importantly, know your audience, or in this case, your guests. If your crowd is mainly a wine-drinking bunch, then you can skip hard alcohol. However if your parents or your fiancé’s parents are gin or vodka drinkers, then you know that you’ll have to add a full bar to the mix — at least for the cocktail hour. At a recent wedding I attended, I was very surprised to see several guests drinking beer out of cans. But, I think the bride and groom knew their friends and knew what they liked to drink, so they made sure the resort had their favorite beer on-hand.

4. Don’t forget to add regional specialties to your drink menu — even if you’ve moved away from the South, it might be fun to serve Mint Juleps at your wedding or pass Manhattans if you’re an ex-New Yorker who misses her roots. These can be fun additions to make your wedding unique.

5. Ask your venue for their package drink prices (generally priced by the guest for a certain number of hours). These can sometimes be good deals especially if you have a big drinking crowd. It also allows for fewer surprises at the end of the night than if you’re being billed on consumption.

6. Find out from your venue if you can bring in your own alcohol (also a money-saver). You may also be able to return unopened bottles of booze to the store where you purchase your wedding beverages — ask before you purchase about their return policy.

7. On the Big Day, be sure to ask your caterer or the venue not to pre-open bottles of wine and specify no over-pouring or serving guests without asking them first. Lastly, ask that the waiters not bus full glasses of wine when guests are getting jiggy on the dance floor. Each of these measures will ensure that your crowd consumes less wine in the long run.

Cheers to your wedding day!

This post was originally posted on my first wedding blog, Amy's Guide to All Things Bride in August of 2006.