Non alcoholic options at a reception?

Question

I'm getting married in two months and my fiancee's family is paying for the wedding. They don't want alcohol served at the reception so I was looking for other options. We will have champagne but I was worried if it may look bad to others cause there is no alcohol. Did anyone not have alcohol at their wedding?? what did you have instead??

My previous question on this got accidentally got deleted so I have to ask again. Thanks for the input.

Answer 1

It will not look bad. Esp if you are serving champagne. Unless your wedding is an ultra formal, after 5, black tie affair, the lack of alcohol should not be an issue.

A lot of people do not have alcohol at their weddings, for numerous reasons.

Answer 2

I've been to plenty of weddings where they did not serve any alcohol, other than champagne to toast with: try serving a variety of soft drinks - rent a soda fountain, have some fresh and fruity punch, maybe put a twist on things and offer smoothies or virgin dacqueries for everyone. I think people can suffice for a few hours without alcohol, and those that can't will probably not attend or will drink before they hit the reception. Good luck!!

Answer 3

I think the other Answerers have given great options. You should be able to find plenty of non-alcoholic drinks with all their suggestions.
If you decided no alcohol, then you shouldn't worry how it will look to others. This is your wedding reception. Other people can do as they wish at their own. I chose to have alcohol, punches, sodas, and juices at my reception. Many people went for the alcohol but the people who didn't were very thankful for the selection of non-alcoholic drinks.

Answer 4

If there's a specific reason why alcohol isn't being served at your wedding - and I'm sure there is, most people won't complain. I only know of one person who tried not to have alcohol at her wedding, and that was my idiot cousin - just because she wanted to make everyone crazy. (The bridal party told her if there was no alcohol at her wedding, there would be no bridal party at her wedding.)

Most reception halls have a catalog of non-alcoholic drinks to serve - start by asking them, and go with whatever strikes you. Otherwise, a punch and sparkling grape juice are perfectly acceptable.

Answer 5

It's different not to have alcohol at a wedding but it's not some kind of tacky disaster. There are plenty of religions that ban it so those people don't have alcohol at their weddings. No big deal. You could have a non alcoholic punch with sherbet and 7-Up and fruit and stuff. Make the ice cubes out of juice so the punch doesn't get diluted or better yet make a frozen juice mold like in a jello mold. Obviously you'll have soda and water and coffee and tea. I like sweet iced tea and alot of people drink unsweet iced tea. There are plenty of things to do. good luck.

Answer 6

I would say you have to respect the check writers' wishes. There are options if they don't want to pay for it, but don't mind it being present. The most common alternative is the Cash Bar...it allows people to pay for their drinks. And in many cases it encourages people to monitor how much they have had to drink.

We were not supposed to have alcohol at our wedding, but the reception was at a Country Club and where there is a will, there is always a way! People found their way to the club bar.

I wish you the best...trust me in this...you are going to be so busy (and tired by the end of the night, you won't even miss it.

Answer 7

My inlaws would have had a cow and the whole farm if they had sceen alcohol at our reception. We however did get it out when they left. We took the party back to a cabin and had a great time. Several of my friends have done the same, since some people did not approve, they waited till these people left.

Answer 8

When I got married we had no alcohol, but the reception was in the lower level of our church, and we weren't drinking at the time. But, a few years later we regreted not doing it differently, because most of our friends and relatives drank. So, after the reception they went and had drinks in other places. Nobody ever said anything, but I felt bad because they had spent their money on gifts, and I know most people would like to have to some drinks and good food. Even Jesus knew that, because after all that was the first miracle recorded in the Bible. But, you could always serve virgin drinks (like, margarita's or something without the alcohol). Hope everything turns out fine. Congrats!

Answer 9

My wife and I aren't big drinkers and didn't feel it was our duty to supply booze for others, so we got married on a Sunday morning. It was easy to do because we kept it small (under 60 people) and found that Sunday morning provided us many more options and cheaper prices for a reception price. We had the ceremony and a nice brunch at the same place in the country and after about three hours it was over and people were free to do what they wanted to do with the rest of their day. Doing this saved us a great deal of money.

The way I look at it, this is a day for the two of you. Everyone else who is invited should feel honored to be there. Being invited to a wedding ceremony is a priviledge. The day should be the way you want it to be, not the way your guests want it to be.

Answer 10

The Welch's sparkling grape juice is really good. My hubby is a recovering alcoholic who had been sober 15 yrs when we tied the knot. We didn't care if others drank, but we didn't. We used the sparkling grape juice for our toast. It was fun and all the kids were excited because they could have "champagne"!!! :) Serve soft drinks (it's what people drink anyway) and maybe have a punch bowl with some dry ice in it. :)

Good luck! :)