I’m getting married in a little over a month, and I need some fun/interesting/different non-alcoholic drink ideas. Neither the groom nor I drink alcohol, and a bunch of our friends don’t either. There will be people at the wedding who do drink, and we’re having an open bar for them, but I don’t want the only option for the rest of us to be water!
Both for dinner and for the toasts, what can we offer for everyone who doesn’t drink alcohol?
My alcoholic cousin drank n/a “wine” all the time. You can buy it in white or red. I believe Welch’s makes it. Also, Virgin Marys and Shirley Temples are standard drinks that any bartender knows how to make.
Sprite or Coke with a slice of lemon or lime, orange juice with grenadine…lots of non-drinkers drink these.
You may want to let the hall know that you’ll have a lot of non-drinkers there so the bartender is armed with plenty of options.
Sparkling grape juice or apple juice can be a lot of fun–and is perfect for toasts, since if you pick the right kind it looks like champagne.
Obviously, sparkling red grape juice doesn’t look much like champagne.
Sparkling cider is very festive.
Ginger beer!
I don’t know about the rest of the non-alcohol drinkers out there, but I consider offering alcohol-lookalikes to be incredibly offensive. The AA-type people would go ballistic. Think twice before ordering any of those.
A huge number of people out there have gotten married without any alcohol being involved at all. What makes people think that wandering around a reception with something that is or looks like champagne is at all required?
Stick to sodas and juices. Make sure you have sugar-free/caffiene-free choices. A lot of people who avoid alcohol do so for health reasons.
Some people don’t like the attention that is drawn from the drinkers in a predominantly drinking crowd. Lots of people prefer to remain anonymous. For those who don’t care, the other options are there. Also, some people like the festive flavors of mixed drinks once in a while.
[Simpsons]Beeeah?
B…e…e…e…e…a…a…h…?[/Simpsons]
How about some non-sweet drinks? Are you Down South enough to offer Iced Tea? (Of course, you might live in the Sweet Tea Belt.) Iced coffee?
Hot coffee or tea? Are there any rental coffee/espresso dealies available? Pots of real tea–or a selection of teabags with REALLY hot water? (Decaf options offered.)
I’m not just thinking of the non-drinkers. Those of us who like a cocktail (beer, wine) or two often like to switch to something more conducive to staying awake and/or driving home safely.
I’ve been to non-drinking receptions with many sweets offered, perhaps to compensate for the lack of booze. No problem–but I would have killed for something less cloying than fruit punch as an accompaniment.
Adding to my own post: For toasting, sparkling cider is hard to beat.
Lots of non-alcohol cocktails out there. Is a “San Francisco” non-alky in English too? Actually, does a cocktail called a “San Francisco” exist in English at all? Or course, sodas and fruit juices and tea (iced and hot).
Be careful with regards to “sparkly cider”. The sparkly ciders I know are fermented and therefore alcoholic (low alky, but it’s not the same as no alky). Back when I was in college in Florida, the cuban AAs would thwart the non-alky policy by using Sidra el Gaitero: when the anglos asked “isn’t champagne forbidden?” the cubans would grow a Hialeah-sized halo and answer “oh, it’s just cider”.
Ginger ale mixed with cranberry juice is very, very yummy.
Lime juice and cranberry juice mixed together make a good non-alcoholic cocktail. Adding a drop or two of bitters can add an extra dimension to the flavor. (Bitters are usually alcoholic, and similar in taste to Jaegermeister, but a drop or two of alcohol may be acceptable depending on the situation). You could also try LOTS of lime juice mixed with selzter.
Will the wedding be in the daytime? Virgin Marys are another good option–basically a Bloody without the the vodka. In general, I recommend providing non-alcoholic alternatives that go beyond overly sweet drinks that people tend to gulp. It’s a wedding, not a barn raising, and people will want things they can sip, not gulp down.
Well that’s your choice. Just because a person doesn’t drink alcohol doesn’t mean they always want cloyingly sweet sodas, punches, and juices. I’ve been to a few Mormon events in my time, and what I found most unpleasant, being an alcohol drinker, was not that they didn’t offer any alcohol, but rather that they didn’t offer anything to drink that wasn’t tantamount to liquid candy.
Thanks for all of the suggestions. I’m writing down a list that I can talk over with the caterer.
The wedding is in December in Massachusetts and will be in the late afternoon/evening. It’s going to be in a little inn, and everyone’s spending the night (It’s a small wedding.) so drinking and driving won’t be an issue for those who do choose to drink.
None of us are in AA, so it’s not that we can’t drink, we just choose not to for various reasons. I’m probably the one with the least dislike of alcohol. As long as I can’t really taste it, I’ll drink it. (Some Godiva chocolate liqueur in hot chocolate is *really * good.) Some of the others can’t stand the taste at all and don’t want any in anything they drink. Some of the same people also don’t like coffee, which makes it even tougher. But I definitely like some of the suggestions above.
Among my circle of friends Martinelli’s sparkling cider is the favorite. Not as sweet as some of the others and quite tasty.
Any javaheads might appreciate the services of a barista. Double points if they can make me a chai latte, which can be hard to find at a less-than-full-service java joint, and I don’t do coffee either.
Prune juice mixed with Ginger ale
Mix lemon-lime soda with white grape juice. Simply yummy. I’d think any “clear” juice with lemon-lime soda would be nice…cranberry, apple, pear…
Hot apple cider, with spices. It can be individually spiked, or not. It smells great, too.