Wash It Down

While eating all that delicious food, you need a great way to wash it all down, right?  The typical wedding reaches for alcohol at this point.  However, between religious family members who don't drink, family and friends who seldom drink and could do without, and a few folks who are probably better off NOT drinking, I'd rather omit the spirits from our reception.  And besides, if I wind up having my wedding at a state park, I cannot legally serve alcohol without paying some pretty hefty fees.

But just because I don't have alcohol doesn't mean my guests can't be happily quenched.  I'll probably have a nice variety of non alcoholic beverages, including a signature punch, much like the signature drink other weddings also have.  I'll have to play around, but when I come up with a recipe, I'll be sure to share.  But it's worth noting that I love the look of orange slices floating in a punch bowl, so I'll probably use that.

Aside from the signature punch, I'm also going to have a selection of soft drinks, water, and if it's at all chilly, maybe some coffee.  April is a hard to predict month, so we'll see when it gets closer to the wedding day.  But I think by providing a nice variety of non alcoholic drinks, everybody will still be happy, and anybody who isn't, I can handwave away by blaming the venue.

I'm just glad this is such an easy step to take to save some money.  By cutting out alcohol from the budget, I'm saving a pretty hefty chunk of change.  And hey, if my guests really want to drink to celebrate, I'll do some research and find a nice bar in the area to suggest for after the reception.  It might be fun to go to a bar with a few close friends later in the evening.