New !! Best Wedding Reception Drinks
Delicious, Cheap, Budget Do-It-Yourself Drinks

At your wedding reception, drinks are a traditional part of the hospitality. The wedding reception drinks don't have to be extravagant and cost a small fortune. It's not about getting drunk as a skunk. It's about hospitality, making everyone welcome and comfortable. Here are guidelines for wedding reception drinks. How much will you need for champagne, wine, beer, liquor and non-alcoholic drinks.

1. How Much Champagne for Wedding Reception Drinks
2. Make the First Drink Special at the Wedding Reception
3. Do You Want an Open Bar for Wedding Reception Drinks
4. How Much Liquor for Wedding Reception Drinks
5. How Much Wine for Wedding Reception Drinks
6. How Much Beer for Wedding Reception Drinks
7. Non-Alcoholic Wedding Reception Drinks

How Much Champagne for Wedding Reception Drinks

How much champagne will you need? For the champagne toast, you should have one case of champagne to serve 75 guests. If champagne will be served throughout the evening, allow two cases for 75 guests. According to custom, you'll have champagne on hand for the toasts to the bride and groom. The sight of several bottles of champagne nestled in a large bowl of ice, surrounded by champagne glasses on a round table is a festive decoration at the reception.

You might prefer a champagne fountain at the wedding reception. Have you seen the fountain made of champagne glasses stacked up seven or eight levels tall? When champagne is poured in the top glass, it spills over into the next tier of glasses, and then the next, until all the glasses are full.

Another tradition at the wedding reception is to open the first bottle of champagne with a sword or saber. The sabre slides up the bottle along the seam and pops off the cork with a flourish. This takes some practice, but it will entertain your guests.

Make the First Drink Special at the Wedding Reception

It's hospitable to have drinks available at the wedding reception as soon as the guests arrive. Will you have a reception line where the bride and groom will stand with the wedding party and close family to greet each of the guests as they enter the reception? Have drinks ready for the guests standing in a slow moving line of people. Everyone will be thirsty after the ceremony and the trip to the reception site.

A delightful idea if you are serving alcoholic beverages is to have a cocktail made and named in your honor. You can serve this drink to guests as they arrive at the wedding reception. Your local mixologist can suggest liquors and mixers for the special drink. You could even use liquors to match your wedding colors, too.

Do You Want an Open Bar for Wedding Reception Drinks

If yours is an evening reception, with a disc jockey or a band for dancing, guests will need something more to drink. It's your decision whether to have an open bar for wedding reception drinks or a cash bar with a bartender. In a hotel or restaurant setting, there is likely to be bar service in the same area, so a cash bar is easily managed. Save money on wedding reception drinks and help your budget by having an open bar until a set amount of liquor is consumed, and then switch to a cash bar.

If you want to set up your own cash bar for wedding reception drinks, you should know that it is illegal to sell liquor without a state license. It is even illegal to sell cocktails in your home. A one-day, special-event liquor permit is available in many states for a moderate fee. In a restaurant or a hotel or any venue with a liquor license, management will charge you a cork fee for any bottles of wine, liquor, etc. that you bring in yourself. The cork fee can be five dollars a bottle or fifty dollars a bottle, but it is negotiable. To save money on wedding reception drinks, negotiate the cork fee down before you reserve the reception room.

How Much Liquor for Wedding Reception Drinks

To calculate how much liquor you need for wedding reception drinks, allow 2 drinks per guest for the first hour and 1 drink for each guest each extra hour. That's a lot of alcohol, but guests will leave their glasses part way full, and order a fresh drink. Most guests will expect alcoholic beverages at an evening event. To save money on wedding reception drinks, avoid an open bar. Instead, having a selection of cocktails available in pitchers will save you much money compared to the cost of an open bar. Limit your offering of cocktails to a few popular ones. Provide pitchers of margaritas or mojitos or hard lemonade, if you wish. You cannot possibly anticipate the drinking preferences of some guests. There are hundreds of sophisticated cocktails that only a full bar can offer, like Cosmopolitans, Green Goddess martinis, or chocolate tequila shooters.

To keep beverage costs under budget, you may want to provide wine, beer, soda, water and soft drinks on the house, and let your guests wander out to the public cash bar for their favorite cocktail. In this case, set up a small open bar at the wedding reception, and ask for a family volunteer to act as bartender. One bartender for 75 guests is sufficient. I would discourage having a self-service bar, which can quickly become a nuisance. Provide a pitcher of water and lots of snacks at the bar. Make sure there is a designated driver for guests who overdo the alcoholic drinks, and have taxi service on call.

How Much Wine for Wedding Reception Drinks

How much wine should you provide for wedding reception drinks? A good estimate to use for wine is 6 bottles of red wine and 12 bottles of white wine to serve 100 guests. The wines you serve at your wedding reception should be crowd-pleasers, drinkable and moderately priced. Your wine store will suggest red and white wines that complement your menu. The store will offer tastings to help you decide. If you purchase your wine from a local shop or vineyard, ask if you can return unused bottles to them after the reception.

How Much Beer for Wedding Reception Drinks

When you figure beer requirements for wedding reception drinks, you will probably order it by the keg. One keg is the equivalent of 7 cases of beer, and each case has 12 bottles. Count on one keg of beer to serve 100 glasses of beer. If your guests are beer drinkers, allow 4 beers per guest during the evening.

Don't forget to chill the bottles of wine, champagne or beer as well as mixers for several days, if you can. You'll need ice at the wedding reception for drinks and sodas, let's say a pound or two of ice per person. Allow extra ice if necessary, to keep the champagne, wine, and beer cool at the reception.

When you figure your budget for wedding reception drinks, include a tip for the bartender. Make sure each service person receives his or her gratuity directly, to avoid any mischief.

Non-Alcoholic Wedding Reception Drinks

When you choose drinks for the wedding reception, consider the guests who don't drink alcohol. A non-alcoholic punch in a cut glass bowl with punch cups is a sociable way to serve your guests. The punch recipe usually calls for fruit juices, tea or ginger ale and a molded ring of ice with decorative fruit bits frozen in it. You can also add sherbet balls to the punch. Do you also want to provide a non-alcoholic sparkling juice for the guests who abstain from alcoholic beverages?

You can downplay alcoholic drinks at the wedding reception and also save money on the beverage budget by offering a selection of coffee drinks, cappuccino, espresso, latte and so on. Guests might enjoy a fancy espresso machine and a barrista on hand. Pitchers of plain, filtered water on the tables and at the bar will help control drink costs.

Your passion and your priorities are the keystone of your wedding plans. Thank you for letting us share your special day.

I wish you a wedding reception full of joy and memories.
- Heather, Best Cheap Weddings

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