All vegetarian wedding? No alcohol?

[TravelingGal]

What are your guests used to?

Before I was 30, all the weddings I went to were dry. Not a big deal for me because I was never a heavy drinker...in fact did not drink until I was 25. However the dry weddings were church weddings, and the guests were all used to no-booze weddings. Everyone had a good time, although it wasn''t really a party hardy atmosphere.

The friends I met later on in life had never been a dry wedding. The idea seemed TOTALLY foreign to them.

A few of our guests absolutely got trashed at our wedding, but all had DDs so that was good. Also, all are happy drunks and I knew that going in. No one became an a**. So I had a very wet wedding and my brother had a very dry one, but tears of happiness were shed at both and people had a good time (although I''d say mine was way more fun. But I''m biased.)

 

[ladykemma]

i think if you were to do a wedding breakfast, or lunch, or tea and cake afternoon reception, booze would not be expected.

 

[mercoledi]

I think all veggie would be great, and if you don't want booze, then don't have it. The one thing I would do if you want to go dry is have fun NA drinks, like a special juice/punch/soda or some dry concoction to add to the party atmosphere. Eveyone drinking water and coke reminds me of middle school church functions. Maybe sparkling lime tonic and cranberry juice? I'm sure your caterer could help out there!

 

[cellososweet]

all veggie is an awesome idea! my husband and i are having a vow renewal next year. When we signed up for the place, we figured we would serve meat because we don''t like to impose our beliefs on others.

well, the more we talked, the more uncomfortable we felt about it (we''re both vegetarians. i''m a lot more strict and tend to go almost dietarily vegan. working on the leather thing) The smell of meat has made both of us more queasy as time has passed. Def not good for the "wedding" day!

we called the caterer and luckily she said that they have done a ton of vegetarian weddings! Ideas were black bean enchiladas with tofu (have you tried TJ''s version? something similar, but fancy), italian is always good vegetarianwise and somebody mentioned that if you stick in the mediterranean/middle eastern category, meat will not be missed.

The easiest food-types for me are: Lebanese, Greek, Indian and Italian (of course).

Also, you said you were an L.A. girl. . .have you been to Native Foods in Westwood? mmmmm. . . it is terrific! I recommend the Rockin Moroccan if you ever get around to it. If you have the wedding in CA, don''t even worry about vegetarian-fare.

The no-alcohol thing? I would go with what makes you comfortable. There are plenty of fun non-alcoholic beverages. I like a mock peach bellini with a sparkling peach cider (ikea makes a good one. i know random right?!), and fresh peaches blended together. If it bubbles, people usually think it''s special, whether it''s alcoholic or not (i''ve noticed). Another good one is the standard Shirley Temple (it bubbles too haha).

~cellososweer

 

[monarch64]

I think the veggie menu is not going to be a problem. However, I think it would be nice to have a champagne toast and possibly offer either wine and beer, or 1-2 specialty cocktails during your cocktail hour and after dinner if you choose not to have wine on the table with dinner... for some reason when people get all dressed up to go to a wedding or similar occasion, they like to have at least a celebratory drink (the toast), as well as that drink in hand during cocktail hour, hey, it''s a party! And when i talk about "people" I mean me, lol!

I grew up in the land of dry weddings, receptions in church basements, etc. I got married on DH''s home turf and there was no such thing, ha ha...we had an open bar throughout the entire reception because DH just couldn''t bear the thought of people not being able to drink at our wedding, it''s just how things are done within our circles here, and that was fine with me, of course. My dad is a recovered alcoholic and my mother has had maybe a handful of drinks in her life, and the rest of my family don''t tipple at all, so we paid for the bar ourselves. We also had a vegetarian meal--we were going to offer a carmelized bourbon salmon, but about a week before the wedding I read an article about salmon containing PCB''s, called the reception site and asked whether theirs was wild-caught or farm raised, and whichever it was happened to be the one possibly containing PCB''s so we nixed the fish and went with vodka pasta pignoli, veggies, and salad, and we got a lot of compliments on the food, I think mainly because it was different than the usual chicken or steak offerings at weddings. You''ll probably get the same reaction with a veg menu.

So again, my vote is for veg menu, plus a little something to drink. And if you decide not to offer alcohol, keep in mind there''s always the flask for those guests who just HAVE to imbibe, LOL!

 

[rainbowtrout]

I don''t know if this will work for you, but here is how we are making no-booze fun:

antique-y coolers next to buffet tables filled with old-style glass bottle sodas (doc browns, coke with real sugar, those funny pomengranate juices etc)