Cocktail hour without alcohol

Personally, I think it's great you want a dry wedding. I think people put so much stock into alcohol when it truly isn't necessary to have. I've been to three or four dry weddings and honestly, had more fun. My family and friends are not drinkers either. I would maybe suggest a soda station or lemonade and ice tea with lots of flavors to chose from! Maybe have little mason jars with chalk so guests can write their names and keep the cup!

I wouldn't worry too much about all these people. You have a wonderful time at your wedding with your family and friends. It will be wonderful no matter what. Many blessings to you and yours!

If it's during cold season you could do a hot cocoa bar

Didn't even read the comments yet but NOPE.

At the end of the day, this is your wedding. You know your crowd. None of these people are going to be there. Take the few good suggestions offered and then high-tail it out of this thread before you are drawn and quartered. Lol. Good luck, hun.

Maybe something fun like this if there's no cocktails? But I definitely wouldn't call it "cocktail hour" if there's no alcohol.

Depending on the weather in April where you are you could do a fancy coffee/hot chocolate bar, fresh flavored lemonades with different fruit or artisan sodas. I see nothing wrong with having a traditional reception timeline like you said and just subbing in other drinks, just call it something other than cocktail hour, could be coffee hour or something else depending on what you decide to serve. What national park are you using, there are so many beautiful ones!

Love Natalie's Italian Soda bar idea, those usually come in some very pretty bottles. I also am a big fan of lemonade so I think the lemonade bar with the fruits is awesome too! You can just get some pretty drink dispensers like this one from BBB. I love alcohol but I honestly would have no problem with this as a guest, but I totally get what the other ladies are saying about it being potentially off-putting to your guests who may be going out of their way to come to your wedding. However, at the end of the day you know your guests well enough to know if not having alcohol will work or not and you have already said that they are quite aware that you aren't so I think that's fair. Hope your big day turns out awesome!

My FH has pretty bad social anxiety, so you bet your ass I tell him to have a beer when we get to a party. Wanting a social lubricant doesn't mean your life sucks or you're an alcoholic. It's just nice to have. This puritanical crap gets to me. (I get national park restrictions, it's the editorializing in the comments that got me riled up).

Also, I'm drunk right now! Happy holidays, bishes!

OP, since all of your guests know that it's a dry wedding already, why bother stressing over what cute name to attach to a non-cocktail hour? You could call it a cocktail hour and they still wouldn't be expecting cocktails; they'd all know that it's just a word, not a fact.

I'm also wondering just how light your "light dinner" will be? You're having the typical four to six hour wedding (on the top of a mountain). If I attended your event and found no cocktails and no substantial meal, I'd know exactly why you went that route -- you didn't have the budget for either (and sorry, starting at 1:00 and ending at 5:30 or 6:00 doesn't pass the no mealtime test).

For those who are part of Temperance Movement, let's try this again, shall we? Your decision to invite more people to your wedding than you are able to host with adult beverages is a problem created by the hosts, not the guests. Secondly, expecting cocktails to be served at a wedding has absolutely nothing to do with "how horrible" guests' lives must be (if they can't go four hours without a drink, etc.). A wedding is not a random collection of hours in the middle of the day. It is not four hours spent shopping on Christmas Eve day. It is not four hours, stuck in traffic, on a road trip with a Golden Retriever and two confined toddlers in the back seat. It is not four hours in the hospital waiting for the surgeon to tell you how your child's surgery went. It is not four hours of the worst marital spat you've ever had. It is not four hours spent taking a do or die career or education advancing exam. It is not four hours in the court house, sitting on hard wood bench, waiting for your case to be called. It is not four hours at the IRS enduring an audit. All of those events are very stressful, and they do need to be endured. Is alcohol served at any of these events? Of course not. Funny how the drinkers among us can get through those hours without alcohol. Why?

You get through them (without expecting a drop of alcohol) because the stressful events described are not celebrations. Four to six hours at a party is considered a celebration -- and guess what goes perfectly with a celebration? That's right...cocktails (just check out the increased advertisements hawking various liquors against the back-drop of holiday parties and family celebrations -- and just wait for New Year's Eve). In our culture, alcohol and celebrations go together, and everybody knows that -- whether they drink or abstain.

Everything at a wedding is set up for a celebration -- the MUAs and hairstylists (hired so the bride looks her stunning best, the guest books, the robed officiants, the flowers, the music, the processional featuring all of the BMs, the white aisle runner ceremoniously rolled out for the gorgeous brides to walk on, the tuxes, the precious metal rings exchanged that will forever mark the wedding day, the tears, the cheers, the beautifully set dinner tables, the uniformed servers, the candlelight, the flashes from a photographer's camera, the videographers capturing, forever, the highlights of the day, the DJs positioned next to the huge dance floor, the colored lights, the spotlight dances, the monograms, the sequins, the toasts, the delicious multi-course meals, the gift tables or mailboxes/birdcages/card boxes set in prominent places so that guests will know where to leave their cash and material wedding gifts, the multi-tiered cakes that cost three or four figures, the favors, the sparkler send offs -- it's all there to say, CELEBRATE! And let's not forget, this is four to six hours of "celebration" being sold to the guests. How can anyone say that wanting -- no, expecting -- a cocktail or two in that environment is evidence of guests having a "horrible life"? That's just ridiculous (and insulting), and probably the oldest used excuse by dry brides (speaking to other dry brides) to put the onus on the guest, not the hosts. It is an attempt to excuse a massive faux pas, and the fact that any bride would go to those offensive depths to validate their failure to properly host a celebration, just proves how wrong these ladies know they are.

And we still haven't learned what constitutes a light dinner, but if the OP called it light, I'm sure it's light.

Since you're having an afternoon wedding and reception, this sounds totally fine. I think different kinds of lemonade, sparkling water or juices, and maybe some iced tea would be nice!

Hey @presentingthepaiges and all 16 ignorant likers:

To insinuate that people would like a glass of wine at a wedding they are likely paying a pretty penny for (in gifts, Travel etc) are all alcoholics living "sad lives" is a grossly offensive and asshole thing to say. No, we aren't alcoholics. We want a drink at a celebration... Oh the horror!

99% of the reasons why people have dry weddings aren't due to culture, venue restrictions or guest addiction habits. It all comes down to one word

CHEAP.

You don't want to pay for people's drinks, even though they are giving you a generous gift for your wedding.

We aren't alcoholics.

You're cheap. And rude for making insulting comments.

People who continue to test the timeless hosting etiquette truly baffle me. Nowadays, it's all "me me me!!!!" Give me a $7k wedding gown, $10k tall center pieces for my grandiose event, and I CANT leave out save the dates!!!!! I need EVERYONE to be available for my wonderful affair, including my b and c list because I need ALL the wedding money I can get!

... Oh wait. Drinks for guests? LOL those drunks!!!!! Not on MY DIME!!"

....class and etiquette have truly gone out the window.

My brother and SIL got married at a state park and we had alcohol. Do state park rules change by state???

I've been to a dry wedding in a church. No dancing, no fun. I was also in a wedding where the cocktail hour was open beer and wine and after that it was cash only. Obviously I missed cocktail hour because I was taking pics with the BP and I was quite a bit annoyed after alllllllll the shit I had to go through for this girl and the $200+ on a BM dress I'll never wear again, she can't even give me a drink to celebrate. We are having a full open bar. My family is dry and doesn't condone drinking in any way, but I do and his family does and so do our friends. That being said, I want them to have a good time and feel appreciated for coming to our wedding.

Seriously though, you should at least offer beer and wine. It doesn't have to be a full open bar, but something, ANYTHING, would be better than nothing.

Definitely don't call it a cocktail hour. Actually, you don't really need to call it anything - on the invitation, it should state "reception to follow" and that's it. If someone is announcing the start of the "cocktail" hour, you could have them say, "appetizers are now being served". I wouldn't worry about trying to serve fancy "mocktails" - that just makes it more obvious you aren't serving alcohol. Have soda, water, lemonade and tea.

I don't even drink and I think mocktails are stupid. Why serve anything without the key ingredient that defines it? It's like serving kool-aid instead of juice at your wedding. What's even the point of this obviously lacking thing?

Presenting, almost every adult I know would choose a refreshing glass of wine at a social event, not a refreshing glass of water. It doesn't mean our lives are 'horrible', and frankly, I think it's really, really insulting to post that.

It's good hosting unless everyone coming to your wedding is underage, including your parents and their friends who don't want a Shirtly Temple or cute lemonade. It doesn't make them sad or alcoholic or depressed. It makes them adults who spent lots of time and money to come to a party and expected to have a drink or two. That's what most adults do at a party.

Lemonade AND Mason Jars! Now, that says party to the 10 people who like all these dry posts. To the other hundreds of people who urge you to host an adult party with adult beverages it says, "It's time to go home. With the envelope. "

Thank God I'm at a winery wedding tonight. I'm sure there will be people who have refreshing water, but most of us will be drinking wine.

I like you so much!