Coffee not alcohol

@Celia not saying that anyone knows for sure but I have been way to many "bible camps" and talked one on one with multiple Biblical Scholars and that is what is commonly accepted.

I would like to resay for the OP if you want people to stay at a dry wedding come up with more activities than dancing. Pinterest has some pretty cool ideas

p.s. I personaly will not be having a dry wedding and I like to get drunk & dance ;]

I'm about as die hard of a coffee drinker as it comes. I can easily put away 24 oz of WAWA and go to bed in an hr. I LOVE- COFFEE.

I would be super salty if I waited in a 10 minute line for a coffee and not a glass of wine.

Please reconsider.

I don't think a coffee bar is a good replacement for a real bar at cocktail hour. It just doesn't give a party feeling in the same way. Coffee is better after dinner with desserts. A coffee bar would be great at that time. But Celia is right - they are super expensive. If you can afford a coffee bar, then you can afford beer and wine for cocktail hour and a couple bottles on each table during dinner. Beer and wine should be prioritized over a fancy coffee selection.

However, if you are dead set on a dry wedding, then mocktails are better than coffee during cocktail hour.

It wouldn't just be cocktail hour, it would be for the full reception. guest list is 75 people at the moment and could be smaller.

we are having it dry do to the fact there is a small handful of people who do drink out of the entire guest list of 75 (if that many). the location is an hour drive for most of the guest and i do not want to worry about people getting home if they choose to not have a hotel. we will have one round of drinks for the toast. anther reason is the few people that do drink get very sloppy when drunk. we thought about a cash bar and i didn't like the idea of making guest pay their drinks. most of both our families love coffee. we would also have more than just the warm drinks, the mock-tails was something i was looking into to get something with some color and fun. we would have 2 servers for the coffee and the catering company would have 1 or 2 for the other drinks available at the bar. so 3-4 at any time would be at the bar. it was a sit down dinner so water would already be at the tables for the meal, and cocktail hr wouldn't be very long an hr max if that. we are doing the pictures on site. yes, the guest will be told its dry (for the most part) those who dont wish to come dont have to. we are not inviting 200+ people, its max 100.

i also do not drink and don enjoy being around people drinking, i feel very out of place and that is the last thing i want on my wedding day. my fiance who does drink is the one who said we should have it dry, i was up for a limited bar but he said " lets just make it dry to play it safe"

both our families would also enjoy different drinks other then alcohol, as i said only a small hand-full drink and they understand our reasoning.

we are having the wedding earlish. the ceramony would be around 1 or 2 so the reception could be as early 2 or 3 in the afternoon. a lot of guest do have children who are in the wedding or will be attending. we tried to really think about the drive and how to make it less "inconvenient" (as my father called it) so to have it earlier and with no alcohol.

thanks for all the imput, some of it helped. (having my head bitten off for it dry didn't) but the ones who really tried to help and give advice thank you. it helps alot. its over a year away and we are still working out the small details. the possibility of eloping is still in the air lol.

Since it sounds like you are determined to keep the wedding dry, I think a mixture of as many types of drinks as possible would be ideal - mocktails, sodas, flavored waters, iced tea, etc. You may only need the coffee bar for a couple of hours as people likely wouldn't have more than 2.

The more personal reason that i didn't want to share but i think will help with the understand of why we decided dry is. my mother died of a heart attack, she was an alcoholic., alcohol was the main reason for her heart attack. after she died everyone of her side of my family stopped drinking after seeing what it did. alcohol doesn't bring the idea of fun to my family it just brings back sad memories. my fiances side just dont drink, ive never seen anyone drink at any kind of celebration that there was alcohol. our families dont drink and they need alcohol to have fun. our guest list is many family and the few friends on it our more family than friends and they are the same way. its a small group, there are no social drinkers we have to worry about. its a family event with the few friends that like family. so on one will leave early for the fact that there's no open bar.

We plan to have more than just coffee. its an option. with the number of small kids that will be there is the other reason we didnt want large amounts of alcohol like a full bar. mixed juice drinks, teas, coffees and maybe even smoothies are just some of the options since its an earlier wedding. coffee and hot chocolate are 2 of the many drinks that will be available. having someone to serve the other mix drinks wont be hard to find, our caterer will be able to handle it. finding a barista to do the coffee portion is what i was looking for help finding.

Judge much, SharahMarie? We had a dry wedding because too many of our relatives are alcoholics, and DH's parents had a *nasty* divorce-- we needed everyone on his or her best behavior, which drinking does NOT help. When the bridal couple doesn't drink, chances are good their circle of friends is not a bunch of heavy drinkers and will enjoy a dry wedding just fine.

I think your idea is great, Courtney.

Courtney B, DH and I are not avid drinkers, and neither of us drink coffee or hot tea. With that said, although I like the idea, I would not enjoy it. Make sure you offer other options to your guests.

O&S, I've reread my comment many times and I cannot find a way in which I'm criticizing Centerpiece. Centerpiece is part of the majority who want there to be a buzz (her word, not mine) at a party. I understand that in written text, inflections are absent and it can be easy to misinterpret someone's intention. This is why I already clarified that I was not intending to judge or argue with her. Have a good day.

Courtney, I like your idea of a barista bar, too. I found a couple of them just by googling, but we're in Los Angeles where there are a lot of options.

We are having a dry wedding, but it's a 10 am wedding and a brunch immediately following. We will have a Barista bar for lattes, etc., regular coffee served at a different area, an Italian soda bar with various flavor combinations as well as juices and iced tea.

The brunch will have a lot of yummy food stations - fruit, pastries, egg dishes, a carving station and a dessert table. We may even have an ice cream sundae station, as they weather will be very hot in September here, although it's an ocean setting. We decided to have the wedding in the morning so the alcohol won't be missed as much by the drinking guests. Most of the guests will know that we have personal reasons for not serving alcohol.

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I went to a dry wedding once. I also personally don't drink so it wasn't that big of a deal to me. It wasn't a terrible wedding and I had fun dancing but a lot of guests did complain about it before hand and during the reception and some even brought flasks and it kept bottles out in their cars. A lot of people also left early. I personally do not drink coffee or tea. That being said depending on the temperature of the day of the wedding people might want hot chocolate or hot cider especially if it's cold. It's your wedding and you know your guests best. Do what you want to do and own it.

I personally can adapt and have fun at either type of wedding. I love coffee and would be going back and forth between a soda and coffee. However, sad truth, most people are going to expect and be disappointed at an evening wedding without alcohol. Early afternoon weddings are a totally different atmosphere of wedding and better for dry weddings.

I went to a wedding that had an Irish coffee bar. That was awesome. Probably not what you are looking for, however.