Limited Alcohol Receptions / Dry weddings (UPDATED)

If any of your guests are offended that you aren't serving alcohol for religious reasons, they need to get their priorities straight.

I have several Indian friends. Love so many of their traditions. Xo

Especially if it's for religious reasons, I don't think you HAVE to have alcohol available. The culture of your crowd dictates what is acceptable or unacceptable, much more than the opinions of people on a website/app

Have an open bar for your guests who drink. You don't have to partake. What's the big deal?

Look into a consumption bar! It's like a bar tab. The cost will likely be low since most guests will just be drinking sodas.

Bump for a friend looking for this thread.

Consumption bar seems to be the best option. I'm personally not a fan of a dry wedding, but I'm even less a fan of a cash bar.

I'm with @queserasera if you're doing a dry wedding for religious/cultural reasons then everyone else who is invited should be accepting/understanding of it. My BIL's wedding was dry and they're Desi as well. TBH, there were people who did sneak off to the bar downstairs (and pretended not to get caught by any other guests that snuck out for a drink as well) but no one really cared that there was no booze provided.

I was at a hindu wedding, and it was open bar for EVERYONE! If you are 100% sure that most people wont drink, then do a compsuntion bar where you (the hosts) pay at the end.

If you are having very few people that actually drink I would say run a tab ! That way those who want drinks can and those who don't can refrain. At the end of the night pay off the tab .

Do a consumption bar. So those who want to drink can have a drink and you just pay the tab at the end of the night. We are doing the same thing.

If y'all don't drink and it's offensive to your family, I would just leave the alcohol out of the equation.

And UO... but I think a cash bar in this situation is fine. If I were your guest, I would not mind purchasing my own drink. I know everyone thinks it's the worst thing in the world, but just not that big of a deal to me.

Becky, do you really think that people sneaking out of your wedding to buy themselves something you're not providing is OK?

@Jacks (re: Becky's post): See, I can totally picture the situation Becky was describing. The thing is, even if that wedding had provided alcohol, they might not have been able to drink in front of everyone anyway. There are some cultural norms within *some* (emphasis some, not all) Indian wedding etiquette that are difficult to explain on a board. I'll give you an example with myself: I am attending a family friend's wedding this summer. The guy's family doesn't drink, and really did not want alcohol there. However, it was an intercultural and interracial marriage so they compromised and are now serving alcohol to those who want it. It was a major clash point for them and I know that there was a lot of fighting back and forth to get to this point though. Even though I technically COULD drink at this upcoming family friend's wedding (if I wanted to), it would look really weird because my family would be there and so would all of our family friends...there are expectations that you conform to the culture around you. Likewise, every time my coworkers go out for happy hour and I only get ginger ale, while they respect my decision not to drink, there's usually some sarcastic comment or joke involved, or a question as to why I'm only getting ginger ale, and I hate always having to explain myself so they don't think I'm just being cheap or something. It's just a cultural thing.

Sorry if this all sounds strange...it's just difficult to try and explain the cultural norms that might be at play in Becky's situation that she described. My FI's cousin (who is Indian) got married last year and they had a dry wedding, but then they snuck out to drink as well. They would have had to do that even if there was alcohol being served. Again, I know it sounds really messed up but that's just how it is. I hope I didn't come off as super defensive or anything, I'm just trying to take a stab at further explaining Becky's post.