It's cocktail hour at your wedding: Imagine frozen bottles of flavored vodkas (think: pepper, lemon, currant) displayed in molded ice and accompanied by chilled shot glasses or martini glasses. What a fun way to start off a party. Of course, there's nothing wrong with a traditional bar offering brand-name liquors and a selection of wine and beer. But as martinis, cosmopolitans, sidecars and other retro drinks have come into vogue, more couples are opting for a specialty bar or some other unique touch for their special day.
"Everybody was getting incredibly dull for about five years, and now they're getting over it," says Chef Rossi, catering director for The Metropolitan Building in New York, who explains that she's getting more requests for exotic themes ranging from sake bars to Cuban drinks. "Frozen bottles of vodka offered in shot glasses or as martinis and posed with caviar stations can be very sexy and fun."
With the price of liquor ranging from $10 to $60 a person, it pays to carefully plan your alcohol options. By getting creative with your drinks, you'll not only add a distinctive touch to your event, but you may end up savings some bucks as well.
Specialty Bars
With the plethora of funky martinis and other trendy drinks, it's no wonder some couples are choosing to offer a specialty drink or two at their reception. Some couples even nickname mixed drinks for themselves or some aspect of their relationship, such as where they met, and print up special drink cards or menus. Having a limited menu of drinks can save on liquor costs.
There are a number of ways to display specialty drinks. Frozen specialty vodkas look nice in ice sculptures garnished with fruit or flowers, or you may simply show the variety of bottles on the bar. Special tables or stations can also be set up, perhaps accompanied by hors d'oeuvres or appetizers. Creative caterers might add extra touches like providing retro shaker sets for bartenders and displaying festive cards at the bar describing novel cocktails. Microbrews at weddings are also popular. Some brands even offer the beer in kegs, which are less expensive.
Limit The Choices
Limiting the choices and keeping the bar as simple and basic as possible can also save money. You might opt for a beer, wine and soda bar, or a bar with only a few liquors available. Rossi of The Metropolitan Building remembers a summer wedding for which the alcoholic drink selection included just vodka, white wine and champagne. "I thought it was beautiful," she says. Some reception managers declare couples won't save much by skipping the hard liquor because a glass of wine costs about the same as a gin and tonic. If you're not offering the top-shelf brands, bottles can be displayed creatively so the labels can be hidden.
After-Dinner Drinks
Serving cordials after dinner continues to be a big tradition at weddings. This option can be as simple as having a waiter walk around with a bottle of cognac or as fancy as setting up cordial tables with a variety of finger desserts. And, as cigars continue to be popular, many couples opt to offer a selection of single malt scotches or different types of ports, both of which have become trendy accompaniments to cigars.
International coffee bars are another way to jazz up the end of a reception. "Cappuccino, espresso and other coffee drinks are very popular now," says Frances Dion, sales director of The Breakers in Spring Lake, NJ, who adds that prices can range from $3 to $5 extra.
A Taste Of Wine
This is the fun part - at least for the bride- and groom-to-be. Most reception sites offer a wine and/or champagne tasting in advance of the big day. Sometimes it's accompanied by a food tasting with a full menu, while in other circumstances, just hors d'oeuvres are served. Still other venues make a big party of it, inviting all prospective engaged couples to a tasting event. "About a month before the wedding, I'll do a formal tasting in a private room and have the butler and the maitre d' standing there," says Gary Merjian, director of catering at the St. Regis in New York.
Even if you're organizing the alcohol yourself, you can still throw your own wine tasting. "We had a fun time deciding which wines and champagnes we were going to choose - we made it an event," says Susan Copeland, who invited her wedding party over for a casual gathering and pre-wedding wine and champagne sampling.
And who says you can't offer a wine tasting at your reception? Have cards with a description of each wine printed up and displayed at a special tasting station. One couple whose chosen reception site did not allow hard liquor found a wine tasting to be a wonderful way to compensate for the limited choices offered to their guests. Couples who are offering just a wine, beer and soda bar might make the most of their liquor menu by having a wine or microbrew tasting.
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