Welcome drink - to have or not to have - opinions please

I wouldn't use a token personally and you may find that if there is anyone teetotal then the drinkers could use a few of those tokens too making it unfair.

To be honest the amount of glasses of champagne that I see poured away and wasted I would be more inclined to do a few different options for the Welcome Drink, OJ, Pimms & Sparkling Wine rather than Champagne. Even a nice cold jug of water for some guests is more than welcome if it is a hot day.

I think afternoon tea on arrival is just as good as offering a bucks fizz etc..

As you say most people like different things and it is the gesture that counts. We thought it would it be easier to put out a mixture of beers, cider, wine and soft drinks for the arrival drink as that covers most options. We are only running a bar tab for immediate family for the evening reception after all they are getting wine and champagne with their meal so should be enough.

We debated this option quite a lot and decided that because we couldnt just pick one drink with everyone having different tastes we wouldn't have arrival drinks and allow people to buy their own.

Tea and coffee is good. Like Sherrie i see so much wastage at weddings...its criminal. I think most guests nowadays expect to buy their own drinks from the bar anyway, so don't feel bad about it.

Sandy and Sher - thanks for confirming my suspicion. I can just imagine OHs friends faces when faced with a glass of champagne! It would be straight onto the grass to "get rid of it".

I feel a bit tight not providing something boozy (I know what AJ Would say) but I think we were right in our first decision to just serve the afternoon tea.

Thanks for the comments.

I think since you are having afternoon tea on arrival you wont need to provide an alcoholice drink.

We are having glasses of wine for the women and a bottle of beer for the menas we know they would all prefer this and its costing the same.

We were providing a fruit punch for our guests to take into the garden straight after the ceremony before we have our photos (15 minutes or so mingle time and random snapshots from people before the official photograph herding begins) and I can't help but wonder whether, as others have mentioned, our money might be better spent on the canapes selection the hotel offer, have some jugs of juice etc available if people want it, and the bar's open if they want alcohol.

Food for thought - pun unintentional.

@AJ - I would always take the option to spend money on food rather than drink, because at our venue, they can't get any other food than what we provide, but they can get plenty more food from the paybar.

After the ceremony we have arranged with the venue for people to buy what they wanted and this was all part of the package. We knew giving everyone a glass of bubbly for example would be wasted so basically when guests went to the bar for their first drink it was free.

We're having Pimms and non-alcoholic fruit punch as our arrival drinks and upgraded our package to allow for 2 drinks per guest alongside canapés.

I would absolutely LOVE to go to a wedding with afternoon tea though as I personally don't like drinking mid-afternoon, especially if I know it's going to be a long and busy evening.

We're offering our guests tea, coffee, hot chocolate or mulled ale after the ceremony, with canapes/nibbles. We decided that offering an alcoholic drink on an empty stomach just before we did photos was a bad idea.

We also decided that if we're providing drinks and nibbles, a 3 course meal with wine, an evening buffet and bubbly for the toast it wasn't unreasonable to expect guests to buy the rest of their drinks.

Our wedding co-ordinator said she has done weddings and functions where guests are allowed one free drink each, and people have taken the p!ss and tried for a bottle of champagne or triple shots, or nicked other people's tokens, so she strongly recommends cash only at the bar - no tabs, no freebies, no arguments.

We're having Orange Juice for the non-drinking guests, sparkling wine and Pimms for the people who want a drink. We're not opening the bar until after the welcome drinks and photos so unfortunately all the beer drinkers will have to suffer until the bar opens!

Hmm this is a tricky one for us too, we have a hotel package and it comes with Pimms on arrival, to start with we weren't having any children to the wedding breakfast only the evening and now we've added four kids so I think I'll be asking the hotel to put a jug of juice or fruit punch on, there will also be the bar in the lounge (just outside our wedding breakfast room), so people can order what they like really.

I like the idea of a nice cup of tea too hmm, may have to put more thought into this too haha X

I think a drink should be offered of some sort whether alcohol or not, last wedding i went to i was gasping after the ceremony, transport to venue and all the talking.

We haven't finalised ours yet but caterers suggested pear or apple cider punch as a long drink. I didnt want Pimms. And also edlerflower presse and juices.

Were having welcome drinks- either a fruit punch or a sparkling wine- other than thats it a cash bar but we are having bubbly to toast and 3 bottles of wine on each table part of the package

We are also providing something at church - probably flavoured waters / fresh lemonade, as we get married in August and I am hoping it will be hot - we're expecting guests to arrive for 2:30 and not leave till 4:30pm and if it's hot, that won't be good without refreshements.

On arrival at hotel our guests will have tea, coffee & shortbread & fruit juice for kids. Were hopin venue let's us have a sweetie table as well - have a meeting with them 2moro. Folks gave us a choice of a sparkling wine toast for our guests or an LED dancefloor - me+ OH immediately said dancefloor! So many of our guests don't drink alcohol so to me it wud be wasted - and I love idea of our first dance on the LED dancefloor. I wouldn't be overly keen on a drink ticket / token option to be honest but maybe that's cause I've never seen it done.

I think the Ticket things makes it quite complicated too.

Little Madam, I wanted to do this at the church too but not sure about the logistics. How are you doing it? i.e. who will serve the drinks and clear away?

I've seen it in a self-erected marque - they just popped a table up, and let guests help themselves, and then popped a bin arond.

We are having pics done at church with groups etc, then sending guests off to the reception venue, while we have more pics taken - just the two of us. So i'm going to ask my dad to stay behind to clear up (shouldn't be more than a 5 min job).

This sounds a little tight but we are really on a tight budget so we won t be having a welcome drink the bar will be open for when guests arrive we will be having wine for the toast but no wine on tables as we are having an informal reception

@ Kat - personally I don't think that is tight. I think it's probably money well spent elsewhere.

I hate having my drinks bought, find it very uncomfortable and always feel awkward grabbing a free glass (so don't usually!).

I think that the most important thing is providing something for your guests, and I think afternoon tea is a fabulous idea! We are having a drinks reception and canapes in the formal gardens straight after our ceremony, but if afternoon tea had been an option I would happily have gone with this instead, either/or really! Both would be a lovely way to give your guests a treat, but I don't think it's necessary to provide alcohol too - as you say, impact on guests fairly low, impact on your budget fairly high! xx

Welcome drinks should be served when guests enter the reception (for a church wedding anyway) - the reason I am mentioning post ceremony drinks too is that we get married in summer, so I want some refreshements around to make sure I don't get any de-hydrated guests.