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You Don't Have To Drink to Enjoy Yourself At A Wedding, Do You?

Copyright © 2012 Karen Rhodes

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 10Mar2012 Word count: 1059 Viewed: 36 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

I think you probably do. Ever been to a wedding with no alcohol, because I have and its bad. There is no noise level, no atmosphere, you can hear the cutlery clanking on the plates. That said I've been to plenty of weddings when everyone got so drunk they couldn't stand up and thats bad too. Last week there were three blokes lined up against the wall outside the venue throwing up. Not pretty, especially as they came back in and ordered more beer!

Two weddings stick in my mind where alcohol played a huge part. Both involved vodka and both ended badly. We were asked to freeze bottles of vodka and shot glasses and serve them for the toasts. What they didn't say is that all the guests were expected to join in the speeches and we ended up serving about ten rounds of extremely strong Russian vodka. The Russians were fine, it made no difference to them whatsoever but I guess they were weaned on it. But as for the English well it was a different story. At first it wasn't apparent and then things went badly wrong. One lady was so ill we had to strip her off and put her in the bath washing her and washing her clothes. Now believe me I didn't sign up for that when I decided to do weddings. The sad thing is she came to me the following day and was absolutely mortified, having never in her whole life been in that state. She wasn't alone and in this particular case alcohol ruined the day. At the other wedding the guests were fine but we had to carry an unconscious bride out to the wedding car at the end of the evening. My guess is that it wasn't a memorable wedding night!

In most cases alcohol makes the party. What better than an icy glass of champagne on a warm summers day. The atmosphere seems to rise like the bubbles and if you don't mix champagne with anything else it gets everyone giddy but not usually roaring drunk. However be warned. If your guests decide to nip to the pub following the service, down a few shorts and then start on the champagne, beware. The bubbles in the alcohol accelerate the intensity of the drink and everyone gets very drunk much quicker.

At weddings every one drinks in a slightly back to front way ie they down the champagne like its going out of fashion, they drink quite a lot with dinner and ease off at night. When I tell anyone that our bestseller in the evening is water they laugh at me rather pityingly and say the immortal words 'you don't know our friends'. Well I don't but I do know weddings. Obviously its different if you have a load of new guests for the night do that haven't been drinking all day and want to catch up but in the vast majority of cases most of the drinking is done earlier in the day. Its funny really but most people these days can drink a fairly good amount without getting too drunk and still behave themselves. The biggest problem we have is with people that never drink. They have a couple of glasses of bubbles and are almost incoherent. We've had a number of grannies over the years that have embarrassed themselves because they simply can't take the drink and drunken grannies aren't pretty!

Beware of lethal family recipes involving lots of spirits. Dads famous punch may be great at Christmas but do you really want all your guests to be leathered before they sit down. A very popular drink in the Lakes involves damson gin and champagne and as well as looking pretty is absolutely delicious. However its potentially lethal, it tastes sweet so goes down like pop but the alcohol level is huge.

My advice is keep it simple. Stick to champagne or prosecco for the reception, wine with the meal and have beer and soft drinks in the evening. Spirits aren't necessary and just cause trouble.

BUT and its a really big but, what if you don't drink? I'm not talking about for religious reasons, just a personal choice. Is it right to inflict this on your guests. Personally I think not (I guess I would though), its like being a vegetarian and not allowing meat, meat eaters always provide a vegetarian option so its got to work both ways. You don't have to have a boozy do but give them a little something. A weak bucks fizz or Pimms or a very light fruit punch for the reception and during the meal get the waitresses to serve the drinks rather than putting bottles on the table. That way you can control how much everyone drinks as you can brief the staff in advance. If you know there is someone that is a particular problem, get the staff to keep an eye on them and strictly limit how much they have.

The very worst wedding I've ever done that thankfully has never been repeated was a Scottish wedding. They served Scotch whisky as a welcome drink. No orange juice, no water, no nothing just whisky. Its the only wedding in twenty years that I've lost control of. When you've got grannies telling you to F... off you know you are in trouble. The food was wasted on them, the staff were abused and the guests ended up brawling in the garden. The venue subsequently banned weddings and concentrated on business events, whilst we were left vaguely traumatised. However much you like a drink and I like one as much as anyone (and probably a little more than most), it's not worth ruining your wedding or your reputation. All that said at the majority of weddings, drink enhances the party, everyone has a fantastic time so get the champagne on ice and enjoy!

"There are two reasons for drinking, one when you are thirsty to cure it. The other when you're not thirsty to prevent it. I definitely think prevention is better than cure."

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