Pop, Fizz, Clink: Wedding Drinks

As you read several posts back, Mr. C and I are serving breakfast food at our evening wedding. I was honestly a bit nervous to post our full menu, since I wasn't sure how people would react to such a drastically out-of-the-ordinary wedding menu. 

I just have to say, though that you bees made my heart explode with happiness and relief. Thank you so much for your kind words and encouragement on our "brinner" post. During the entire wedding planning process, we have tried to stay true to ourselves while stepping back and seeing our wedding from our guests perspectives. While we cannot please every single guest, we hope that they will be able to see a reflection of Mr. C and I in our wedding and every aspect of it- even the food. So, again, you are all awesome and made me feel confident in my decision to serve bacon and omelets and donuts at my wedding. #endmushygushyrant

Several of you also commented on the "brinner" post asking what type of drinks we would be serving alongside our full breakfast menu. Have no fear bees, we will be having an assortment of yummy beverages for our guests to enjoy both during the "coffee hour" and the reception as well. You really didn't think I forgot about mimosas, did you? ;)

Once we settled on the menu, it came time to choose what drinks would accompany it. Our caterer will be supplying us with coffee and a variety of juices (orange for sure, cranberry vs. apple is up for debate), but it's up to us to supply everything else. Luckily, our venue allows for couples to bring in and serve their own beer and wine without the need for a bartender. Knowing this and considering both our "drink" budget and the guests we are inviting, we set to work deciding on what drinks to serve. 

My first "must have" when it came to (non-alcoholic) drinks was a coffee bar. This idea came about last summer, when I attended a wedding where the couple hired a local cafe to cater a coffee bar at their wedding. I looked into this for our wedding and almost cried when I discovered that it would be much more expensive than I ever realized. So, instead of abandoning the idea all-together, I decided to DIY my own scaled-down coffee bar. I looked on Pinterest for some DIY coffee bar inspiration and was pleasantly surprised to find ideas that almost perfectly matched what I was already envisioning...

Image via Brittanee Taylor Photography / Photo by Brittanee Taylor Photography

While I am still figuring out the logistics for DIY coffee bar project, this is one of the details from our wedding that I am the most excited for. More coffee bar details coming in an upcoming blog!

Another DIY (alcoholic) drink idea that committed to...a mimosa bar. Super delicious, relatively easy and inexpensive, and oh how perfect for our breakfast menu! While researching other breakfast for dinner menus via Pinterest I stumble upon this adorable mimosa bar set-up...

Image via Smarty Had A Party

I could immediately imagine this cute little mimosa bar set up for our guests to enjoy, and immediately added this pin to my "Wedding On-Noms" board. It's also relatively low-maintenence once it is all set up. Simply put out some champagne, put some fresh cut-up fruit into bowls, supply cups + cute stirrers, and boom. Mimosa bar! While I'm excited to be offering mimosas at our wedding, it does add several more things onto my "To-Do" list...find carafes, find cute little fruit holders, make tags, figure out how much champagne is needed, what flavors of juice to offer, etc. Come hell or high water, though, I will have an adorable little mimosa bar.

Both the coffee bar and the DIY mimosa bar and going to be set out during the "coffee hour" immediately following the ceremony, along with our "coffee hour" snacks. During the actual breakfast buffet portion of the evening, we will also be adding juices (and water of course) to the drink options. Although we know for sure what other drinks will be added to the beverage line-up, we still aren't 100% when we want to bring them out. During dinner, to be enjoyed with their breakfast? After dinner, once people are ready to party? Bees, please help me out with this one!

Mr. C's favorite beer is Yeungling, and one of my favorite drinks is Angry Orchard (often referred to by my friends as "lady cider"...whatever). Choosing these two drinks to serve was an easy choice, since we wanted to offer drinks that we thought all of our guests could enjoy. While we would have loved to offer a huge variety of different drinks, we also want to keep things relatively simple. The plan is to put out bottles of each drink either during or after dinner and allowing our friends and family to just go and grab them when they please during our crazy-wedding-dance-party...

Something like this, minus the wooden sign. Photo via It's a Brides Life / Photo by La Bella Vita Photography

We quickly ix-nayed (do people still say that?) the idea of a champagne toast, since it's another thing to buy and worry about on an already pretty hectic day. Also, I don't really care for champagne and I figure our guests can toast with whatever happens to be in their hand during the toast portion of the evening.

So, I need your advice. Would it be crazy for me to offer Angry Orchard and Yeungling during our "brinner", or should I just wait until dancing starts to bring out the other beverages?