Drink up!

“Cheers! Salud! Prost!” We all have a preferred way of drinking the health of family and friends — and what better time to toast life and love than at a wedding? Let’s look at beverage ideas for your Milwaukee Wedding — large and small, adult- and kid-friendly — to bolster a day brimming with drink-infused merriment.

At the reception, lead with refreshments. During cocktail hour, greet guests with personalized drink glasses doubling as place cards. Try attaching a miniature nametag to paper straws or scrawl names on chalkboard-style stickers and adhere them to rustic mason jars. Another way to individualize the drinking experience: Tiny bottles of champagne waiting at each table. Wedding favors for each guest might also be drinkable. If you’re a coffee-loving couple, gift a small bag of coffee grounds labeled “the perfect blend” or “love is brewing.”

To give potables even more personality, ask the bartender to create a signature drink for the bride and groom. Most local SE WI Caterers offer bar service and can easily accommodate this request.  Be sure to call the drink something clever, like “Marry Me Martini,” “Something Blue Punch,” or a play on the couple’s last name. For a bride and groom who don’t agree on beverages, go for His and Her drinks — perhaps a pink sangria (“Blushing Bride”) and a blue margarita (“Blue-eyed Groom”). If you’re connoisseurs of a particular type of alcohol, create an entire focal table dedicated to your spirits of choice. Add a fun touch to the table with handmade signs: “Whiskey for the boys!” or “Eat, drink, and be married!” And if you want things to get really personal (and your venue allows bringing in alcohol), be your own bartender. Pre-mix drinks in mason jars and keep them on ice. Or, if brewing is your thing, brew your own beer — it doesn’t get much more unique than that!

Beyond booze, incorporate non-alcoholic refreshments so that there’s a little something for everyone. Kegs of root beer are fun for the kids. Large jugs of lemonade are not only thirst-quenching at a summertime wedding, they also make for a very pretty picture. Relics Rentals offers a large selection of items perfect for this purpose. When it’s time for dessert — or a late-night second wind — consider a coffee bar complete with flavor shots and donut pops as stirring straws. In the winter months, a hot cacao bar with all the marshmallow trimmings and peppermint stick trappings leaves a warm, lasting impression.