You’re cordially invited to our dry wedding. Hope you have fun

An open bar was once the sign of a great party. But in an age of loud-and-proud sobriety, alcohol is no longer a must-have for wedding receptions | Do you say ‘I do’ to dry nuptials? Cast your vote

Booze-free weddings are becoming a trend as couples look to spend money on a better venue and food rather than an open bar. Picture: IStock

Gracie Giambrone is finalising details for her October wedding. One thing she’s known since the start: The party won’t have any booze.

“If it’s a day about us, it makes no sense to get alcohol,” said Giambrone, a 35-year-old marketing professional in Tampa, Florida.

Her fiance, a marine veteran, doesn’t drink, and she does on rare occasions. So Giambroni plans to splurge on other costs, such as hiring chefs to live-cook paella and an artisanal coffee bar. She said one friend joked about bringing a flask, which took her aback.

“If you can’t enjoy four hours without alcohol, that’s a deeper issue that I can’t fix,” she said. “My family is from the Dominican Republic. We’ll be dancing regardless.”

An open bar was once the sign of a great party. But in the age of loud-and-proud sobriety, alcohol is no longer a must-have for couples on their wedding day. Some are asking guests to sip on mocktails, coffee and soft-drinks, and dance their hearts out stone-cold sober.

This, unsurprisingly, has rankled people travelling from near and far to celebrate. Siobhan McCaffrey, an influencer in Atlanta, described a dry wedding she went to in Paris two years ago as “the worst wedding I’ve ever been to”.

“Your wedding is not only about you,” McCaffrey, 29, said. “It’s also about making a good experience for the guests.”

Most weddings are still boozy affairs. Only 6 per cent of couples who responded to the annual survey of wedding-planning website Zola said they’d be hosting a completely alcohol-free wedding in 2025.

But wedding vendors say more couples are cutting back.

The days of boozy weddings may be a thing of the past.

“There have never been this many sober guests here,” said Lisa Karvellas, co-owner of Cedar Lakes Estate, an events venue in upstate New York, where the number of couples paying for the addition of a zero-proof bar rose 56 per cent this year.

Karvellas said most weddings at Cedar Lakes Estate still had alcohol, but people were drinking less. “It’s quite nice. You used to worry, ‘Will they drunk-swim in the lake?’” Karvellas said. “I don’t worry about that as much anymore.”

Liz Taylor, a luxury events planner in the UK, said she’d seen a rise in “semi-dry weddings” on her side of the pond.

“They have to get up early to play padel, to hit the gym, so they want one glass of champagne and then they move onto something nonalcoholic,” Taylor said.

For some, a dry wedding is still very much considered taboo. “The No.1 fear is how they will be perceived by their guests,” said Lauren Ladouceur, a wedding content creator, who shoots iPhone footage for social media.

Ladouceur said she generally advises couples against cutting alcohol, unless it’s for religious reasons or due to a substance abuse history. “In weddings, there are societal norms and expectations for the host, and I do think that an open bar is a part of that,” Ladouceur, 28, said.

For some, a dry wedding is still very much considered taboo.

Caroline Wimberly, who works in tech and lives in California, is so opposed to dry weddings that she has got into fights on TikTok about it.

“I think it’s tacky and bad hosting,” Wimberly, 31, said. She recalled an April wedding she attended in Palm Springs where an open bar helped a lively crowd dance until midnight. “It comes down to what a party is,” she said. “You eat, you drink, you gather.”

But Shelby Lyons, a 20-year-old product software specialist in Vancouver, Washington, said she specifically chose to have a dry wedding last month to avoid drunk family members.

She said some family complained when they saw the disclaimer on her invitation. But Lyons said her dance floor was lively and no one left early – her biggest fear. She said guests loved an Italian soda bar set up inside their barn reception.

Alcohol-free cocktails are replacing champagne and beer as the new go-to drink.

In the interest of keeping his budget low, Nathaniel Lieberman, a couch business co-owner in Chester County, Pennsylvania, got married last September in a firehall that cost $US700 to book. It didn’t allow alcohol on the premises.

Instead, he hired a coffee cart. He said he’s not a big drinker, and neither is his wife or their friends. “I grew up knowing that if I went hog-wild drunk, it would be recorded and live on the internet forever,” Lieberman, 27, said.

At the dinner reception for Joanna Flynn’s May destination wedding in Iceland, guests sipped mocktails inspired by Brandon Sanderson, the couple’s favourite sci-fi author, including a “violet wine” made with grape soda and blackberry syrup.

“For us, it was an easy decision, because we don’t drink that much in our normal lives,” said Flynn, 24, a copywriter in Manchester, New Hampshire. The couple and their families covered lodging and meals for all of their guests, so no one was too upset about the lack of alcohol.

Vicky Tejada, a human resources co-ordinator for theme parks in Orlando, is planning to throw a dry wedding at a garden venue in October.

Tejada said she doesn’t want alcohol around all the children, and is also worried about people drink driving on winding roads near the remote venue. She knows some family members will resent her decision.

“I understand you want your drinky drinks, but get to know your nieces and nephews, and just hang out,” Tejada, 35, said. “And then you’ll remember, ‘Oh, Uncle Johnny? He was really cool!’”

The Wall Street Journal