Why worry about craft beer at wedding receptions?

I'm planning a wedding now and every venue I've visited has told me that I can bring a keg of any beer and they will pour it. They noted that they get asked this quite frequently so there's obviously a demand for craft beer at weddings. One of the venues had sam adams standard and even gave me a list of kegs they could order for me.

 

Women worry about dresses, food, decor, men worry about the music and the alcohol.

 

What you serve to your closest friends and family is a reflection of you, and in the case of a wedding, a reflection on your future hopes and dreams...Do you really want to serve Bud Lite? You would be better off finding a friend who makes good home brew and serving that.

 

That's not something I would have thought about, but a good idea nonetheless. At this point the restaurant at which I work is now catering, some weddings too, and I have to say - the number of things that can go wrong with the food alone are astronomical. I do not envy event planners their jobs. At this point, I don't think I'll complain if I'm not entirely fond of the beer or food at a wedding, there are certainly more important things at hand than that - like the happiness of the bride and groom, the social atmosphere, and whether or not the ladies think I look good in a suit

 

The point of a wedding reception is to get a guest or even better a member of the wedding party to make a fool of themselves. If it takes craft beer so be it!

 

Wouldn't you rather have a Two Hearted in your hand than a Bud when shit hits the fan?

 

My wife and I decided from the beginning it was the one day that we could be completely selfish and not do what our parents and families wanted and just do what made us happy and would make our day better. We didn't have chicken breast, filet, or veggie option and Bud Light and Jaegermeister on ice. We had buffet stations with seared tuna, chimichurri steak, make your own salad, three types of pasta, craft beer and French 75s, Old Fashioneds, and mint juleps. No Cha-Cha Slide, no Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy, no Whitney Houston. Talking Heads,David Bowie, T. Rex, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, air guitar and late night sliders.
Tldr; do whatever you want, your guests will appreciate your unique wedding as opposed to cookie cutter events.

 

I might get divorced so I can have better craft beer at my next wedding. Get those priorities right...

 

Your wedding is a celebration of you, your partner, and your connection. If craft beer is important to you or your partner and especially if it is to both, of course it ought to be part of your wedding reception.

You don't have to go overboard, either. You can offer typical whatevers from Coors or InBev and still have one or two crafts on offer. I recently attended a wedding where they had Heady Topper at the bar. Plenty of people still enjoyed their Coors Light but I and a few other beer lovers definitely appreciated having a solid option.

 

If there's anything better than Sam Adams Boston Lager I'm impressed. At the last wedding I went to I choked down about three Yuenglings before submitting to the liquor.

 

My friends got a great mix for their daughter's wedding. Bud Light and Ultra for the non-craft people and Lazy Magnolia Southern Pecan (a Mississippi favorite) for the rest of us. Plus wine. Everyone was happy.

 

Getting married in about a year and everything is falling into place. Now it's time to address the bar. On offer are about five or six brews that I wouldn't wish upon my enemy. We're looking to support a local craft brewer rather than the larger companies. It's a win-win for local business and wedding guests.

 

I'm getting married next year and we're having a sort of craft beer themed wedding (her idea, she's the best). Hops on the boutonniere and in the bouquet, barley in the center pieces, etc. We're sharing our passion and doing it in a fun (and hopefully classy) way. It's in Wisconsin and we get 4 taps so we're going with Oberon, Two Hearted, Spotted Cow, and Bud Light. These are beers we love that we hope can satisfy everyone. If not, they can have cocktails.

 

I am getting married in January. My venue told me the standard beer offerings are Miller Lite, Coors Light, and Yuengling. I talked them into keeping the Coors so I can put something decent on draft. I just need to figure out what I want. Prima Pils? SNPA? Head Hunter?

 

Negotiating with a venue and/or picking a few craft beers for a wedding isn't that hard. It was one the easiest things my wife and I did in planning for our wedding. You only see a lot of debate and discussion about it on BA because this is a website about beer.

 

Seeing as how I am now 40 days away from my wedding, let me offer some "in the thick of it" commentary.

1. I am getting a couple "crafty" kegs. One keg of Surly Furious ( for $450 ), And either a Tallgrass IPA or an Odell 5 Barrel Pale ale
2. I am also getting a keg of Mich Golden Light.

Why? Well, because there will probably be 10 people a the wedding that would actually care to drink something that isnt piss-water. That being said, I am not going to JUDGE people who do not like craft beer. It is an acquired taste, and to think otherwise is ludicrous. In fact, I would rather judge the people who take issue with folks who like light beer. You know why the Bourbon County varietals were impossible to get in most markets? People started getting on the craft bandwagon. I'd rather continue feeding Mich Golden to the people who like it, so that I can keep enjoying my craft.

That being said - the wedding is really about everyone else. My fiancee and I joke about how we should have just eloped when we were in costa rica. This thing is getting expensive and tedious.

 

Well this is pretty silly. The fact that you are putting so much effort into every little detail makes it the perfect time to fret over what beer to serve. A wedding is an opportunity for the bride and groom to express themselves, and if one or both likes craft beer, then it should absolutely be a part of the event. It would make no sense to pay so much attention to dozens of little things that 95% of the guests won't even notice, and then just throw in the towel and go with a bog-standard beer list because there are other things to worry about. Most people won't care about the beer list, either, but if nothing else, the bride and groom will drink at the wedding. They should be able to have beer that they like.

 

My limited experience says that the less the bride and groom focus on what they love and what will bring a sense of joy at the wedding - the more they make the wedding how they think it "should" be as opposed to what they think will make them and their guests joyful - the crappier the wedding. If having craft beer is going to give you the knowledge that you and your guests are going to have that much better a time, then why the hell not?

 

So this is a wedding planning thread... on a beer website... the theme of which is don't worry about beer. Sir are you high or did you show up at the wrong ( web) address?

 

I think part of the OP's point is that on the list of things that most guests will notice at your wedding, the beer selection is probably fairly low--they are more often concerned with questions like full bar? Open bar? How late is the bar open? than they are about the specific types of beer available. On a certain level, I understand the point, because fussing over a specific type of craft beer for my wedding would have just added more moving parts to planning a wedding that already had about a bajillion of them. Of course, I was a little spoiled, because our venue already offered Boulevard Pale Ale and Wheat instead of your standard macro beers that you will typically see. One of the benefits of living/getting married in Kansas City. Everyone carries Boulevard.

All that said, people should spend time planning the things that are important to them, and if one of those things is having craft beer, then more power. A wedding is about your guests to some degree, but ultimately it's about you, and if having a nice selection of craft beer is what's important, then that's what you should spend time on. Some people just don't really care about centerpieces, and that's perfectly fine.