Why worry about craft beer at wedding receptions?

Why is this more important than beer? I'd rather have a burger and SNPA than a filet and Bud Lite. And don't even get me started on "seat covers." If there's anything at a wedding not to care about, it's those.

I think mine has BMC-lite, Corona, SNPA, and something I can negotiate with them. They usually do 60-minute, but I'd like to aim for Indian Brown to get something a little different.

 

Several of my friends are homebrewers so most of the receptions revolve around the homebrewers providing beer as their present. Saves the married couple a big expense and eveybody wins.

 

We had a small wedding about 125 people but let me tell you the bar bill was MORE than the caterer's bill. THAT"S how much people drink free booze at a wedding! So buy them what you can afford and don't sweat it. They should be there to celebrate your wedding after all. We had crap beer at my wedding and people guzzled it in between shots!

 

So caring about what alcohol you are serving to guests that are spending their time and money to celebrate your wedding means you are not ready for marriage? Got it, makes perfect sense.

 

If I was your family and you held a wedding without giving me the opportunity to keg stand Vanilla Bean Dark Lord… well then I would think that you didn't love me very much at all.

 

I think it's a huge part. You only go this big a couple of times (hopefully) in your life. Were planning our baby shower now and I wouldn't dream of not having at least a pony of something crafty for the attendees. Depending on how into it you are there is almost an expectation. In my case it is a must.

 

Your statement reinforces my point.

 

Oh man, I better tell my wife we should get a divorce, I was not ready for marriage! I mean, it took all of like 10 minutes of the entire planning time to pick beer and booze but obviously, that 10 minutes means we should definitely not have gotten married. Seriously, it's part of the planning process of any wedding, and picking out what booze will be served isn't that hard. Hey, wedding planner (or caterer, or venue, or whoever), would it be possible to serve some x, y, and z beers? Ok cool, thanks. Now onto the flowers...(or, let me guess, if a woman cares about what flowers will be at the wedding, she isn't ready for marriage either, right?).

 

OK, try to stay on point. The thead says "Why worry" about it. If worrying is involved, and you are the groom (as I initially said), there lies the problem.
Maybe I'm olld fashioned, planning a wedding is all about the bride. She's the CEO. If she wants certain beers, fine. Otherwise the groom need to unselfishly be a man and make sure everything is the way she wants it.

Worrying that your brahs aren't going to be able to crush whalez.... not so important. That's from 25 years of marriage.

 

Fair points, I deferred to her on everything (haha past tense...I still do...save me ), she wanted me in charge of booze because she isn't a drinker. So I got to have input on that. I wasn't even really into beer back then, just started really discovering it, but made sure that we had non Miller options (it was Milwaukee, I think we had some Spotted Cow and an assortment of Sprecher beers, probably some others, can't recall). The point is we wanted good beer and good booze for people, but it wasn't about getting a keg of BCBS there, it was more a matter of having choices beyond Miller.

 

Maybe in your crowd it is overlooked, however I have a significant number of guests who are craft beer people. There are three things that make a wedding, or any party for that matter, the food, the drink, and the crowd. We booked an awesome chef and had multiple tastings, so I am confident the food will be on point. The crowd will be our friends and family, so again I am confident they will have a good time, then it comes to drink. There will be very few guests at our wedding who drink to get drunk, there will be a lot who enjoy quality beer, wine and spirits. The bar is not #1 over all, but on a day where everything is planned out a quality bar should be too.

First I have a bride who is awesome, and wants a reception that everyone will enjoy, including me, her, and our guests.
Second, unless she wants a bar that specifically does not have a great beer selection, then it isn't taking away from her day, if it makes people happier then it is only going to make it better.
Third, at my wedding reception I am going to be writing a $20k check to pay for a wedding that will include everything she wants, you better believe I will be easing my sorrows with some world class brews.

 

Off to a positive start....

 

Currently in the midst of planning a wedding - ended up lucking into the old Pabst Brewery in Milwaukee as our venue (has been an event space for 4 years). They run the bar, which obviously includes PBR, but also 11 other taps, mostly local craft from MKE, Lakefront, New Glarus, etc.

Even with that, I'm still working on securing something from Chicago or DC (places we have lived) to add to the mix. Beer is important enough to us as a couple that we want to be able to say we put in the effort to have our 'beer history' represented. Also planning to have a couple special bombers for folks select guests in the know who will appreciate that sort of thing.

Yes, there are lots of details and costs to consider when wedding planning, but being able to focus on delivering a good beer experience is fun, frankly. As others have said - focus on what is important to you and your significant other. You'll have more fun that way.

 

My wife kept reminding me that it was my wedding, too, and I had a right for at least some of it to be how I wanted it to be. Now obviously, most of the details mattered a great deal more to her than they did to me, and of course any disagreements were automatically settled in her favor (and rightly so), but it was my wedding, too. I won't pretend that planning was or ought to be 50/50, but the groom does have a right to a say. And if I was the kind of guy who was able to just sit back, nod, and say "Yes, Dear," to everything no matter how strongly I felt about it, I don't think I'd be the type of man my wife would want to marry. But that's just me.

 

I got married last fall, and the beer was something that I worried a bit about - not overwhelmingly, but still.
I would have preferred to be able to serve homebrew at the reception, but due to state laws, the place we chose wasn't able to do that. They did have a couple distro's that was able to get almost anything that comes to Massachusetts, so besides the usual BMC, plus Sam Adams Lager and Seasonal that they always kept in stock, I got a couple cases of an IPA and one of a darker beer. (Wachusett IPA and SN Tumbler; one of the last cases in the warehouse, I was later told) There was also some Pretty Things Jack D'Or left over from a previous affair that ended up in the cooler, so between them all we had plenty of choices for just about anyone.
Beer and wine was free for guests, spirits were "cash bar" though I got a Four Roses on the rocks without paying (well, I was paying for the whole bloody wedding, no?)
I sympathize with the OP, but also disagree. A wedding is about the pair getting hitched, and if craft beer is part of what makes them... them, then why not make it part of the wedding. I'm sure that if we lived in another area, we would have had other and more options of beer to serve, but the wedding is not there purely to get drunk (that's the bachelor party, no?) and I think we had just enough to keep things going without getting too obnoxious.
It's also the crowd. We had about 20 or so craft beer drinkers, most of the rest was wine and spirits, so I think we ended up using all or very nearly all of the craft selections, I only saw a few drinking BMC, we ended up with just the right amount of specialty beer at ours. Other crowds may need more or less.

 

We got married at a restaurant/banquet owned by a local brewery. It took care of any beer problems.

 

If I may paraphrase a great American:

If I'm there and she's there, doesn't that make it our day? Certainly there's nothing wrong with having some good beer on our day?

 

I picked up a dozen assorted growlers for my wedding. It worked out great!!!

 

Oh come on, leave him alone. I've agreed with a lot of your points but if the guy wants to spend $20k on a wedding that's his business. You don't know anything about his finances nor is it your business. He can spend his money how he wants and you can do the same.

 

Get a good one!

BTW @HRamz3 - I still fail to see how making sure there is some SABL or SNPA served at the bar alongside the other stuff gets in the way of letting the bride have everything the way she wants it. Most of these threads that seem to be the inspiration of this one are of people asking for suggestions of 'crowd pleasing' beers to serve, not walez to crush.

 

Get 3 kegs and give people 3 options:
Option 1: Dortmunder Gold
Option 2: Chimay Blue
Option 3: Torpedo

You are likely going to have to have some kind of wine. Apart from those drinking wine, who can't find a beer to drink from those 3 options?

 

If you're serving Chimay I'll attend your wedding, I'll even bring a gift.

 

As it should be.
Two of the most memorable parts of any wedding by far.

 

Well, if I had made any comment regarding the amount of money being spent, you would have a point. But since I did not make any such remark, not so much...

The amount is of no importance. The lament of having spent it is.

 

BYO

 

This makes little sense to me. Couldn't you also have a "good red wine" or "top shelf vodka" at home as well

 

Oh, ok. You've never begrudgingly spent money on you SO to make them happy? Got it.

 

Last 3 weddings I have been to have served my homebrew. If nothing else I had a great conversation starter with the girls haha.

 

I'm getting married in December and the venue got us a keg of Green Flash west coast IPA for $230. I'm afraid I will also have to get some bud or coors light to appease the less-craft enthusiastic guests.

 

Our venue told us they would do the best they could to meet our beverage needs. We ended up with Miller Lite, Hoegaarden, Flying Fish Grand Cru Winter (we got married in January) and Yuengling. All the beer drinkers were happy, hell, I think after my first Flying Fish, I switched over to top shelf bourbon anyway. My wife knew it was important to me to have decent beer at the reception, and we did.

 

Again you miss the point. If you can't accurately respond, don't bother. Of course I've spent money begrudingly. But this is a freakin' wedding. Describing having to pay for your brides wedding as something that requires beers to ease the sorrow, that was the quote.

 

No, all I have at home is beer...

 

I "worried" because it was our wedding and we wanted our guests and ourselves to have something good to drink. It was important to my wife and I and our guests knew it. We got so many appreciative comments following the reception regarding the beer spread.

FWIW, we were 15mins from Smuttynose so we had bottles of Finestkind, Shoals, Robust Porter, Old Brown Dog and Star Island Belgian. It was a rousing success and many friends of mine have asked for tips regarding their own wedding. To each their own, it's YOUR day, do what you want.

 

Ok, you win. If I have any relationship questions I will come to you since you seem to have that all figured out.

 

I got married in VT just so I could have heady topper. Best decision ever!!!

 

I didn't worry about the beer at my wedding and everyone had a great time. With the money we saved we went to Waterbury for our honeymoon.

Also...

125 people is a SMALL wedding? We had about 40 and I thought it was a fairly good size!

 

My wife and I had craft beer at our wedding last year, and I was glad I arranged to do so. But when I go to someone else's wedding I don't care if they're pouring Schaeffer Light, it's not my wedding and I'm just there to get wrecked. I will drink anything at a wedding.

 

People will drink whatever is there, and they will like what they drink. No mass market beer consumer ever turned down a craft or quasi-craft beer if it was the only option. And for some it may be like the kid who finally eats spinach and likes it after thinking he doesn't like it.

 

Like I said, people will drink whatever is there... AND LIKE IT!

 

Just like funerals.