The great alcohol debate

To drink, or not to drink? That is the all important question. This question has been the cause for some very animated conversations with both mine and FI's family as well as on some message boards. Now you may ask, "don't all weddings have alcohol?," but contrary to popular belief the answer to that would be no. I grew up in a dry county where there were no bars for miles and restaurants didn't serve any alcohol. Most of my family lives there and since they are accustomed to life in a dry county none of them are big drinkers. We live in the country where a good meal is accompanied by sweet tea or lemonade, not a fine wine or beer! So most weddings I attended were without a bar, thus I thought nothing of not having alcohol at my own wedding. It wasn't until my FMIL brought up the fact that she thought it was odd not to have a bar at such a formal event that I began second guessing the decision. I started to wonder if guests would be upset by the lack of liquor and if we would seem like bad hosts. I already knew that my parents would be against it. I have a large family that's taking up at least half the guest list and pretty much none of them would be offended by attending a dry wedding, therefore I knew my family wouldn't want to share the costs for having to buy the alcohol, hire a bartender to serve the alcohol, and pay the fee for a temporary license for our event when our half of the guests wouldn't be consuming any. It doesn't help that we are on a very tight budget and adding a bar to the mix would definitely drive up the amount we'd have to scrounge up for a bar on top of the meal we're doing. FI was also concerned about guests driving home after consuming since our wedding is taking place in a town where no one on our invite list lives (it's about a good hour away for most who are coming) and because we have lost a loved one because of a drunk driving accident. Another concern that FI and I shared is about some of his family's drinking habits. There have been numerous occasions where he has been more than a little embarrassed by overindulgent relatives and our wedding is the last place we wanted to have a scene. So as if all those reasons were not enough to help us in our decision to not have alcohol, we sat down and really looked at our guest list and discovered that we have a lot of friends who are a year younger than us and are not even legal yet! So the list of people who would be drinking is far outweighed by those who either wouldn't or can't. And thus it is decided that, weird as some may think it is, we are going to be having a nice dinner with only a champagne toast. We briefly considered doing a wine and beer type bar, but that still leaves the opportunity for select members to get a little too rowdy and I HATE the idea of a cash bar. I think it's tacky to invite guests to a wedding only to surprise them by having them pay for drinks. I've been to weddings like this where the other guests would agree with me when I say I'd rather have no alcohol than to expect guests to shell out their money like it's a club or something. So regardless of what anyone says my wedding will still be just as wonderful and special without alcoholic beverages. Maybe I'm naive but I'd like to think that people come to weddings for reasons other than free drinks. When it comes right down to it I know my guests better than anyone who is advising me against having a dry reception, and I know my friends and family are going to be perfectly happy celebrating me and my man becoming man and wife with a sweet tea in their hand ;)