Wedding Blog
A great way to add a personal touch to your reception is to have a signature drink. When we started planning I did a bit of looking for inspiration and found this lavender champagne on MarthaStewart.com.
Ingredients, Makes 16
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon dried lavender
4 bottles (750 mL each) dry Champagne or sparkling wine, chilled
Fresh lavender sprigs, for garnish
Directions
Bring sugar and 1/2 cup water to a boil in a saucepan, stirring to dissolve sugar. Stir in dried lavender. Remove from heat. Let cool completely. Strain out lavender. Refrigerate syrup until ready to serve (up to 1 month). Pour about 6 ounces Champagne and 1 1/2 teaspoons syrup into each flute. Garnish each with a lavender sprig.
From MarthaStewart.com.
Lavender is something we integrated into our reception as our place cards so I thought it would be a nice touch. Photo by Daria Bishop and lavender bundle by Fresh Floral Design Studio.
Because Mr. Onion doesn’t love champagne, we decided instead to go with an Amaretto Sour. This is a a drink Mr. Onion introduced me to and I just love. I’m a bit of a lightweight when it comes to alcohol and this is one of the few drinks I could ever order at a bar or restaurant because it was never very strong. They were so refreshing and our guests loved being greeted by servers passing trays of the yummy drinks. Here we are stealing a kiss and holding our Amaretto Sours!
Ingredients, Makes 16
24 oz amaretto almond liqueur
24 splashes sweet and sour mix
Directions
Pour the amaretto liqueur into a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice cubes. Add a splash or two of sweet and sour mix, and shake well. Strain or pour into an old-fashioned glass, garnish with a maraschino cherry and a slice of orange, and serve.
Another way to go about it is to be inspired by a color or by a particular style of drink you love. Love Martini’s? Check out Martiniart.com.
I’ve seen some wonderful ideas for outdoor summer weddings — lemonade and ice tea as guests are waiting for the ceremony to begin. I would feel so well taken care of as a guest to be offered something cool to drink.
What signature drink are you planning on serving? Will they be served at the cocktail hour or before the ceremony?
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I’m planning on serving Mojitos since my fiance is Cuban and they are a traditionally cuban drink. I think they are yummy, and with the green leaf, it certainly goes with our wedding colors.
Oh Mrs.Onion! I’ve loved your wedding from afar since I saw the whole event over on the Fresh site! We’re also incorporating lavender into our wedding (it will be bistro-french without being too theme-y). I saw the champagne, but I’m not sure popping open that many bottles will save money! Did you come across any other lavender ideas? I found a lanvender soda pop that seems promising…
We’re serving pimms & lemonade- we’ve lived in the UK the last 4 years and now equate summer with Pimms! It will be a refreshing, festive drink!
We are having a swanky black tie (yet relaxed) wedding and in lieu of strawberries we will be putting large blackberries in our champagne.
We’re planning on serving a drink that I invented in college that is named after me. We’re going to slightly change the name of the drink so that it reflects both of us. I wanted something that would go with our color scheme and a friend reminded my that my specialty drink would work perfectly. Now all I have to do is swear the bartenders to secrecy about what’s in my special drink…
BA … we’re getting married in England so it will be Pimms a’Clock for us as well!
(although I think I might have to have champagne as well, just for tradition)
My fiance and I decided on mint juleps. We have a soft spot for bourbon, and I couldn’t get over the old-timeyness of it all…
Wow Onion, those are some BIG amaretto sours!
In addition to champagne and wine, we served “spritz”— a cocktail popular in the Veneto region of Italy. They can be made with Campari, but we prefer the Aperol version. And since we can only get Aperol when we are there we wanted to incorporate it into our celebration. Aperol, prosecco, splash of club soda and a slice of fresh orange. You can also add a splash of gin and an olive. Sounds disgusting, but is really quite tasty!
We met at the Kentucky Derby, so we are serving mint juleps!
love all the creative ideas! thanks for sharing.
bsquared — you’re sweet, thank you! i take it you’re planning a vermont wedding too? we first thought about a fresh bistro kind of wedding (looking into renting out leunig’s in burlington but couldn’t afford it). would love to know how your wedding turns out. anyway…lavender. i did have a wonderful lavender and sage infused vodka cocktail with cranberry at at bar in the village that was subtle but awesome. google “lavender cocktail” and see what comes up! i found a few that look yummy:
http://tinyurl.com/36phqa
http://tinyurl.com/2ug5zg
Another idea would be to serve lavender ice cream (sooo good) with dessert.
BA - mmmm pimms! We gave our GM a bottle of Pimms and some amazing ginger ale from fever tree (look into it) as a gift along with henderick’s gin (the best in my opinion) and fever tree tonic water — really makes a difference.
beanchar — they were really timid and there was not much alcohol in them at all! plus, i only had time for one (boo).
Fun fun — keep the ideas flowing!
Yay for Amaretto Sours!
We’ve actually been thinking about not serving wine at our reception–my FI is a homebrewer and so is way more interested in having some nice microbrew options on tap. And I generally just have a mixed cocktail with low alcohol content (I’m a lightweight)–I’ve actually been thinking of doing Amaretto Collins (at least that’s what I call an Amaretto Sour with soda water–then I can drink more of them!).
We’re also thinking about serving mead (honey wine) for toasts…
But I’m a little worried that some guests might feel like they deserve wine with their meal.
Lavender champagne? Wow, that sounds good. I occasionally run across a peach champagne which is great. Need to find a recipe for that…
We were thinking Leunig’s at first, but ended up at the Quechee Inn (closer to Boston). Lavender ice cream is a great idea for a tie-in. Thanks.
bsquared — i’ve heard nice things about the quechee inn. do share the details and photos with me post wedding!
This looks lovely. I want to serve these during cocktail hour - thanks!
A question, though: it seems like dried cooking lavender is easy enough to find, but what about those fresh sprigs?
Any suggestions on where to order fresh sprigs safe to use in a drink? Thanks!
sallynyc - the first thing i’d do is ask your florist. i’m sure they’d have a source. or go down to the flower district and ask around — they are bound to be able to order you some fresh!
also i found a tasty looking lavender lemonade here: http://tinyurl.com/2zpund and a lavender ice cream here: http://tinyurl.com/2h9msy
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Miss Onion, NYC/Burlington, VT
Age and Occupation: 27, PR & Marketing and Jazz Singer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Data Analyst
Engagement Date: April 2, 2006
Wedding Date: September 2007
Blogging Since: July 11, 2007
Venue: Restaurant in Burlington
About Me: I didn't think I'd be "that girl," but I am having so much fun planning our wedding (mostly by myself). I'm a PR and Marketing Director for a major jazz festival and camp by day, and by night, a romantic jazz singer and bride-to-be! I hope all my research can help other brides in their planning.
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