I really don’t want this to be me.
Image from the Daily Haha
Laugh if you will, but my birthday was in January and I still felt a little queasy after the celebration we had, two days later. At the average get-together, or when we’re just hanging out at home, a few drinks will put me into happy-fuzzy territory, where I can wake up the next day feeling just fine. But make it a celebration—a birthday, a job promotion, a wedding—and the drinks seem to flow a lot more freely.
Weddings are often quite alcohol soaked. At the rehearsal dinner there are sometimes toasts, there are definitely drinks, and the dinner is usually followed by some sort of get-together with friends that involves more drinking.
On the wedding day, there are those toasts and drinks pre-ceremony to help calm keyed-up brides and grooms, and then there are the “yay, we got married” drinks, and then the mid-dinner toasts, and then the people wanting to have a celebratory drink with the new couple, and on and on it goes until the room is spinning.
We’re going to be having an open bar, sort of—we’re serving wine with dinner, and having beer available from the cocktail hour onward, as well as some hard liquor with mixers. People can pour their own and drink their own, no bartender. I know there are going to be intoxicated people at our wedding and I’m totally fine with that, so long as nobody drives.
But I don’t want to be one of them! A little happy-fuzzy buzz to get me through my nervousness and on to enjoying the day? For sure. But I’m going to have to make a serious point to not allow myself to get swept up in the inebriation of the crowd, for a few reasons:
At the very least, I’m aiming to keep it together till the reception itself is over, then I can let loose if there’s an after party going on. But I hate hangovers more than I love celebrating.
My goal is to drink lots of water between alcoholic drinks, try to get enough sleep the night before that I’m not starting off half-asleep and thus more susceptible to booze, and, when I am drinking, to drink slowly. Seems to me that the dinner toasts are what gets the buzz rolling, so the key word for me is sip, not swill.
I realize this might be a strange thing to worry about, especially so far in advance, but one look through a Google image search of “drunk bride” is enough to put the fear in me.
Did you/will you drink at your wedding?
That picture is epic. And I can only imagine what Googling “drunk bride” would produce! I’ll admit that I do like to indulge in wine, especially for an occasion such as the wedding, but I’m with you – hangovers are a bitch, and I want to remember everything from the wedding without it going fuzzy, for sure! Foxy tends to imbibe more with his friends, but here’s hoping it won’t get too nuts, at least not till the after party! 
that girl is my god.
i totally intended to drink whatever i wanted at our wedding, but was so hot in my dress that all i wanted was water. i wound up having two sips of champagne the whole night. you’re right– your wedding day is surreal enough without lots of booze fogging your memory. that’s what other people’s weddings are for! i mean, like…that, and celebrating love.
I literally LOL @ my desk! Hilarious.
I don’t think that I will be wasted that night. Everyone else will be though. We are having an open bar with top shelf liquor. We all drink, but I can’t see myself being that wasted. It becomes sloppy looking.
I understand about wanting to remember everything and not being embarrassed.
There won’t even be a chance for me to be tipsy at our wedding. we aren’t having alcohol.
We’re having a dinner reception in our church’s life center (which is really just the room that they hold events in) and we aren’t allowed to have alcohol at the church. There will be after reception festivities going on though!
I have the same fear, I’m going to try to limit myself to the champagne toast and otherwise just drink water…although our wedding ends at 9pm so people may want to go out to drink more after…ahhh!!!
@Miss Fox: It’s a pretty terrifying image search! I suspect Mr. D will be getting his drink on but the only limit I’ve set is that he be sober enough for the wedding itself that our vows count. 
@Mrs. Prairie Dog: I love that she’s clinging onto the bottle so hard, haha. I might be the opposite of you — if it’s chilly outdoors in September I may be tempted to hit the whisky!
@FutureMrsSpencer: I’m totally fine with everyone else being smashed, haha! Makes the booze worthwhile.
@future_schu: Makes perfect sense! You’ll save money that way, too.
@Cara: Haha, afterparties are dangerous…
I remember an episode of ER from forever ago where there was a dying mom saying goodbye to her daughter and giving her last bits of motherly advice and one of the things was to have one glass of champagne at your wedding and then switch to water. I wasn’t a huge fan of the show, but that has always stuck with me for some reason. I’m sure over the entire the day, I will have more than one drink, but I definitely intend to not end up on the floor like the picture. In my opinion, the celebration will be more special and memorable if you don’t have to worry about falling down. Here’s to not embarrassing ourselves!
I’m definitely a little afraid of getting caught up in the whirlwind and then ending up hammered. I’ll have to keep going with the water after a few celebratory beverages.
I plan on having a few drinks throughout the night, but hopefully I won’t overdo it! I’ve heard that you’re so busy mingling with the guests that you never drink as much as you think you will.
I had a drink in my hand at all times (beer in a wine glass? Yes.) but I somehow managed to stay *pretty* in control. I think being the bride just helps with that as you are talking to so many people, you can’t just be chugging drinks in the corner. Ha!
You’ll be fine as long as you keep a conscious mind about your drinking. Worst case, have a jug of water, some aspirin, and B6 vitamins ready by your bed.
I just got married on the 24th this month, and I felt the same as you. My bachelorette party was the night before my wedding and lets just say I remember little. The day of was rough I was so sick and nauseas and trying to make sure everything was set up for the wedding. It was horrible, and I felt horrible but I kept getting compliments from strangers that I was such a calm bride to be during the set up…if they only knew. I had only one drink at my wedding and I’m glad because I couldn’t do a repeat of the night before. I can’t say the same about my hubby though. At the end of the night he jumped in the pool clothes all on…then as I was putting him to bed he kept crying for his best man saying he wanted to go play NBA Jams. I was upset that he was wasted on our wedding night but I got over it because that was just too entertaining and he made up for it the day after and during our honeymoon 
That picture is hilarious! I was too busy to drink too much at our wedding-I just wanted to dance, talk with people, and enjoy our reception instead of getting drink.
i have a very similar plan to yours- with similar reasoning as well! i want to remember every second, and NOT look wasteyface in thhe pictures at the end of the reception!
I’ve been to weddings that were dry, and the more…umm…boisterous big Irish/Italian Catholic weddings. Let’s just say this: the brides enjoyed themselves at both but the Irish/Italian brides seemed to enjoy their night just a weeee bit more Of course, if the booze is a-flowin’ you always have to watch out for that one “crazy aunt” who will end up on the table twirling her dinner jacket like a chippendale’s dancer (true story!). I think moderation is a good thing, becasue nothing is better than getting ot remind your hungover loved ones of how hilarious they were the night before!
@MeganRae1230: Cheers to that!
@Miss Treasure: I just hope I have the willpower to switch to water!
@Miss Coyote: @Mrs. Honey: People have told me that and I believe it! We have a smaller crowd, though, so I don’t think I can rely on being busy as a safety net.
@northmeetssouth: Haha, I think we’ll have to get a hangover kit ready!
@kikigurl: I feel bad for thinking that’s funny! I hope Mr. D and I end up decently matched in terms of intoxication because if he’s super loaded and I’m stone sober we probably won’t get along.
@Mrs. Pony: Yeah, if you hit the dance floor all night it’s hard to keep a drink going!
@Miss Archer: Ooooh I hate wasteyface. Not what I want at all.
@MissGreenBean: Haha, we have already made predictions on who will end up sleeping in the tent!
I don’t drink, but FI and I had this conversation a few weeks ago.. An uncle mentiones he got so intoxicated at his wedding, there was not even a chance of a wedding night, and he doesn’t even remember half of the reception.
..of all the days you can get hammered, you’re going to do it at your wedding? I don’t t
The picture is hilarious…:):) We are having signature cocktails and are definitely going to drink…but we are getting on a plane the next morning for the honeymoon, so getting drunk is not an option….
Honestly, I didn’t have time to drink that much until after dinner, which by that point everyone else was wasted (rain + tented venue=drunk-ass guests)! I think as long as you’re mindful, you’ll be totally fine!
@Mrs. Trail Mix: Haha, we’re having the tented venue but hopefully not the rain! I think all of our guests will end up on the drunk-ass side regardless.
Mrs. Dragon, Sioux Lookout/Brockville, ON Age and Occupation: 24, Journalist Fiance's Age and Occupation: 35, Graphic Designer Engagement Date: August 22, 2011 Wedding Date: September 2012 Venue: Mother of the Bride’s Residence About Me: I moved to Northern Ontario for a job, expecting to be single for the year I'd be there. Within one month I was dating a co-worker, and now, more than two years later, we’re planning a wedding and I’m still a Northern girl. I’m a reporter and a photographer for a small-town newspaper, and I get to do all kinds of fun, exciting, and sometimes weird things at work. When I’m not getting the scoop, I’m cooking, adventuring, playing with our three black cats, or blogging.
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