Wedding Tactics

According to a Chicago wedding website, cocktails are common to serve at wedding receptions. It is an extra nice thing to do for your guests. During the cocktail hour, consider have one special mixed drink passed, one drink per person. The drink can be a piece of your theme. If it is a mid-winter wedding, consider the Warm Kisses drink, a summer-night wedding, serve a Sultry Night.

Here are some drink ideas and the recipes.

Love Blooms
.75 oz. Cointreau
.75 oz. Chambord
Chilled champagne
Fill a chilled wineglass halfway with ice. Add Cointreau and Chambord. Fill with champagne and stir, then garnish with an edible flower petal or a candied swizzle stick.
Fun and Fab: Personalize wine or champagne glasses with wine charms telling a short story about how you fell in love or about your first date. Serve these tasty “blooms� on trays laden with fresh flowers.

Sultry Nights
1 oz. Southern Comfort
1 oz. coconut rum
1 oz. pineapple juice
1 oz. cranberry juice
Mix ingredients together and serve it “up� (shaken and poured into a martini glass) or “on the rocks� (over ice in a highball). Garnish with an orange peel and a miniature fan!
Fun and Fab: Serve these sultry concoctions on trays decorated with exotic, colorful silk and tulle fabrics with elaborate beading. To further set the mood, put your bar under a ceiling fan and decorate with a canopy.

A Spicy Pear of a Pair!
2 parts vodka
1 part pear liqueur
Shake and stir. Then, pour into a chilled martini glass and garnish with slices of pear or a swirled pear rind.
Fun and Fab: Add matching drink charms to every pair of glasses, and encourage guests to find their “matching drink charm� and “pair up� for a first dance.

Warm Kisses
.75 oz. Captain Morgan Spiced Rum
.5 oz. Godiva® dark chocolate liqueur
3.5 oz. espresso coffee
2.5 oz. steamed whipped milk
Add first three ingredients to a heated mug and stir. Add steamed whipped milk, then garnish with dark chocolate shavings, chocolate sprinkles or powdered cocoa.
Fun and Fab: Personalize your mugs with engagement photos, family photos, witty sayings, or anything else fun and creative. Serve these warm drinks on a bar laden with Hersheys® Kisses—and encourage your guests to take their mugs home!

If you are also going to serve wine with dinner, visit Wine Outlook for some important details about chosing the right wine for your food.

Just because you have a cocktail early in the evening doesn’t mean you don’t need wine later!

drinks and drink recipies are courtesy of Chicago Style Wedding.