Frugal couple want dry wedding with 'only water' to drink; friends and family revolt.
If 'a meal without wine is like a day without sunshine', then a wedding without any alcohol must be like a year without going outside (can comfirm).
But what if there were also zero non-alcoholic options at this hours-long event besides water? That sounds like actual hell.
When two hydrated people fell in love and decided to get married, they tried to save money where they could. But they soon found out that they have very different opinions on what a 'necessity' is for a party than the rest of the world.
'AITA (Am I the a-hole) for having a dry wedding and serving only water for drinks?'
u/Odd_Conversation5087 writes:
Ok so basically my husband and I are getting married later this year. Each of our sides of the family are fairly big. It will be around 100-150 people total. My husband and I are paying for this all ourselves, as well as my grandma who said she doesn't care one way or the other on this issue. She just loves weddings.
We have a lot of kids in our family so we decided against making it child-free but we did decide to make it dry. So there will be no alcohol of any kind at our wedding.
Honestly, this doesn't have anything to do with there being kids there but due to the fact that my fiancé and I don't drink. Nothing against people who do, it's just not for us and we don't want to.
On top of that, we only really drink water. We rarely, if ever, drink soda so most of the time it's only water with the occasional juice and milk. We don't even drink coffee.
So obviously the food (which is a part my grandma is not paying for) is going to be expensive for that many people. We are having our wedding catered so everyone will have a good choice of food to choose from but to drink only water will be provided.
We don't want to have to pay for alcohol or soda, it is just an large added expense when we can just do filtered water for a MUCH cheaper cost.
Well, when family and friends found out, they got angry. Some didn't really care but some are really upset about it. Saying that I can just have a cash bar so I don't have to pay for drinks (we could, but still have to pay for the bartender and we just really don't want to bother with alcohol there).
Or we should at least have soda because how can we expect everyone to drink ONLY water? The kids will be upset. The wedding will be boring. That this is not how weddings work. Etc.
So AITA (Am I the a-hole)? I didn't think this would be a problem! It's only water. I mean, don't most people drink water everyday anyway? Should we pay the extra to have soda to make the family happy?
What do you think? Would you like to attend an event for hours that didn't even offer soda, juice, or coffee? Or does the couple have a right to cater their wedding to their very plain tastes?
Reddit rules YTA (you're the a-hole) and many explained their reasons.
Sea_Rise_1907 says:
YTA honestly. I fully support a dry wedding but only water as a beverage is being a cheap host. I know that technically you could be in the right, but here’s the thing about weddings, the marriage ceremony is for you and your fiancé. The wedding is for everyone you’ve invited, it’s an event you’re hosting, and not providing any drinks other than water makes you a bad host/hostess.
When you’re hosting an event, your job as hostess is to take care of your guests. Just because it follows a marriage ceremony doesn’t make you any less the host of an event. And that means providing more than one drink option, especially non alcoholic. Especially to an event your guests are incurring expenses to attend and bringing gifts to.
CrazyCatLadey007 comments:
If no one offered tea and coffee with the cake, I'd be like 'what kind of cheap place did I just walk into?' Also, when it's late and you have to drive home, a coffee or tea is appreciated.
workinkindofhard writes:
It's cheap and tacky to only serve water. I would 100% be pregaming in the parking lot if I found out I couldn't even get an iced tea or a soda lol
From Quirky-Honeydew-2541:
I hope that in 20 years everyone still saying 'you remember that wedding we had to smuggle in a 2 liter of pepsi'
OrlaCarey adds:
YTA - I don't have anything against dry weddings but surely you can offer something other than just water. Iced Tea? Lemonade? Something with flavor? When my cousin had a dry wedding she served sodas. Your guests are not likely to think it's very celebratory if you just serve water. And you would be surprised by the number of people who NEVER drink water, let alone do it at celebrations.