“The
First Drink” refers to that “first drink” that everyone orders during the cocktail
hour at the Wedding reception (while the Bride and Groom are having their formal pictures taken).
It is a
term that strikes terror into the hearts of bartenders everywhere. Because it takes forever for the
bartenders to prepare and serve all of those custom drinks (“I’ll have a
Louisiana Shooter, two Spider’s Kiss and a Nightmare .. Please”) … there has to
be a better way!
The best
solution to this dilemma that I’ve seen is the “Signature Drink”. It’s a fun & fruity, very colorful, kind
of bubbly, not too sweet, not too high in alcohol drink which can be premade by the venue and served in a nice glass.
Now the
title “signature drink” has nothing to do who made it or what’s in it! It can be a fruit juice/ginger ale base, it
can have orange slices and cherries in it, gin, vodka, served in a martini glass,
plastic fluke whatever. It just has to be the only drink that is available when
the guests arrive. Everyone will grab one and be very happy.
It’s the
perfect drink for the cocktail hour because it can be made with and without
alcohol, looks totally classy so girls and guys can feel good holding it (think school uniforms …
no one looks any different than anyone else),
kids can have the same (looking) drink as the adults and it’s inexpensive for the
venue to produce.
I can’t
take credit for this idea though. I recently attended an event hosted by The Knot for their “Best of Weddings 2012” (me!) and when we arrived
at the reception, there lined up on the bar were 100 (this is a guess, I’m not
a savant …HA!) glasses of “signature drinks”. As I picked up my own “signature
drink” I thought to myself “and the solution to a bartender’s terror is
resolved”.
Bartenders rejoice - guests will no longer be able to play "stump the bartender" to impress your friends by ordering a fancy drink which has 150 year old tequila and some eye of newt in it while 150 other guests are standing behind them ... and all they wanted was a nice cold bottle of Rolling Rock !
