Summer Cocktails

October 16, 2013

For the non-traditionalist brides-to-be (and grooms) here’s a summer wedding trend for you and your guests. Gone are the days where guests are greeted at the reception only by the finest of french champagne to toast the bride and groom (were there ever those days in little old NZ? Surely Lindauer and Steinlager have always been the wedding drink of choice!) for now we can freely bid tradition ‘A dieu’ and do whatever we want. Cocktails on arrival it is!

The fun part about this is not the cocktail, but how the delicious boozy drink (or mocktail if you’re into that) is presented. This is where you can really let your creative juices flow. What sort of glass, straws, embellishments, sliced fruit, flavoured ice cubes will you choose? Here are some of my favourite ideas:

- Vintage. Think small glass milk bottles with a cute twine bow around the neck and topped off with an assortment of different coloured vintage paper straws.

- Candy. Small glass jars in which contain a brightly coloured cocktail recipe (may I suggest Midori illusion) and jars rimmed not with salt, but with CRUSHED NERDS - as in the Wonka candy, not the derogatory name for intelligent folk! Blend the Nerds or use an empty salt or pepper grinder to break them up. Wet the rim of the jar in juice, then dip them in the Nerds. Heaven!

- Sangria. Heck, why not have two different kinds of sangria on offer and let the guests choose which one they want? An awesome and mess-free way of serving this beverage is using a drinks dispenser. Then you don’t need to rely on waitstaff to serve the cocktails, guests can help themselves.