To the Bride and Groom!

Normally, when the words fun and unique are in conjunction with a design element, brides get scared away from the fear of it costing an exorbitant amount. But what if we told you that we had something that you could do at your wedding that was fun and unique AND saved you money? Interested? Well read on….

Signature drinks are the perfect way to mix adding something special to your big day and ease your budget. You can customize cocktails to match with your color scheme, theme, honeymoon or even a family tradition. And only serving a select type of alcohol eliminates unnecessary spending.

We recommend selecting a fruity cocktail, something stout and if your budget allows, something special like a champagne cocktail!

The best part of signature drinks is the creativity it requires. The sky is the limit in creating your own flavor and color combination. However, if you need help, we like the website www.stirrings.com. This site offers tons of advice and ideas on coming up with creative names and fun garnishes as well as gives you recipes to try and offers tons of other resources.

One aspect of creating a signature drink menu is taking the season into consideration. Having something tropical and exotic in the summer is refreshing for guests. Serving something cider based in winter is a great way to warm up your guests. And there is a multitude of great garnishes to use seasonally as well.

www.elizabethannedesigns.com

Make sure you talk to your venue and express your desires and what you want to do. If they don’t have glasses that are 'fun enough' for you, try speaking with a rental company to see what they have in their inventory.

The important thing when having a specialty drink is to have fun with it! Your guests will think it’s great that you created a custom cocktail! Be creative, have fun, and even insist on a sampling session!

Here are a few of our favorite recipes to get you started:
For our open house, we created signature pink cocktails since our party was “Tami Winn’s Pink Party”. Here is our favorite:

Poppin' Pink Partini:
It was equal parts of
-Watermelon Vodka
-Watermelon Liquor
-Cranberry Juice
-Splash of sweet and sour

Garnish: the glass was rimmed in a mixture of superfine sugar and watermelon pop rocks for a fun touch!

www.cocktailhacker.com

(More of our favorite recipes)
Winter Rum Punch
**can be made in large batch-form**
2 parts Flor de Cana Rum
1 part apple cider
1 part Benedictine or Orange liqueur
1/2 part maple syrup
1/2 part fresh lemon juice or grapefruit juice
Directions: Combine ingredients in a punch bowl. Add ice when ready to serve, and stir well. Ladle into punch glasses.
Garnish: candy canes and freshly grated nutmeg

www.nevisblog.com

Alien Secretion
Fill a 10oz. cocktail glass with ice
Add 3/4oz. of melon liqueur
Add 3/4oz. of coconut rum
Fill with pineapple juice
Garnish with a pineapple slice

www.notempire.com

Salud!!!