Bourbon / DIY / Party Cocktails / Prosecco / Vodka

How To Create A Signature Cocktail

12.04.15

Of all the details of our wedding, coming up with our signature cocktails was one of the hardest to settle on—I wanted them to be perfect. I knew I wanted three in total—his, hers and ours—and to cater to many different palates. Instead of having an open bar, we offered only these three cocktails (plus wine and beer), so they needed to be damn good!

How to Create a Signature Wedding Cocktail // The Shared Sip
all photos by Elizabeth Arin Photography

Two had a vodka base (a traditional crowd pleaser) and one was bourbon based, because, well, bourbon is my favorite spirit. I wanted to include some seasonal ingredients, and make them interesting without being complex. Here’s what I finally landed on:

His: Grapefruit, tonic, lemon twist (simple, classic, easy to build)

Hers: Vodka, lime juice, rosemary simple, splash of Prosecco (a little girly, refreshing, party-worthy)

Ours: Bourbon, Tang (yes, that Tang!), lemon juice, honey syrup (childhood treat all grown up)

How to Create a Signature Wedding Cocktail // The Shared SipWe had the best feedback from our guests—they loved them! I think the bourbon was the biggest hit, as we went through the most of it, but I saw people sipping on all three. Success!

There were some major considerations that went into these, and some lessons learned as well. If you’re planning on dreaming up your own signature cocktails, here are my tips.

How to Create a Signature Wedding Cocktail // The Shared Sip1. Keep it simple + limit the number of ingredients. Because your bartender will appreciate not spending five minutes making each cocktail, and your guests will appreciate not having to wait five minutes to start sipping. Juices and garnishes and liqueurs can also kill your budget in no time (and even with only a few ingredients, you’ll be surprised how quickly it adds up). The wedding bar just isn’t really the place for absinthe-rinsed glasses and 3 kinds of bitters.

2. Buy booze you can return. If you’re able to stock your own bar (a major money saver), buy more booze than you think you’ll drink but with the ability to return unopened bottles. Kyle and I were borderline petrified of running out of liquor (the horror!). So we planned for 12 drinks per person. Yes, TWELVE. (I think I was in some sort of wedding planning haze…I have no other explanation.) So it will come as no surprise that we had a ton of liquor leftover. We returned a whole 2 cases of white wine to BevMo, and 10 bottles of liquor to Costco. We kept the red wine (made from the vineyards at our venue), and the beer since it was in bottles. I think 5 drinks per person is a reasonable, cushioned estimate for most weddings.

3. Don’t take on too much yourself—and delegate! I thought it would be a good idea to make the honey syrup and rosemary simple the night before the rehearsal. Genius! I can think of approximately 20 things I should have been doing instead (sleeping?!) but I was up at 1am making simple syrup. The moral of the story: only take on what you really can, and if possible, call on someone to help with tasks like this.

4. Consider glassware and presentation. This may be a little, um, what’s the word? Crazy? Type A? But I wanted the cocktails to have unique looks. I wanted at least one to be served up, and for them to stand apart from one another. I loved the bold colors of the Tang and grapefruit juice, and the fizziness of the Prosecco.

5. Let it go and enjoy. The truth of the matter is, most people aren’t going to care what they’re sipping, as long as they have a drink in hand. So if you run out of an ingredient mid-celebration, or you don’t have the right glassware day-of, no one will ever really notice. So grab a cocktail and sip the night away with the people you love.

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