If you want to serve liquor at your wedding, the easiest and most cost-effective way to do it is to choose some signature cocktails. It allows you to incorporate cocktails into your wedding bar without the trouble and expense of having a full bar. (Read more about different bar options here.)

Another advantage to signature cocktails is that they allow you, as the couple, to personalize your wedding. Everyone wants their wedding to reflect their personalities, and sharing your favorite drinks with your guests is an easy way to do that.

What Is a Signature Cocktail?

Generally, a wedding will have two signature cocktails. Often, these drinks are referred to as “the Bride’s cocktail” and “the Groom’s cocktail” or “His” and “Hers.” The couple’s names can be substituted, which is recommended in the case of a same-sex wedding, because having “His” and “His” cocktails or two “Bride’s” cocktails doesn’t tell your guests which drink matches with which half of the couple.

Usually the signature cocktails are the only cocktails available at the wedding. You can do signature cocktails as part of a full bar, but guests are less likely to drink the signature cocktails if they can get anything they want at the bar. And you’ve undermined some of the advantages of signature cocktails by adding them onto a full bar, rather than having them stand alone.

TL;DR here’s the video version

How to Choose Your Signature Cocktails

Start with your favorite cocktail, if you have one. Is there something you’re known for drinking? Do you have a go-to bar order when out with friends? Is there a particular drink that played a part in your first date or your engagement?

If you don’t have a particular favorite drink, do you have a favorite liquor? Some people love whiskey but not vodka. Some are big tequila drinkers. Again, one of the reasons to have signature cocktails is to personalize your wedding, so think about what you like.

Which Liquors to Use

It’s best to have cocktails with different base spirits. I recommend one clear liquor (vodka, gin, white rum, tequila blanco) and one brown liquor (whiskey, bourbon, dark rum, tequila reposado). Often, the drink with the lighter spirit will be the bride’s drink and the darker spirit will be the groom’s drink, but you do not have to play into those gender normative stereotypes!

Another consideration is the sweetness level of the drinks. If you’re serving a bourbon cocktail or something with St. Germain in it, both of which are on the sweet side, then consider something more herbaceous and bitter as the counterpart. For example, an Old-Fashioned (sweet) and a Negroni (bitter). 

Time of Year Matters

Also keep in mind the time of year. If it’s the middle of summer and likely to be hot, you’ll want your cocktails to skew toward the refreshing spectrum. Think: mojito, Tom Collins, or whiskey highball. If it’s autumn, you can skew toward the heavier end of the cocktail spectrum with an Old-Fashioned, Dark & Stormy, or Moscow Mule.

Time of year applies to garnishes as well. You don’t want to serve something with an apple garnish in May or June when apples are out of season. The same goes for berries. Pinterest is a real problem in this regard. You may fall in love with the look of a drink, but it may be all wrong for your particular wedding.

Don’t Overcomplicate Things

You also want to keep your cocktails on the simple side. Anything too elaborate will be difficult for your bartenders to make quickly. Drinks that can be pre-batched are always winners. Your bartenders, caterers, or wedding planner can help you choose wisely if you’re having trouble.

If you want to keep the bar limited, but you want to offer more options than just two cocktails, you can choose two spirits plus a variety of mixers and let your guests have more leeway with their cocktail orders. For example, vodka, whiskey, soda water, tonic water, ginger beer, cranberry juice, simple syrup, lemon juice, and a few different fruit garnishes will give your bartenders a lot of flexibility with creating drinks.

Popular Signature Cocktail Choices

The Old-Fashioned is hands-down the most popular signature cocktail choice. It’s usually the “groom’s” cocktail, but see my note above about not having to be gender-normative. A French 75 is one of the most popular “bride’s” cocktails. Gin & Champagne—what’s not to love?

Other popular options include the Greyhound, Paloma, Manhattan, Moscow Mule, Dark & Stormy, Margarita, and Cosmopolitan. Here in Sacramento, the White Linen is hugely popular, because it was invented by one of our local bartenders.

So tell me, are you considering signature cocktails for your wedding? Which ones appeal to you?