The Top 7 Ways to Prevent Wedding Guests from Drunk Driving

How To Avoid Alcohol-Related Accidents at Your Wedding

Your wedding day is a joyous occasion, but it can be stressful to host such a large-scale event. A bride and groom-to-be have a lot on their plates that day—in addition to performing their duties as hosts. Since the majority of wedding celebrations involve alcohol, one aspect of these hosting duties is ensuring that guests remain safe by celebrating responsibly.

We're not suggesting that the bride and groom make the rounds at the reception with a breathalyzer, or leave alcohol out of their celebration all together, but they can employ certain tactics to protect guests from over-indulging. With a bit of planning, you'll be able to enjoy your first day of wedded bliss, without having to worry about intoxicated guests finding their way home.

Read on to learn the Top 7 Ways to Prevent Guests from Drunk Driving After Your Wedding Celebration:

1. Hold the reception at a venue with a liquor license

Holding your reception at a venue, like a hotel, with an established bar program and trained bartenders is a smart decision. All venues with an official liquor license must adhere to a certain set of standards or face fines and/or closure.

Establishments with a permit to serve alcoholic beverages are legally responsible to protect the patrons of that establishment. The venue will be legally responsible for regulating the alcohol consumption at your event thus taking the burden off of the hosts.

2. Less traditional venue? Hire a professional bartender

Holding the reception at a less traditional venue like a country barn or your own backyard? This doesn't mean that you can have a non-traditional bartender.

Hire a professional bartender or bartending service to provide the alcoholic beverages for your event. Bartenders are trained to check IDs, recognize fake IDs, and identify those who have had too much to drink, and cut them off.

3. Limit bar hours

Allow guests to enjoy the open bar, but only for certain hours. Suspend bar service briefly during dinner if you're serving a full, sit-down meal.

Have a Last Call. End bar service an hour before the end of your reception to prevent guests from "taking one for the road."

4. Avoid shots

Unless they are part of The Bridal Dance (Bridal Polka if you live in Pittsburgh), keep shots out of your celebration. Instruct bartenders only to serve full drinks, and save the shots for another night.

Consider exclusively serving beer and wine instead of hard liquor as another possible alternative.

5. Serve a midnight snack

Even if you already have a Cookie Table, consider serving a "midnight snack" a few hours after you serve dinner. Guests work up an appetite with all of the dancing, and food helps absorb alcohol your guests may have imbibed earlier in the day.

6. Provide a shuttle service

Remove driving from the drunk driving equation all together by providing a shuttle service from the venue back to the hotel where guests are staying. This method works best if all of your guests are staying in the same hotel.

7. Have security posted at the door

It never hurts to have a final set of eyes survey guests leaving the venue. The individual with this responsibility can simply alert the hosts if a driver may need to arrange alternate transportation home.

Protect Your Guests

You don't have to have a dry wedding to keep your guests from drunk driving. There are plenty of ways to still have an open bar, but subtly regulate the amount of alcohol to which your guests have access. These tactics can not only save your loved ones from an alcohol-related car accident, but also can prevent other alcohol-fueled mishaps from occurring at your wedding, and possibly save hosts some money (which would have gone towards alcohol) in the process.

Injured by a Drunk Driver?

Sadly, drunk driving accidents are all too common. If you or a loved one was the victim of a drunk driving accident, you could be plagued by medical bills for the rest of your life. Don't hesitate to contact our attorneys for your free legal consultation. We'll answer your legal questions and determine your best course of action.

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