A bride has sparked a major online debate after revealing that guests at her wedding will only be served water — with no alcohol, soft drinks, tea, coffee, or even juice on offer.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The anonymous woman shared the situation on Reddit’s popular “Am I The A**hole” forum after family members reacted badly to the couple’s unusual wedding plans.
And while some people defended the decision completely, others branded the couple “cheap” and said they’d genuinely consider leaving the reception early.
Explaining the situation online, the bride said she and her fiancé are paying for most of the wedding themselves and are already facing huge catering costs due to the size of both families.
“It will be around 100-150 people total,” she wrote.
The couple also decided against making the wedding child-free because there are “a lot of kids” in the family.
But the biggest debate came after she explained they had chosen to make the wedding completely dry — and serve only water.
“Honestly, this doesn’t have anything to do with there being kids there but due to the fact that my fiancé and I don’t drink,” she explained. “Nothing against people who do, it’s just not for us and we don’t want to.”
The bride then revealed that the couple barely drinks anything besides water in everyday life anyway.
“On top of that, we only really drink water. We rarely, if ever, drink soda so most of the time it’s only water with the occasional juice and milk. We don’t even drink coffee,” she wrote.
According to the Reddit post, the cost of catering food for up to 150 guests was already expensive enough without adding alcohol, soft drinks, or extra beverages on top.
“We are having our wedding catered so everyone will have a good choice of food to choose from but to drink only water will be provided.”
“We don’t want to have to pay for alcohol or soda, it is just an large added expense when we can just do filtered water for a MUCH cheaper cost.”
But once friends and relatives found out, the backlash reportedly arrived quickly – with some of the guest list apparenting becoming “angry” and “upset”.
Family members reportedly suggested alternatives including a bar where guests pay for themselves, or at the very least offering soda alongside water. The bride said relatives warned: “The kids will be upset. The wedding will be boring. That this is not how weddings work.”
The debate quickly spread across Reddit, where thousands of users weighed in with strong opinions from both sides.
Many people said they fully supported dry weddings but felt serving only water crossed a line.
One user wrote: “No one is arguing with a dry wedding lots of people shouldn’t be around alcohol. But if you don’t tell me it is water only I’m leaving the reception and grabbing a 12 pack of Diet Pepsi and plopping it down on my table.”
Another added: “It’s cheap and tacky to only serve water. I would 100% be pregaming in the parking lot if I found out I couldn’t even get an iced tea or a soda.”
A third person commented: “YTA honestly. I fully support a dry wedding but only water as a beverage is being a cheap host.”
Others argued the issue wasn’t the lack of alcohol itself — but the lack of effort put into guest experience.
One detailed response read: “I know that technically you could be in the right, but here’s the thing about weddings, the marriage ceremony is for you and your fiancé. The wedding is for everyone you’ve invited, it’s an event you’re hosting, and not providing any drinks other than water makes you a bad host/hostess.”
The same commenter pointed out they had attended successful dry weddings before where couples got creative with non-alcoholic options.
“I’ve been to dry weddings. There was a couple that put real thought and effort into designing mocktails themed around their relationship. It was delightful and everyone connected to the couple through it.”
“Another couple had a sparkling cider tower in place of champagne and everyone cheered with cider in flutes.”
They continued: “When you’re hosting an event, your job as hostess is to take care of your guests.”
“And that means providing more than one drink option, especially non alcoholic.”
Not everybody criticised the couple though.
One supporter simply replied: “NTA (Not the a**hole) – your wedding your choice.”
Another person admitted they wouldn’t necessarily call the bride wrong — but still questioned how enjoyable the reception would actually be.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say YTA but your wedding sounds boring and I wouldn’t want to go.”
The viral post has since reignited one of the internet’s favourite debates: how much should couples prioritise guests versus personal preference when planning a wedding?
And judging by the reaction online, people apparently feel extremely strongly about access to booze and soft drinks.
Featured image credit: Pexels/Mikhail Nilov/Galina Kolonitskaia (free to use)
