Everything you need for a Midwest wedding

Thanks so much for these guidelines, ladies! I definitely need to keep these handy... saved them to my laptop 🙂
At least now I know where we're starting

frozenangler87 said:Yeah, totally... it feels like there’s always twice as much red being poured compared to white. At least, that’s how it looked in every guide I ever read. Especially out in the Midwest! Most people just stick to the reds (even though I'm more of a white wine girl myself, I guess)! And honestly, when I really think about it, I rarely see anyone around me sipping on white! Everyone just goes straight for the red. They say white is mostly just a thing down in California!

😲 I don't know a single person who drinks red wine 🤷
around here it's strictly white; you might see some red if someone's got a homemade batch 😕

Anyway, over here we talk about industry standards, so you might want to do some digging

Down here in Florida, white usually dominates the spread... you might see some black, but it’s definitely a much smaller fraction of the total.

Hey ladies, I have a quick question for you all: we’re starting our visits soon and we'll be bringing along those gift baskets, so I’m a little unsure about what actually goes inside... should it be bourbon, cherry brandy, maybe some other spirits?🤷
Is there a specific order we should follow when making the rounds—like, do we need to visit the godparents first?

An invite basket? 🤔

Wait, what even is that?

It’s not really a basket for invitations, I can’t quite think of the right term... It’s more like that tradition where you go door-to-door visiting family to hand out wedding invites, carrying a little basket filled with drinks—so when you actually deliver the invitation, everyone has to toast to the news. That's how we're planning to do it, though I'm still stuck on what kind of booze we should bring along...

Around here, people just show up with a bottle of bourbon, maybe with some patriotic stickers and a sprig of rosemary stuck to it 🤷

Never even heard of that tradition before! 🙈
Is that just a thing in the Midwest? 🤔

Just bring whatever you’ve got stashed at home—maybe some bourbon, a bottle of cherry brandy, or even just some wine. Whatever you have on hand, just bring that along.

OMG, my hometown and the Midwest are like two totally different planets when it comes to wedding traditions! 🤣

Or maybe I just have no clue if this is even a thing around here... 🤔

Yeah, I feel like that’s mostly just a thing people do out in the Midwest—some folks go all out, while others just hand out simple invitations. Personally, I think this whole idea is pretty cool...
Oh, right—I totally blanked on the flag, thanks for pointing that out! I didn't realize you could just stick to one type of drink, which honestly makes things so much easier. I was picturing a bottle of bourbon with some gold filigree or maybe some lace detailing—nothing too over-the-top, though. Usually, when people have invited us over like this before, they’d show up with a basket filled with two or three different kinds of spirits, along with those little tasting glasses...
But yeah, if there's a larger group, then we're looking at bourbon, cherry brandy, and maybe some wine...
Thanks, ladies!

I swear, this forum helps me learn something new every single day! 🙏

It’s an interesting tradition, I suppose (though I wouldn't call myself a traditionalist, nor am I from the Midwest)... back home, we tend to do the exact opposite. You show up with an invitation, and then you just drink whatever they happen to have in the house 😂... which isn't exactly the ideal setup. We spent the last ten days handing out invitations—over 100 houses, 100 different types of drinks—and the result? A massive headache.

I hope nobody minds me jumping into this thread; I actually read through it all just to get a sense of how weddings work in the Midwest!

I was just asking my girls, but back home in the States, whenever you're invited over, you usually bring some coffee or cookies so you aren't showing up empty-handed... 🤷 there's no booze involved unless the hosts happen to be serving it 😁

Nah, I don't know about that 😉

Around here, people don't even bother bringing individual cups. Like, nobody brings water for anyone, but everyone's got plenty of whiskey to go around. It’s kind of the whole vibe—the entire wedding party sharing from one single bottle.

It isn't exactly hygienic, I guess, but what can you do? 🤣

Jeffrey Walker3 said:I was just asking my girls, but back home in the States, whenever you're invited over, you usually bring some coffee or cookies so you aren't showing up empty-handed... 🤷 there's no booze involved unless the hosts happen to be serving it 😁

man, that sounds expensive. bringing stuff to 100 different houses? 😲

Betty Foster8 said:Nah, I don't know about that 😉

Around here, people don't even bother bringing individual cups. Like, nobody brings water for anyone, but everyone's got plenty of whiskey to go around. It’s kind of the whole vibe—the entire wedding party sharing from one single bottle.

It isn't exactly hygienic, I guess, but what can you do? 🤣

I wouldn't mind a bottle making its rounds... high-proof bourbon disinfects the throat; there's nothing to fear. 😁

Well, I guess that’s just for family, not everyone 😁

hey everyone 😬

So, it turns out we’re actually heading out this weekend—some relatives from the Midwest are visiting family nearby, so we figured we might as well take advantage of the trip and drop things off in person rather than dealing with the hassle of shipping... Now I’ve suddenly realized I have three days to track down those 😕 bottles, and honestly, I'm starting to worry that the whole family gathering is going to 😱