Want the bar at your wedding to offer something more interesting than light beer and watered-down rum and cokes? Your cocktail menu should make you feel as special as everything else on your wedding day, and Bryce Carson from Roberts and Co. Events is here to show you how to make that happen! With some help from the Good Times Experts here at Belle Isle Moonshine, you and your significant other can choose personalized cocktails that really say something about yourselves and your love.
Cocktails make the heart grow fonder. All photos by Alyse Michelle Images.
In the seven years since I started planning weddings, they have become more lavish, more expensive, and more competitive. As couples jump into the planning process, they look to Pinterest, magazines, and past weddings they have been to for inspiration. This is where, as a wedding planner and designer, I step in and say, "stop"! I love these sources for inspiration, but if my couples cannot tell me how we can relate this to their personal story, then maybe we shouldn't do it.
Belle Isle's cocktail curators, Erica and Von.
I believe in creating and designing a personalized experience for my clients. Your groom is from Western Pennsylvania? Awesome! Have a cookie table. Your bride spent her childhood in Scotland? Work some thistle into her bouquet. Weddings are about telling the story of your past and giving a hint to your future.
I am so happy I have been able to partner with Belle Isle Moonshine on creating one of a kind experiences for my clients. So often the bar menu at a wedding is overlooked. In the final months of planning, clients will run to the liquor store to buy a mix of spirits and hope they have enough. Well, now Belle Isle Moonshine is offering a program that lets clients personalize their bar menu with the same level of detail that went into designing their wedding cake and floral arrangements.
Belle Isle Moonshine partners with wedding planners to bring in their clients for a private cocktail tasting. I brought in Adrian and Brian for a tasting for their upcoming Spring 2018 wedding. Erica and Von created six craft cocktails based on a survey of my clients' preferences, wedding theme, and unique requests (beer cocktails). The results were nothing short of perfection, and luckily the talented Alyse Michelle Images was there to capture the experience.
One of the big winners, the Pipeline Painkiller.
Adrian and Brian are fun, quirky, and looking to throw a wedding to be remembered. With funky centerpieces containing citrus fruits and a family-style BBQ and taco bar, they are looking to seamlessly blend their signature style across their entire wedding day. Adrian fell in love with the Pipeline Painkiller, a mix of Belle Isle Cold Brew Coffee, pineapple, and citrus. This drink packs enough punch to liven up the dance floor, but also look stunning on her tables. Brian's choice, the Belle's Eye, will be the perfect compliment to the tacos and BBQ, mixing Belle Isle Black Label, Coors Light and ginger beer.
The tasting process is so fun and easy. Adrian and Brian were able to start off by tasting each moonshine on its own and then moved to their six signature cocktail choices. Von showed us exactly how to present each cocktail, from the proper glassware to the perfect garnish. Erica provided us with a cocktail calculator to make the trip to grocery and liquor stores a breeze after getting final guest counts.
With their signature cocktails selected, Adrian and Brian were able to check one more task off their wedding to-do list. Not only did they leave feeling accomplished, but they know they are going to have something their guests have never experienced before.
Stay tuned for Part ii in May to see it all come together, with another cocktail surprise for the couple's guests!
Bryce Carson is a Washington D.C. and Richmond-based wedding planner with Roberts & Co. Events. He specializes in creating unique and personalized events tailored to each couple. Follow him on Instagram @brycetcarson, and follow Roberts and Co. @robertsandco.
Belle Isle Moonshine is a premium, handcrafted spirit proudly hailing from Richmond, Virginia.
We take the name Belle Isle from a small, 540-acre island located smack dab in the middle of the James River where Civil War soldiers used surplus corn rations to make moonshine in copper kettles.
Belle Isle Moonshine is distilled from 100% organic corn, grown by three family farms and responsibly sourced. Once triple-distilled, we charcoal filter Belle Isle four times over. Then, we cut it with purified water right from the James River. Our infusions are made with 100% real ingredients, never artificial flavors or color. We use real grapefruits sourced from Texas and California, local honey from the Shenandoah Valley, organic habaneros grown an hour away, and freshly roasted coffee beans from the most socially conscious roastery in Richmond, Blanchard's Coffee Roasting Co.
From there, each bottle of Belle Isle Moonshine is filled, corked, labeled, and packed by hand by our Production team, who check each bottle and batch for quality assurance. Since Belle Isle is made in small batches, you can find the batch number handwritten in the bottom right corner of each bottle.
Distilled from good times and 100% organic corn.