Wedding invitations with an alcohol-free open bar

You're filling in the drinks section of your wedding invitation and you type 'open bar'. Then your brother, who hasn't had a drink in four years, asks what there'll be for him. You don't have an answer written down anywhere, so you start typing a message to him, then to two other guests, then to the caterer.

An alcohol-free open bar isn't a jug of orange juice on a side table. It's a decision you make before the invitation goes out, and it lives in the wording. Get the words right once and nobody has to ask.

An alcohol-free open bar starts with the wording

'Open bar' describes a price, not a menu. Guests who don't drink read it as a closed door. The person who doesn't drink shouldn't have to open a menu to find out whether they're covered. Swap the label for something a person can picture and the question disappears.

• Write 'open bar of mocktails and soft drinks' instead of just 'open bar'.
• Add one plain line: 'Alcohol-free options at the bar: mocktails, soft drinks and fruit-infused water.'
• Skip 'drinks for everyone'. It sounds friendly and says nothing.
• If the alcohol-free drinks sit at the main bar, say so. Otherwise guests walk to the wrong place.

Where to put the message so nobody has to hunt for it

A digital invitation is built from scenes that follow one another, and one of them covers dinner. That's where the drinks note belongs, next to the food, because that's where guests are already reading about what they'll eat and drink. One line does it: 'Alcohol-free options at the bar, with mocktails, soft drinks and fruit-infused water.'

Then add a question to the RSVP form: 'How many people in your group would prefer alcohol-free drinks?' You set the questions yourself, so ask exactly what you need and nothing else. The answers arrive in a list inside the invitation, and nobody has to count replies across three chats. If the bar moves to another spot, edit the invitation: the link stays the same and nobody has to be told twice.

Name the drinks, not the category. 'Open bar' is a label; 'mocktails and soft drinks' is an answer.

The words and the photo that do the work

Concrete terms land better than friendly ones: mocktails, alcohol-free cocktails, fresh fruit water, house-made soft drinks. Write 'bar of mocktails and house soft drinks' and anyone reading it knows what to expect before they arrive. You can add a photo of the bar in the dinner scene too — up to six photos, framed for you, and you can swap any of them later. If you change the soft drink supplier in June, edit the invitation and the version your guests see changes with it. That's the whole trick: one page, always current, no reprints and no envelopes. Create yours for €29.99, one payment with no subscription, and put the drinks list where people will actually read it.