‘We didn’t serve any booze at our wedding – if any guests complained they wouldn’t be true friends’

Wine and weddings – they go together like love and marriage.

Whether it’s a fizzy toast to the bride and groom, a tipple with the meal or raising a glass as guests dance the night away, alcohol has always been a key part for any nuptials.

Recently though there has been a rise in people choosing to go alcohol-free, with more and more couples opting out of serving booze on their big day.

Here, personal trainer Aimee Pearce, 39, from Sheffield, who has been alcohol-free since 2020, talks us through her alcohol-free journey and why she had a booze-free wedding day.

"Stopping drinking on New Year's Day three years ago meant that when it came to planning my wedding to my husband Peter, a fizz-free wedding was a given.

We didn't even discuss having alcohol when we got hitched because by then we'd not had a drink since before COVID.

None of our guests got annoyed when we told them to bring a bottle if they wanted – they are all supportive of us and accepted our decision.

People did bring alcohol and drank a mixture of the drinks they brought and the alcohol-free options available.

I know that if we had anyone asking why we'd made the choice to go alcohol-free I'd have questioned whether they were true friends of ours and asked why they were putting pressure on us to drink.

We got married in 2022 and I have fond memories of our wedding because it was perfect and we were present in the moment, having conversations with people and enjoying their company.

I can happily say that none of it was hazy and we were able to celebrate our love in the way we wanted at our own home.

We had a ceremony on our drive after going to a registry office to get officially hitched and catered for our guests with a pizza tent and a van with drinks and snacks on it.

People came and went from our house all day and we woke up the next day feeling great and able to go out and do things together.

I decided to stop drinking three years ago because I had a really bad hangover and I thought 'Right, that's it, I'm not touching a drop again.'

I embarked on the journey with Peter as we found it was taking longer to recover after drinking and we couldn't do it anymore as we got older.

Although I didn't set out to completely stop drinking forever, that's what I've ended up doing – and it's had a positive impact on my life and mental health.

My anxiety has decreased and I can get out and enjoy my days because I don't spend ages on the sofa hungover.

I don't regret having alcohol-free nuptials at all and I don't miss winding down with a glass of wine because I have other coping mechanisms if I'm stressed now and I know that it would taste weird if I had a drink.

"If you're thinking about cutting out the booze, just give it a go and don't worry about what other people think. You don't even have to tell people you're not drinking you can just cut it out of your life and feel better."

Check out Aimee's website here: www.aimeepearcept.co.uk

Find Aimee on social media @aimeepearcept

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