PJ, It isn’t only Mormons who don’t have booze at wedding receptions.
When I was a girl (back in the Dark Ages) most wedding receptions were in the fellowship halls of Baptist, Methodist, or Presbyterian churches, and consisted of nuts, mints, wedding cake, and punch (non-alcoholic).
The only people who had liquor at wedding receptions were very rich people who had their receptions at the country club and Catholics, who usually had wine or beer at the K of C hall or the union hall.
Until the 1980’s, this was pretty much the style of receptions all over the Midwest. Large wedding receptions only arrived in the 1980’s, and then drinking became more acceptable even for the Methodists, because the receptions were no longer in the church basement.
Speaking as a former mother of the bride, it’s a very big headache to provide alcohol, because (at least in our state) you are responsible for making sure there is no underage drinking, and that there are no people leaving who will wreck their cars. We hired a professional bartender to make sure that we weren’t liable. And I didn’t drink at all, because I had to make sure things were going smoothly.
There are quite a few Protestant denominations who don’t allow drinking or frown on it, and those would be the Southern Baptists, the Assemblies of God, the Methodists, the American Baptists, and the Disciples of Christ.
Why you seem to think the Mormons are the only non-drinkers is puzzling. Perhaps you just haven’t been exposed to many different Protestant denominations. It’s unfortunate that you slandered them in your follow-up comment, and I think you should consider apologizing.
I am a Catholic convert, so I know the misconceptions people can have on both sides of the fence. But really, your comment was pretty insulting.
Ironically it was a Baptist minister (Elijah Craig) who invented Bourbon. This whole antagonism towards alcohol among Protestant denominations didn't start until about the 1840s. Before that time, consumption of alcohol was almost universal. It had to be. In cities and even in smaller towns, water was downright dangerous due to cholera and other diseases while wine and liquor were much safer to drink. Hard apple cider was very popular among all (even kids) during colonial times. Johnny Appleseed planted apple trees so folks could make hard cider, not just eat apples. In fact, it was much more economical to transport apples in the form of hard cider rather than in the original form. Evem the Puritans drank ale and brought with them to America aboard the Mayflower. The biggest industry in colonial New England was the distillation of rum. In fact, John Hancock, the richest man in New England, was in the rum smuggling business.
As to the Protestant denominations, many never did subscribe to the alcohol prohibition such as the beer drinking/brewing Lutherans. But Charles would know more about that subject.
Perhaps you just haven’t been exposed to many different Protestant denominations. It’s unfortunate that you slandered them in your follow-up comment, and I think you should consider apologizing.
Huh? Where did I slander them? I didn't even slander Mormons. I was just curious how they handle their wedding receptions. In fact, if you check the FR record from last year, I was defending the Mormons from attacks by others who were slamming Romney on religious grounds.
P.S. I had two grandparents who left my father and his brothers and sister orphans when Dad was only about 3 years old due to death from cholera via bad drinking water so I am sort of up on this subject. Beer drinking might have saved them. Beer is GOOD!