Wedding reception can be very costly, especially if it's a sit-down dinner reception. You can seriously cut hundreds off the catering budget by choosing to serve a punch instead of having a bar. Many people think of a punch as something old fashioned and dare we say it - cheap. But you can create a great punch with style and finesse. Here are a few examples of tasty wedding beverages, some with alcohol and without to give your guests a choice.

Who doesn't like Sangria?

Slice one lemon, one orange and one lime into thin rounds

¼ lemon juice (or fresh squeezed)

1/3 cup orange juice

1 bottle-dry red wine

8 maraschino cherries

½ cup triple sec

2 cups carbonated water

1/3 cup frozen lemonade concentrate

½ cup brandy

1/4 cup white sugar

Mix the lemon juice, brandy, orange juice, red wine, triple sec and lemonade along with the optional. Add the sliced fruit so that they float in the mixture, in order to get a true infusion of flavors from the fruit this punch should be made the night before...add club soda to give it a nice fizz right before you serve it.

The Golden Wedding Punch

12 oz orange juice concentrate

2 cups sugar (you may use a sugar substitute)

1 ¾ cups lemon juice

46 oz sweetened pineapple juice

1 gallon of water

Just combine all of the ingredients in a picture or punch bowl that holds 2 gallons. This recipe could be served as an alcoholic beverage by adding 1/2 cup of Vodka or any other liquor that mixes well with citrus.

Any of the fruity cocktails like the "creepy crawler punch" or "long island ice" can be made as a punch. The trick is in doing the math. You will need to multiply the ingredients need for one drink by the number of guests to get enough to go around. While many think punch is not elegant enough for a wedding any of these recipes are better with cake than beer.

Hurricane Punch

125 ounces of each type of rum

Jamaican dark rum

Barcardi 151

375 oz of orange juice

375 ounces unsweetened pineapple juice

62.5 oz of grenadine

With any punch you also have to consider the effect that melting ice will have on taste and content. The melting ice will compensate on number of servings if you make the recipe a bit short.

Find more exciting wedding cocktail ideas on the iwedplanner website . You will find articles about how to get eh best deals on alcohol and beer from wholesale beverage distributors and much, much more. This is also the place to find the most exciting and easy to use free wedding planner apps for iPhone, iPad and Android.