Brunch Wedding Ideas: Build Your Own Bloody Mary Bar

The ultimate cocktail for brunch can also be the ultimate do-it-yourself cocktail at your brunch wedding!

From hot and spicy pickled things to onion rings, the ingredients and garnishes are endless. To keep it budget-friendly you can set out a jug of tomato and clamato juice with a bunch of garnishes and call it a day, but then we like to tease you with all the endless possibilities for the ultimate bloody mary bar. Header image

Make-Ahead Bloody Mary Base Recipe

Forget everything you know about Bloody Marys. This recipe will change your life!

• 3 cups Tomato Juice
• 3 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
• 3 Tbsp. Lime Juice (I know, trust me)
• 3 Tbsp. Pickle Juice
• 1 Tbsp. Horseradish
• ¾ tsp. Tabasco
• 2 Tbsp. A-1 sauce (I know, but trust me)
• ¾ tsp. Celery Salt
• ½ tsp. Coarse Black Pepper

Mix it all up in a jug and set it out on the table for guest. If you want something a little fiery suggest a chili pepper vodka on your bloody mary menu, or spice your mix up with ¾ tsp. Cayenne Pepper or muddled chocolate habaneros. For a Bloody Caesar swap out the tomato juice for clamato juice!

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For a grab and go mix, check out this comprehensive list from Time Out Chicago: 19 Bottled Bloody Mary Mixes

Bar Tools:

• Pint glasses
• Long Spoons
• Long skewers for the garnishes
• Tongs (for ice and pepper slices so your guests don’t go burning their eyes)
• Muddler (for smashing peppers in the glass)
• Salt for rimming

This bar set might be helpful.

The Booze:

• Vodka
• Citrus Vodka
• Chili Vodka
• Peppered Vodka
• Gin

The Garnishes:

• Lemon and lime slices
• Celery stalks
• Pickled stuff (think: olives, gherkins, dill pickles, sweet pickles, banana peppers, smokra, spicy asparagus or green beans, cocktail onions, eggs–what? they’re tasty)
• Peppers (think: regular red and green peppers, jalapenos, serrano, scotch bonnets, chocolate habaneros, and ghost peppers if you’re brave)
• Fried stuff (think onion rings, oysters, shrimp…raw lobster claws–I mean, if it’s really in your budget. *wink, wink
• Meats (think: bacon strips, jerky sticks)

The Seasonings:

• Hot sauces (think: Cholula, Sriracha, Chipotle)
• Worcestershire
• Old Bay
• Pepper mill
• Celery salt
• Sea salt (for rimming)

If you’re feeling frisky, and have a small dinner party, make things super simple and infuse ice cubes with different seasonings so your guests can just ‘pick’ their ice!

Recipe Sign

Simply put a sign out telling your guests what to do like the one above. Here, you can also tell them to pick their poison–2 ounces for every glass! bloody mary image source