With just a few days to go to the wedding(!!!), we thought we’d share the two signature cocktail recipes we created to serve during the cocktail hour. We’ll be enjoying Strawberry Moscow Mules and Pineapple Jalapeño Margaritas. We’ll certainly be updating this post with actual wedding photos after the fact, but we’ve tested them numerous times already!
Brent (my husband-to-be) and I both absolutely LOVE Moscow Mules, and since this is a late summer wedding, we decided they had to be one of the two. We also wanted to add a seasonal flavor, and strawberries pair so well with lime and mint!
Margaritas were a no-brainer. Tequila is my spirit of choice, and I’ve pretty much never met anyone that didn’t like a good margarita. We actually created this margarita recipe recently for a separate post. It came out so good that we decided to go with it for one of our signature cocktails.
The wedding will be at a private property in Western MA (Great Barrington, to be specific). Both of our families will be staying there for all of Labor Day weekend. The wedding itself will take place on Saturday, Sept. 1st. We’re having a small, relatively casual affair with about 65 friends and family members. There will be lots of great food, drinks, and many hours of dancing. Since we didn’t rent a traditional wedding venue, we have the flexibility to choose all of our own alcohol. We wanted to go with two recipes that are somewhat simple, but unique. We made just a few changes to the traditional recipes.
To really infuse our Moscow Mule with strawberry flavor, we made a huge batch of homemade strawberry infused vodka. I can confirm, it’s absolutely amazing. We let the strawberries infuse for about a week before straining. The result was a strikingly red liquid that barely smelled like vodka. (It smells more like strawberry syrup than anything!) We also make a homemade mint simple syrup. It’s especially important here to complement the strong strawberry flavor.
The margarita, as you may remember from this blog post, also includes infused liquor. Jalapeño infused tequila, to be specific! The infusion time on this tequila is much shorter, just over one day. We didn’t want to make the drinks too spicy. It has the perfect hint of spice with refreshing pineapple juice and a lime-infused salt rim.
We have lots of exciting things going on in the next few days. We’re arranging all of the flowers & other decor ourselves. We are lucky to be surrounded by so many amazing friends and family who have helped us turn this into the wedding of our dreams. Very much looking forward to spending quality time with our loved ones and signing off from social media/the online world for a few days.
After the wedding, Brent and I are heading off to Maine for the week to relax and unwind after likely imbibing in one too many cocktails and staying up until the wee hours of morning 😉
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We went all in on these strawberry moscow mules – we actually made a huge batch of homemade strawberry infused vodka (which, by the way, is AMAZING) and served these alongside these pineapple jalapeño margaritas as the signature cocktails at my wedding! Safe to say both recipes were a big hit (they were gone quickly!).
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 oz strawberry infused vodka (recipe below)
- 1/2 oz St. Germain
- 3/4 oz lime juice
- 1/2 oz mint simple syrup (recipe below)
- 6 oz ginger beer
- 2 strawberries, sliced
Strawberry Infused Vodka:
- 1.75 L vodka of choice
- 7 quarts fresh organic strawberries
Mint Simple Syrup:
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup fresh mint leaves
Instructions
Cocktail:
- Add strawberries and simple syrup to a cocktail shaker and muddle.
- Add vodka, St. Germain, lime juice and a bit of ice, stir well, then strain into chilled copper mug.
- Top off with ginger beer. Garnish with fresh strawberries and mint and enjoy!
Strawberry Infused Vodka:
- Wash strawberries well and remove stems.
- Pour into sterilized glass ball jars & fill almost to top. Pour vodka to top of jar, fasten lid and store in a cool, dry place for 1 week.
- After a week, strain mixture through a fine sieve. You may have to strain once or twice to fully remove any leftover pulp. Return to jars or original vodka bottle and enjoy!
Simple Syrup:
- Combine sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves.
- Bring to a simmer, then remove from heat and add mint leaves.
- Let steep about 1 hour, then strain to remove mint leaves and transfer to glass jar to store in fridge for up to a month.
Notes
If you don’t want to make the infused vodka, you can substitute with your favorite vodka and add another strawberry or two for some extra flavor. Alternatively, you can also add some strawberries to the simple syrup – just strain before using.
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