A Cocktail Hour Trend We're Loving: Living Bars

By Sarah Schreiber
September 12, 2018
Tec Petaja

Lush greens or bold blooms add major style to any drink station.

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Tec Petaja

Your cocktail hour bar is an important part of your wedding for obvious reasons. Your guests will likely congregate there after the ceremony—to chat, to mingle, and to sip on your signature cocktail. Since it'll be a place where loved ones surely spend some time, turning its look up a notch is probably a good idea (at the very least, it'll make for awesome photos!). Searching for a way to take your wedding bar to the next level without deviating from your big day vision? Put living bars on your radar. The trend involves adding freshly-cut vines and colorful florals into the actual framework of your wedding bar, making it look almost as if these lush details naturally grew there.

Here's the best part: These stations fit just about any wedding style. The secret? Use the floral (or nonfloral!) elements that you've introduced throughout the rest of your ceremony and reception space, so that your bar blends right into your wedding's terrain. Whether you choose to weave foliage through a lattice bar-front, construct a full-blown greenery wall as a drink station backdrop, or install an accent panel with brightly-hued flowers, living wedding bars are synonymous with statement-making wedding décor. Just take this insanely lush bar by Calder Clark, for example. 

There are, of course, ways to adapt the trend if you want something subtler. Install simple squares of trimmed greens (these varieties looks like flat bushes!) onto an all-white station for a bit of lively color. Go miniature by backing your acrylic cocktail menu with greens, and then presenting it on your bar top. Click through to discover the rest of the ways you can work living wedding bar trend into your own big day.

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Personalized

Christine Clark Photography
More 2018 Wedding Trends We Love

Add another visual element to a greenery-covered bar façade by showcasing your new last name. This impressive installation was created by Mood Event and Flower Girls Hawaii.

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Wild

Heather Waraksa

Perfect, traditional arrangements not your thing? Introduce wildflower displays throughout your reception, starting with a bar (this one was adorned with flowers by Saipua!) that'd rival an overgrown meadow.

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In the Clear

Jessa Schifilliti

Planning on setting up a cocktail station with seating? Make like LLG Events and Design House Décor and opt for acrylic barstools that won't mask or interrupt the sea of greens below.

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Contrast

Olivia Griffin

This gorgeous vignette is a lesson in décor contrast—we love how the central greenery bar, by Lindsey Shanks and Jonie LaRosee of A Charleston Bride, pops against both the black-and-white floor below and the chinoiserie lamps above.

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Flower Bar

Jose Villa

Flower walls are another popular wedding trend as of late, but flower bar panels? That's entirely new. Note how the flowers added onto this black-lacquered cocktail bar (designed by Shannon Leahy) match those used in the dramatic arrangement that sat on top of the structure.

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Patterned

Aimee Kelly Photography

Not all living bars involve a straight wash of greens or blooms. Victoria Jane Weddings teamed up with Petal Pusher to weave this dynamic diamond pattern across a hydration station. A celebratory wooden sign popped against the white backdrop, completing the piece.

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Concrete and Moss

Chowen Photography

This bar, by Calluna Events and Lalé Florals, mixes the natural and the industrial, thanks to a mossy body and concrete top.

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Tree-Inspired

Jose Villa

This outdoor bar, which was designed by Easton Events and featured blooms by Mindy Rice, seems tree-inspired, thanks to its oak base and flowing "branches."

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Simple and Classic

Aaron & Jillian Photography

You don't need a thousand flowers or an intricate verdure design to make a cocktail bar stand out, as evidenced by the contained square panels on this Fox Events and Everleaf Greens display.

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Trellis

Lucy Cuneo Photography
Unique Ways to Use Flowers Throughout Your Wedding

Turn your wedding bar into a trellis by threading freshly-cut flower vines through a lattice. Calder Clark and Blossoms Events did just that when creating this reception accent, which was topped with a lamp for a homey effect.

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Flower Boxes

Maui Maka Photography

A strip of flower boxes introduces yet another degree of lushness to your wedding bar. Just be sure to choose a bloom shade that contrasts the verdant backdrop.

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Neon Sign

Being Joy Photography
Neon Signs that Lit Up Wedding Receptions

Combine two major wedding trends by polishing off a lush bar wall (like this one by Big City Bride) with a celebratory neon sign.

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The Works

Mike Cassimatis
More Ways to Personalize Your Wedding

If you're looking for a way to make your wedding bar the focal point of your cocktail hour, take notes from this station, designed by Katie Saeger Events. We love how the floral arrangements (from Floral by Nora) on the ground reach up to meet the vines hung from the bar's counter. Another epic feature? The moss paneling, which also sported the couple's first initials. 

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Cohesive

Lisa Ziesing for Abby Jiu Photography

Your wedding bar can be transformed into an eye-grabbing installation with a few cohesive elements. Take this gin and tonic station, which was brought to life (literally!) by BD3 Design and Sweet Root Village, for example. Trailing vines cascaded down from the ceiling, referencing the similar leaves that were attached to the bar's marble surface. An acrylic menu sign bridged the gap between the two.

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Minimal

Lauren R Swann Photography
Hanging Wedding Décor Ideas

Dress up a basic white bar rental by tucking in a few sprigs of greens, à la this Adriana Marie Events and Sophie Felts creation. Bonus points if the vines you use match the ones that appear in your hanging flower displays.

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Laser-Cut

Christian Oth Studio/Jack Jeffries
More Geometric Wedding Ideas

Front fresh foliage with a laser-cut design. This one, by Calder Clark, is a geometric take on the trend.

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Mossy Monogram

ali + julie
Monogram Wedding Ideas We Love

Planning a rustic or bohemian celebration? Replicate this earthy, mossy monogram, which clearly channels your wedding style. This sign was created by Hana Floral Design and Chocolate Creative Design.

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Buffet

Marlayna Photography

Your cocktail hour has another type of bar that might benefit from a live upgrade—a food bar. Adriana Marie Events dressed up a White Glove Rentals cocktail hour buffet with greens from My Flower Box Events. The branches paired prettily with the copper serveware. 

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Wood and Greens

Abby Jiu Photography
More Ways to Use Leaves Throughout Your Wedding

Name a more natural duo than oak and greens. We love how Grit & Grace matched the richly-hued bar to the stained rafters (both sported foliage elements from Amaryllis Floral & Event Design). Teakwood lanterns were another pretty touch.

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Bar Menu

Angus Porter by DKC
Wedding Bar Signs to Elevate Your Cocktail Hour

Looking for a smaller, subtler way to adapt this trend into your own bar décor? A living bar menu (like this one by Signed By Bird, Cloud 9 Event Management, and The Faux Flower Company), constructed exactly the way so many of these life-sized structures are, is your best option.

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By Sarah Schreiber