Average cost of consumption/open bar for one hour?

This would depend on your venue.
For example our Venue is charging $16/pp for the first hour then $8/pp for every hour there after.

This will depend on how much a drink costs at your venue. The general rule is people drink 2 drinks the first hour and 1 drink every hour after that. At our venue one glass of wine was between $12-$16. Also at weddings I’ve attended where they’ve set a cap on the open bar I usually see people doubling up and getting drunk a lot quicker because they wanna grab as many free drinks as possible.

Hi Marianne!

This is definitely something that your venue will be able to help with. There are a lot of factors involved and your venue will be well equipped to help you set a realistic budget.

This can have a lot of factors involved with it. I would say talk to your venue about it and they can lead you in the best direction. The wedding venue my FH and I chose offered bar services for a higher rate than it is going to be for us to hire a bartender and supply the alcohol ourselves. If your venue offers that option, I'd say take it if it fits your budget better. My FH and I are getting all of our alcohol from Total Wine and we saved a bunch of money on it b/c they give great discounts when you buy in bulk.

Thanks, everyone. I have had numerous conversations with our venue and know our options and we are likely going to set a monetary cap to cover drinks during cocktail hour. I was just wondering if anyone could share their experience with their caps and how far it got them.

The 2 drinks per person for the first hour is helpful as we know the costs of the drinks themselves.

We don't have an option to bring in our own alcohol.