One drink per person?

One drink per person is rather limiting, plus how would you let them know they only get one without being rude? If budget is an issue, maybe serve punch, tea, or lemonade instead with the cocktail foods, that way people can drink as much as they want without it hurting your wallet too much.

1 drink an hour is pretty restrictive (and I'm not much of a drinker). You don't have to offer alcohol during the cocktail hour - offer tea and lemonade and such and leave the alcohol for dinner (or vice versa).

I concur with Dminted Brided & EricaTx, don't offer liquor/alcohol during the "cocktail" hour, i am not sure how you would limit them without it being obvious that it was for budget reasons. I would be fine with soft drinks & punch etc during this time if i were a guest. There will be beer & wine at the reception, i think that is fine.

Rule of thumb; 2 drinks for the first hour, one drink every hour after.

How restricted is your budget? and how many people are you having? You can make 5 gallons of margaritas for about $100. It should go a long way. Recipe is as follows:

5 - .75 bottles cheap tequilla: $65

1 -.75 bottle triple sec: $10

3 - 1.75 jose cuervo margarita mix $30

Those are actual prices from the Virginia ABC store.

You could also do a vodka drink. Smirnoff is $22 including tax for a 1.75 liter bottle. Add some store brand cranberry juice and pineapple juice. Voila! Bay Breezes.

5 gallons should provide 80 - 4oz drinks - with ice, it will come out to an 8oz drink. Be creative, you can do it for cheaper than this. DO NOT USE GOOD BOOZE. Take it from an old bartender. Very few people know the difference between good booze and rail drinks. Me included.

Yeah, Karen may be on to something. You can offer a cheaper "signature drink" during cocktail hour to keep the costs down.

I agree with Karen. Make your signature drink something budget friendly. Use a cheap vodka and make a punch.

We are doing a 2 drink limit. Most of the guests (100 out of 150) will be coming from sea level, our venue is 2 miles above sealevel, in the mountains, with windey roads and no street lights. I'm not providing transportation.

So we will be giving everyone 2 tickets (dollar store raffle tickets), when they go to the bartender, he will take one. Sure people can give tickets away, sure they're gunna find a way around it. but thats not my problem. They can be mad I dont care. If you can't celebrate my happiest moment in life being sober for four hours then you may have a problem. Go downtown and drink and get rowdy and stupid after wards, but I don't want a bunch of drunks ruining my time.

That may have come off b*tchy. I do not drink, FH does. My dad has drank my whole life, I don't have a problem. FH's mother is a raging drunk, that is a problem. I know many people who drink, I know many people who don't. But this is my wedding, this is my opinion. If they don't like it, they don't have to attend. And if they're pitching a fit over not enough alcohol, then they aren't really coming to support me, they're coming for the booze.

I'm not having cocktail hour.

Larissa - it seems to me that the OP was worried about cost, not about people overindulging. Lighten up.

It depends on your guests. I know my guests will have about 3 drinks during cocktail hour... but we have an open bar, so it isnt an issue.

I've heard Celia's advice as well-- budget for 2 drinks per person for the first hour. Also, I'm going to just throw out caution if you are thinking of offering only liquor the first hour and only beer/wine afterwards. A lot of people don't like to mix types of alcohol because it makes them sick (I'm one of them). I'm a beer drinker, so if I went to a wedding where only hard liquor was being served during cocktail hour, I would have 0 drinks that first hour for fear of regretting it later. Just something to think about. =)

Cocktail hour food is more expensive than alcohol anyways. Those little appetizers cost a fortune. I love the idea of margaritas served in bulk, and maybe do chips, salsa and taco dip as a snack. All very cheap.

I wouldn't limit cocktail hour to one drink. I think it would be better to just skip the alcohol altogether for that hour. I think people will be satisfied with beer and wine during dinner. Or go with Karen's idea!

ETA - Larissa's idea is terrible. Don't do anything like that.

The easy way to fit into a budget is to to a limited bar with an inexpensive signature drink like a peach sangria or a 'champagne' punch. I don't think there is any reason to offer any more than that, along with beer and wine.

Wow, you guys gave me awesome ideas. Like I said, I didn't really know what it entailed, or what I could or could not serve. My dinner was going to consist of mexican food served with chips and salsa, so I could probably ask the caterers to come a little early and serve the chips and salsa for cocktail hour. My venue provides refreshments for the entire night, so that would be covered if I choose to go the non-alcoholic route (or the awesome margaritas that Karen suggested). So that comes out to a sum of $0-$100. Thank you everyone!!!