How many reception drinks...

Not the best person to reply, because i drink a fair bit.

Two drinks would not see me through 1.5 hours.

However, I would have absolutely ZERO problem with going to the bar after I'd used up my allocation. Two drinks is generous enough (unless, of course, you have a budget to blow and want to lavish your guests).

^^^ I agree 2 isn't enough but going to the bar isn't an issue either

ForTheLoveOfMrsBrown you sound just like one of my girls!

OH was saying we really need to increase it to 3 per person if we didn't want people wandering off to the bar and to be fair he's probably right, I went to one wedding and had 2 reception drinks and went to another and probably had 4 in that time!

Will need to weigh up paying for the extra drink (which is what OH really wants to do) or just having people use the bar and the Ushers might have to round people up for photos etc

x

Are you serving canapes? I ask because 3 or 4 alcoholic drinks on an empty stomach may lead to some photos you weren't expecting!! Maybe alternate trays of wine/beer with soft drinks?

We didn't have canapes and had unlimited reception drinks - we didn't have any problems like this.

OP, I would get through more than two drinks in that time but I am more than happy to take myself off to the bar and buy my own once I've had my allocation. If it's stretching you to provide more I really wouldn't bother (we only did because our venue was really reasonable on corkage).

I think that soft drinks should be available at all times.

Pffft, 3 or 4 drinks.... People will have had a healthy breakfast/lunch. And, you know, not be lightweights ?

There will of course be a number of guests that will only have one drink which you would hope would even itself out for any people that may wish to have three, I'd suggest two would be plenty for all unless a large portion of the guests are big drinkers. If on the day you feel there isn't enough is there an option for you to mention to a member of staff to add on an extra 50 drinks or so that you can then pay when you check out the following day?

Oh, agreed. We did this, too.

We've allowed for approx 3 and half glasses of prosecco per person, some will have more others will have less, some will have none and will have orange juice instead. x

As much as I would love to provide extra alcoholic drinks (its a long time from arrival until we eat , 2hrs) OH family is partial to a tipple (unlike my side) and the thought of us contributing to their level of marinating before and during photos sends me running for the hills ?

MOMB Are you serving canapes?

Never thought of that. We getting married at 11am but it would appear it will be close to 2.30pm before we sit down to eat. My H2B is already complaining he will be hungry lol

Maybe I should go for soft drinks and tiny canapes ...if they want alcohol there is always the bar.

Here I am supposed to be helping Mrs W and I end up thinking of ideas for myself ....sorry ?

We got through more champagne during our reception than we expected (and OH does wedding for a living so we made an informed estimate) I blame the high level of service we recieved with waiters topping up peoples glasses every couple of minutes. Why is it that when somebody asks if you would like a top when you still have a full glass instead of saying "no thanks" you neck your drink to make space in the glass for more?

I have to say when we came back from having our couple shots it was like walking in at the end of a party, some guests were well p!ssed I think counting up the bottles it worked out around 4 and half glasses per person but considering some of the oldies only had 1 glass I am sure others drunk a bottles worth.

So I dont think its a bad thing to have a limit with the option for guests to go the bar and purchase extra.

I think 3 sounds like a fair amount.

As others have said, some people might have 1, some 3, some 5. And I have no doubt your guests will think nothing of getting themselves a drink at the bar if they want more. Chances are some may start to feel tipsy & then decide to hold back until their meal at that point.

Thank you for all the replies.

We are getting married at 1pm - canapes at 2.45pm/3pm and wedding breakfast at 4.30pm

Lainey13 it's good that you are getting feedback and ideas too as it's such a tough one!

The cheeky monkey at the venue wanted to charge me £1.50 supplement per drink for having Kir Royale and Peroni instead of Bucks fizz but the Kir Royale is the same price as the bucks fizz on the drinks menu and the Peroni is 70p cheaper than bucks fizz but they wanted me to pay £1.50 more than bucks fizz so I've soon put them right this morning.

Think I might either just order 3 drinks each or go with TooInvolvedGroom's sugegstion of having 2 per person and then giving the venue the heads up to increase it if they need to to 3 per person and we can pay the extra the next day.

xx

We get married on Friday and are having 100 glasses of Pimms, 110 (approx) glasses of Prosecco and 5 jugs of a fruit punch for non-drinkers. That's between 75 people so works out just over 3 per person.

We have also asked for a cash bar to be open as there are some people that don't like those things.

What are you doing between the end of ceremony and 4.30? That's quite a long time for drinking/mingling, especially as most guests won't have had lunch.

2 or 3 is fine in my opinion, we're having 2 champagne pp on arrival with soft drink options & canapés and then a mini bar will open if guests want any more.
Won't have too long a wait til the meals I don't think, and then there will be wine and more champagne given, and im going to throw some alcohol favours in for a top up haha. Some of my guests will drink more than I've provided and some (my brother and his wife etc) will stick to soft drinks so it just depends but sounds fine to me