Wedding alcohol calculator
Work out how much wine, beer, spirits and champagne to buy for your wedding from the guest count, the hours of the bar and the kind of bar. Add prices for the total. Free, with no sign-up.
From cocktail hour to last call.
75 guests
The rest is white or rosé.
What to buy
About 450 drinks for 75 guests who drink over 5 hours.
- Wine
- 45 bottles
- 23 red, 22 white · 225 glasses
- Beer
- 6 cases
- 135 beers in cases of 24
- Spirits
- 6 bottles
- 750 ml · 90 pours
- Champagne toast
- 13 bottles
- A pour for each of 100 guests
And the rest
- Mixers: about 10.6 liters (360 oz) of tonic, soda, cola and juice, and limes and lemons to go with them.
- Ice: about 100 lb for drinks (1 lb a guest). Double it if you chill bottles in tubs or it’s a hot day.
- Water: about 125 liters, a glass a guest each hour. Keep it on every table and at the bar.
- Soft drinks: about 150 for the guests who don’t drink alcohol, plus sparkling juice for the toast if there’s one.
Add prices for a total cost
The assumptions
Rules of thumb, not a promise: change any of them to match your crowd and your pours.
Per guest who drinks
Per guest who drinks
750 ml, 5 oz pours
750 ml, 1.5 oz pours
12 oz bottles or cans
750 ml, a short pour each
Buy for the guests who are coming
A wedding website takes the replies for you, so the order goes in for the people who said yes, not everyone you invited. Guests reply with their meal choice and any plus-one from one link. Free to make and publish.
How it works it out
- Drinks over the evening
- Two drinks for each guest who drinks in the first hour, then one an hour. Five hours makes six drinks each.
- Split by the bar
- A full bar is about half wine, 30% beer and 20% spirits. Beer and wine only is about 60% wine. Move the split if your crowd leans one way.
- Into bottles
- Five glasses in a bottle of wine, about sixteen 1.5 oz pours in a bottle of spirits, beer in cases of 24 and eight toasts in a bottle of champagne.
Planning the rest? Split the total with the wedding budget calculator, count heads with the wedding guest list, or work out drinks for a smaller do with the party drink calculator.
Questions
How much alcohol do I need for a wedding?
Plan on about two drinks per drinking guest in the first hour and one an hour after that. For 100 guests, 75 of whom drink, over five hours, that is about 450 drinks: with a full bar, around 45 bottles of wine, 6 cases of beer and 6 bottles of spirits, plus 13 bottles of champagne if there is a toast. Change the guests, the hours and the bar above to see your own numbers.
How many bottles of wine for 100 guests?
With wine as half the drinks at a five-hour wedding, about 45 bottles: a 750 ml bottle pours five glasses. With beer and wine only, wine is usually about 60% of drinks, about 54 bottles. Split it between red and white to suit the menu and the season; a summer wedding drinks more white and rosé.
How many bottles of champagne do I need for the toast?
A 750 ml bottle gives about eight toast pours, so one bottle per eight guests: 13 bottles for 100. Many guests take a sip and leave the rest, so a short pour is fine. If champagne is also on the bar, add it to the wine.
How many drinks does each guest have at a wedding?
The usual rule is two in the first hour and one each hour after, for guests who drink. Some crowds drink more and some much less; if you know yours, change the drinks per hour under the assumptions. Most stores take back unopened bottles, which makes it safer to round up.
What is a signature cocktail bar?
Beer and wine plus one or two mixed drinks chosen by the couple, instead of a full bar. It costs less and needs fewer bottles and mixers. The calculator counts the cocktail’s spirits at 1.5 oz a drink, so add the other ingredients from your recipe.
How much ice and water do I need?
About a pound of ice per guest for drinks, twice that if you are chilling bottles in tubs or it’s hot. Plan on a glass of water per guest per hour, on the tables and at the bar.
Is it free? Does it work in litres and kilograms?
It’s free and needs no account; the numbers stay in your browser. Pick Metric for ice in kilograms and mixers and water in litres, and pick your currency for the cost. The bottle counts use standard 750 ml bottles either way.