Wedding Drink Calculator — How Much Alcohol for a Wedding

Use the catering rule of about 1 drink per guest per hour — this is the standard answer to 'how much alcohol for a wedding' and 'how many drinks for a wedding'. For example, 100 guests over 5 hours need roughly 500 drinks. Split by preference — say 40% wine, 30% beer, 30% spirits — then convert: wine gives about 5 glasses per 750 ml bottle (so 200 glasses = 40 bottles), beer is one serving per can, and spirits pour about 16 drinks per 750 ml bottle at 1.5 oz each. The calculator above does this math for your exact guest count, hours and drink mix.

Plan 1 drink per guest per hour as the standard. Light-drinking crowds run about 0.75 per hour; heavy-drinking crowds about 1.5. The first hour usually runs hotter because guests arrive thirsty, so the calculator's 'realistic curve' mode plans 2 drinks in the first hour and 1 per hour after — 100 guests over 5 hours = 600 drinks on the curve versus 500 flat.

A 750 ml wine bottle pours about 5 standard 5-ounce glasses (4 glasses in the UK, where the standard pour is 175 ml). So for 100 guests drinking 40% wine over 5 hours (200 glasses), buy 40 bottles. Always round up and add a ~10% buffer — unopened bottles can usually be returned.

Count one 12-ounce serving per beer drink. For 150 beer servings, buy 150 cans/bottles (about 7 cases of 24) or a single half-barrel keg, which holds roughly 165 servings and is usually cheaper for 100+ beer drinkers. The calculator's keg mode does this comparison automatically.

At a standard 1.5-ounce pour, a 750 ml bottle yields about 16 full drinks (a 700 ml UK/Australian bottle at 25–30 ml pours yields 23–28). So 150 spirit drinks need 10 bottles of 750 ml. Note this counts full pours only — you cannot serve a partial pour, which is why honest calculators round servings per bottle down.

An open bar uses your full drink mix (beer, wine, spirits, cocktails). A limited bar drops spirits and cocktails entirely and re-balances the remaining shares — e.g. a 40/30/20/10 mix becomes about 57% wine and 43% beer. The calculator's bar-type modes apply these rules automatically.

BYOB (bring your own booze) means you purchase the alcohol retail instead of paying venue bar prices. Buy the same quantities as an open bar — the calculator's BYOB mode gives you a retail shopping list plus cost totals — and add a 10% buffer. Check your venue's corkage fees and whether outside alcohol is allowed before committing.

Plan one 125 ml flute per guest. A 750 ml champagne bottle pours 6 flutes, so 120 guests need 20 bottles. The calculator's 'toast only' mode computes this in one step — no other bar math needed.

Multiply each ingredient per drink by the number of cocktail servings, then convert to bottles. Example: a margarita with 60 ml tequila, 30 ml lime and 15 ml triple sec, served 80 times, needs 4.8 L of tequila (7 bottles of 750 ml), 2.4 L of lime juice and 2 bottles of triple sec. Enter your recipe in the calculator's signature-cocktail section and it scales everything, including mixers in liters.

About 1 in 4 guests skip alcohol, and everyone drinks water between drinks. A good rule is 0.75 non alcoholic servings per guest per hour — for 100 guests over 5 hours that's 375 servings of non alcoholic drinks. A typical split: 40% soft drink cans, 30% juice or mocktails, 30% water bottles. The calculator plans all three.

Yes — it's multi-region. Bottle sizes and pours differ: the UK and Australia use 700 ml spirit bottles (vs 750 ml in the US/Canada), the UK standard spirit measure is 25 ml (vs 1.5 oz in the US), the UK wine glass is 175 ml, and Australia drinks 375 ml 'stubby' beers. Select your region and every servings-per-bottle figure updates.

Multiply bottles by your local price per bottle to get your wedding alcohol cost. Example: 40 wine bottles at $12, 7 beer cases at $22 and 10 spirit bottles at $25 = $884, or about $8.84 per guest for 100 guests. Enter your real prices in the cost estimator and compare against your budget — the calculator flags over/under automatically. Planning a wedding on a budget? A limited bar (beer and wine only) is the single biggest saver.

A jello shot uses about 1 oz of spirits, so a 750 ml bottle (25.4 oz) makes roughly 25 shots. For 100 jello shots, buy 4 bottles. Keep them as an extra alongside — not instead of — your main bar plan.

Yes — caterers recommend about 10% extra so the bar never runs dry mid-reception. On 500 planned drinks that's 50 more, roughly 10 extra wine bottles or half a case of spirits. Many retailers accept returns of unopened bottles, so the buffer is low-risk.

Switch the drinking pace to 'heavy' (1.5 drinks per guest per hour) instead of the standard 1. For 100 guests over 5 hours that's 750 drinks instead of 500 — about 50% more of everything. You can also raise just the spirits share, since heavy-drinking crowds skew toward liquor and cocktails.

No. It gives solid planning quantities based on standard catering math, but a professional caterer adjusts for your crowd, venue rules, local laws and service style. Always confirm final quantities with your caterer or bartender — and please drink responsibly.