Food & drink calculator
Wedding Alcohol Calculator
Enter your guest count and reception length to estimate how much wine, beer, liquor, and champagne to buy, plus a ready-to-use shopping list. Adjust for your crowd and bar style, and add a buffer so you don't run dry. Planning the food too? Pair it with the catering calculator.
What to buy
Shopping list
- 66 bottles of wine (about 40 red / 26 white is a common mix)
- 198 beers (~9 cases of 24)
- 9 x 750ml liquor bottles for the full bar (plus mixers and garnishes)
- Plenty of ice, water, and a few non-alcoholic options for every guest.
Serve responsibly
- Serve alcohol only to guests of legal drinking age.
- Hire a licensed, insured bartender and watch for over-service.
- Always offer water and non-alcoholic options, and help guests plan a safe ride home.
Treat these as ballpark figures to plan and order against — your venue and vendors will have the exact numbers.
Next: read How Much Alcohol Do You Need for a Wedding? or fold this into a full plan.
Build your wedding planHow this is calculated
- Drinks per guest = 2 in the first hour + 1 for each additional hour.
- Crowd multiplier: light ×0.75, average ×1.0, heavy ×1.25; optional +10% buffer.
- Conversions: 1 wine bottle = 5 glasses, 1 beer = 1 drink, a 750ml liquor bottle ≈ 16 drinks, 1 champagne bottle = 6 toast pours.
- Splits: beer & wine = 60/40; full bar (and cocktails) = 50% wine, 30% beer, 20% liquor.
Every figure here is a well-worn planning rule of thumb, not a quote — use it to budget early, then lock in real numbers as you book.
Printable PDF planner
A polished, print-ready PDF of your results is coming soon.
Add this calculator to your site (free)
Copy the snippet to embed the wedding alcohol calculator on your blog or venue site. It stays free and links back to Wedding Math.
<iframe src="https://www.weddingmath.com/embed/alcohol-calculator" title="Wedding Alcohol Calculator by Wedding Math" width="100%" height="720" style="border:1px solid #e8e1d7;border-radius:14px;max-width:900px" loading="lazy"></iframe>How much alcohol by guest count
Keep reading
How Much Alcohol Do You Need for a Wedding?
The two-drinks-first-hour rule, how crowd type changes the math, and a ready-to-shop bottle breakdown.
PrintableWedding Alcohol Cheat Sheet
A printable wedding alcohol guide — how many drinks per guest, the wine/beer/liquor split, and bottle conversions.
Related calculators
Wedding Catering Calculator
Appetizer counts, meal servings, dessert, and late-night snacks, sized to your meal style.
Open →Wedding Bar & Drink Cost Calculator
Puts a dollar figure on the whole bar: wine, beer, liquor, champagne, bartenders, and corkage.
Open →Wedding Cake Servings Calculator
How many tiers and servings your guest count needs, with a sheet-cake backup if the math comes up short.
Open →Frequently asked questions
How much alcohol do I need for a wedding?
A common rule of thumb is about 2 drinks per guest in the first hour and 1 drink per guest for each additional hour. For 100 guests at a 5-hour reception, that's roughly 600 drinks before adjusting for how much your crowd drinks. This calculator uses that formula and lets you scale it up or down for a light, average, or heavy-drinking crowd.
How many bottles of wine and cases of beer should I buy?
We split your total drinks across wine, beer, and liquor based on your bar type, then convert: one 750ml bottle of wine pours about 5 glasses, and beer is counted by the bottle or can (24 to a case). With beer and wine only, we assume roughly 60% wine and 40% beer; a full bar shifts about 20% of drinks to liquor.
How many bottles of liquor are in a full bar?
For a full bar or signature cocktails, we count about 16 drinks per 750ml bottle of liquor and apply it to the liquor share of your total drinks. Remember to also stock mixers, citrus, garnishes, and plenty of ice, which the shopping list reminds you to add.
How much champagne do I need for a toast?
Plan on about 6 toast-sized pours per bottle of champagne or sparkling wine, so one bottle covers roughly 6 guests. For 100 guests that's about 17 bottles. Turn on the champagne toast option to add this to your shopping list automatically.
Last reviewed June 2026 by Jared Waterworth. Estimates use widely accepted wedding-planning rules of thumb — see how we estimate. Numbers vary by region, season, and vendor, so verify before you book or buy.