Wedding Drink Calculator
Work out exactly how much beer, wine, champagne, spirits, non-alcoholic drinks and ice to buy for your wedding, and what it will cost at prices you can edit.
Example prices (edit to match your store)
| Item | Drinks needed | Buy | Unit price | Cost |
|---|
Tip: on a phone, swipe this table sideways to see the unit prices and the cost column.
How each number is worked out
Drinks per drinker = (hours + 1) x level factor. The level factor is 0.8 for light, 1.0 for average and 1.25 for heavy. This is the standard rule of 2 drinks in the first hour, then 1 drink per hour after that.
Drinkers = guests x drinker percentage / 100. Drinker drinks = drinkers x drinks per drinker.
Mix: the beer, wine, spirits and non-alcoholic percentages are normalised so they add up to 100, then each share is applied to the drinker drinks. Non-alcoholic drinks also add 1 set of drinks per drinker for every non-drinker: non-drinkers x drinks per drinker.
Signature cocktail: if switched on, add 1 serving per drinker to the spirits drinks before bottling.
Wine: 5 glasses per 750ml bottle, bottles = glasses / 5 rounded up. Champagne toast: 1 glass per guest, 5 glasses per bottle, separate from the wine.
Beer: 1 drink = 1 can, cases = cans / 24 rounded up. Spirits: 17 drinks per 750ml bottle and 39 drinks per 1.75L bottle, both rounded up; the 750ml count is the buy line used for cost.
Non-alcoholic: cans = drinks rounded up, 12-packs = cans / 12 rounded up. Ice: pounds = guests x ice per guest (1 lb by default), 10 lb bags = pounds / 10 rounded up.
Cost: each line is the rounded-up buy quantity multiplied by its editable price, and the total is the exact sum of those line costs.
Frequently asked questions
How much alcohol do I need for a wedding with 100 guests?
At the default settings (100 guests, 85 percent drinkers, 5 hours, average level), you need 153 beer cans, 204 wine glasses, 187 spirits drinks and 141 non-alcoholic drinks. That buys as 7 cases of beer, 41 bottles of wine, 20 bottles of champagne for the toast, 11 bottles of spirits, 12 non-alcoholic 12-packs and 10 bags of ice, for $1,261.00 at the example prices.
How many bottles of wine do I need for 100 guests?
204 wine glasses divided by 5 glasses per 750ml bottle is 40.8, rounded up to 41 bottles. That is the wine share only; the champagne toast adds a separate 20 bottles.
How many drinks does each guest get at a 5-hour wedding?
The rule used here is (5 hours + 1) x 1.0 for average drinking, which is 6 drinks per drinker. That is 2 drinks in the first hour and then 1 drink per hour.
How much ice do I need for 100 guests?
At 1 lb of ice per guest, 100 guests need 100 lb of ice, which is 10 bags of 10 lb.
What does the signature cocktail add?
It adds 1 serving per drinker. With 85 drinkers that is 85 extra spirits drinks, taking spirits from 102 drinks to 187 drinks and from 7 bottles to 11 bottles of 750ml.
How much do non-drinkers add to the list?
15 non-drinkers multiplied by 6 drinks each is 90 non-alcoholic drinks. Added to the 51 non-alcoholic drinks from the drinker mix, that gives 141 drinks, or 12 packs of 12.
Common wedding sizes at the default settings
Same defaults as above: 85 percent drinkers, 5 hours, average level, 30/40/20/10 beer/wine/spirits/non-alcoholic mix, signature cocktail and champagne toast on, 1 lb of ice per guest.
| Guests | Beer (24-cases) | Wine (750ml) | Champagne (750ml) | Spirits (750ml) | Non-alcoholic (12-packs) | Ice (10 lb bags) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | 4 | 21 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 5 | $657.00 |
| 100 | 7 | 41 | 20 | 11 | 12 | 10 | $1,261.00 |
| 150 | 10 | 62 | 30 | 17 | 18 | 15 | $1,899.00 |
| 200 | 13 | 82 | 40 | 22 | 24 | 20 | $2,503.00 |