The Honest Truth About Wedding Booze Maths
Running out of booze at your wedding is worse than your uncle making an impromptu speech that lasts 20 minutes and yes that is coming from real world experience.
But massively over-ordering because you panicked? Also not the vibe.
We’ve planned hundreds of weddings. We’ve seen bars run dry. We’ve seen couples spend thousands more than they needed to. And we’ve definitely seen people forget the ice.
So here’s our no-nonsense, planner-brain guide to booze maths - with opinions, because those are free.
🥂 Arrival Drinks: Where People Decide If Your Wedding Is Fun
A standard 750ml bottle of prosecco, champagne or sparkling wine gives you about 6 proper glasses (not sad splashes).
Our take:
Allow 2 glasses per adult, drinking guest for a drinks reception up to an hour
120 drinking guests? You’re looking at around 40 bottles
If the drinks reception drags on (it often does), add one more glass per guest
Bucks Fizz is the overachiever of the drinks world. You’ll get 10–12 glasses per bottle because the rest is juice, and honestly, guests love it.
🍷 Meal Drinks: The Moment Everyone Loses Track
One bottle of wine = up to 6 glasses.
Planner rule: Start with ½ a bottle per guest during the meal. That’s about 3 glasses and is usually spot on.
BUT
If bottles are left on tables, people pour like they’re hosting Christmas at home
Long meals = more wine
Warm days = white and rosé go hard
Red vs white is usually 50/50 but Summer weddings skew heavily white (rosé people are vocal, and we support them)
🥂 Speeches & Toasts: Optimism vs Reality
Yes, speeches are meant to be short, but God help us, they rarely are.
You’ll get 6 glasses per bottle of champagne or prosecco
1 glass per guest if speeches are in one go
Top-ups if they run past 30 minutes or split into two rounds (a classic trap)
Shots? Good plan. Put one small bottle per table and let the chaos self-regulate.
🍸 Evening Bar: Where the Maths Gets Messy
Once dessert is cleared, this is the safest rule we know: 1 drink per guest, per half an hour
Most weddings give you 4–5 hours of proper evening drinking.
Guests drink more red wine at night
Spirits disappear faster than expected
A standard spirits bottle = about 18 servings, plus mixers
🧊 Ice: The Thing Everyone Forgets (And Then Panics About)
If there’s one hill we’ll die on, it’s this: You need more ice than you think.
Allow 1–1.5kg of ice per guest. More if you’re serving cocktails, or it’s hot, or the drinks are self serve.
You will also need different ice for chilling drinks and then being in drinks.
💧 Water & Soft Drinks: Sexy? No. Essential? Yes.
You need
Still and sparkling water
Mixers: tonic, soda, ginger ale, cola
Something decent for non-drinkers, drivers, pregnant guests and kids
Warm tap water in a jug is not hospitality. Sorry.
🍹 Cocktails, Beer & Guest Behaviour (This Is Where Couples Get It Wrong)
Cocktails are great. Too many cocktails are not.
Cap it at 1–2 cocktails per guest. Decide if they replace arrival drinks or sit alongside them.
For beer & cider expect around 1 in 4 guests to choose these if available.
🍸 How to Avoid Bar Queues (And Keep the Energy Up)
One of the biggest momentum-killers at a wedding isn’t the music or the food - it’s a sudden mass exodus to the bar.
The moment dinner ends, everyone wants a drink at the same time. If there’s only one bar, congratulations — you’ve accidentally created a queue-based social experiment.
Our go-to fix - have drinks ready and waiting as the evening kicks off.
This might look like:
Pre-poured cocktails on trays as guests leave dinner
A limited selection of signature drinks already made (less choice = faster service)
Bottled beer or spritzes handed out as people move into the evening space
Stagger the bar opening: let pre-poured drinks do the first 15–20 minutes
Use roaming trays instead of a static bar at peak moments
Position the bar away from the entrance to avoid instant bottlenecks
Staff up for the first 30 minutes, then scale back
Guest mix, timing, weather and service style matter far more than obsessing over exact numbers. When in doubt, we always plan slightly generously and then control how things are served. If you want help getting this right (and not thinking about it again), you know where we are 🍾
