Wedding Alcohol Calculator
Work out exactly how much wine, prosecco, beer and spirits to buy for your wedding — plus soft drinks and an estimated cost. Built for UK weddings with UK serving sizes.
How to Use This Calculator
- Enter your guest details. Put in the total headcount and how many guests are non-drinkers (drivers, pregnant guests, or anyone who prefers soft drinks). Non-drinkers are excluded from alcohol quantities but get a higher soft drink allocation automatically.
- Set your reception duration. Choose how many hours your drinks reception runs. The calculator applies the UK industry formula: 2 drinks in the first hour, 1 drink per hour after that. A 5-hour reception = 6 drinks per drinking guest.
- Select your drink types. Tick what you are serving — prosecco, wine, beer, spirits, or any combination. Each selected type reveals an options panel: toast-only or served throughout for prosecco; red/white/rosé split for wine; can, bottle or pint for beer; and which spirits to include.
- Review your shopping list. Your list appears instantly as you type. Toggle on soft drink estimates and estimated costs at the bottom. You can edit the default prices to match your actual supermarket — then download the whole list as a CSV.
How We Calculate Your Wedding Drinks
The core formula is the UK catering industry standard: 2 drinks in the first hour, then 1 drink per hour after that. For a 5-hour reception, that is 2 + (1 × 4) = 6 drinks per drinking guest. This accounts for the initial excitement on arrival and the natural slowdown later in the evening.
The total drinks are then allocated across drink types using default splits based on typical UK wedding preferences (40% wine, 35% beer, 15% spirits, 10% soft-only). If you only select wine and beer, the other proportions are redistributed between them automatically.
UK Serving Sizes
This calculator uses UK standard measures throughout — not US measures, which differ significantly and would produce incorrect quantities for UK shopping:
| Drink | UK Serving | Per Bottle / Container | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wine (glass) | 125ml | 6 glasses per 750ml bottle | UK bar standard. Some venues pour 175ml — we use 125ml for conservative estimates. |
| Prosecco / Champagne (flute) | 125ml | 6 flutes per 750ml bottle | Standard flute pour. |
| Beer (pint) | 568ml | — | UK legal pint. 330ml bottles and 440ml cans are also available options. |
| Spirits (measure) | 25ml | 28 measures per 70cl bottle | UK legal single measure. Some Scottish and Northern Irish venues use 35ml. |
All calculations use whole numbers throughout — you cannot buy a fraction of a bottle. Every output quantity uses Math.ceil() to round up, so you will always have slightly more than the minimum rather than risk running short.
Wedding Drinks: Worked Examples
Prosecco, wine and beer for 80 guests (5-hour reception)
80 guests, 10 non-drinkers, 5-hour reception → 6 drinks per drinking guest. Toast prosecco for all 80 guests, then wine and beer split across 70 drinking guests.
| Item | Quantity | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Prosecco (toast) | 14 bottles | 1 glass per guest ÷ 6 glasses/bottle |
| Wine (total) | 31 bottles | ~44% of drinkers choosing wine × 6 drinks ÷ 6 glasses/bottle |
| Red wine | 16 bottles | 50% of wine bottles |
| White wine | 15 bottles | 50% of wine bottles |
| Beer (440ml cans) | 162 cans | ~38% of drinkers × 6 drinks — 7 cases of 24 |
Full bar including spirits for 100 guests (6-hour reception)
100 guests, 15 non-drinkers, 6-hour reception → 7 drinks per drinking guest. Toast prosecco, then wine, beer and spirits across 85 drinking guests.
| Item | Quantity | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Prosecco (toast) | 17 bottles | 1 glass per guest ÷ 6 |
| Wine | 40 bottles | 40% of 85 drinkers × 7 drinks ÷ 6 glasses/bottle |
| Beer (440ml cans) | 210 cans | 35% of drinkers × 7 drinks — 9 cases of 24 |
| Spirits | 4 bottles (70cl) | 15% of drinkers × 7 measures ÷ 28 measures/bottle |
Wine and prosecco only for 50 guests (4-hour reception)
50 guests, 5 non-drinkers, 4-hour reception → 5 drinks per drinking guest. Toast prosecco for all, then wine only across 45 drinking guests (no beer or spirits).
| Item | Quantity | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Prosecco (toast) | 9 bottles | 1 glass per guest ÷ 6 |
| Wine (total) | 38 bottles | All 45 drinkers × 5 drinks ÷ 6 glasses/bottle |
| Red wine | 19 bottles | 50% |
| White wine | 18 bottles | 50% |
Tips for Buying Wedding Drinks in the UK
- Ask your venue about corkage before you buy anything. Many UK venues allow you to supply your own drinks but charge a corkage fee of £5–£15 per bottle. Get the exact figure in writing before committing to a big shop — a £10/bottle corkage fee on 50 bottles adds £500 to your costs.
- Buy during supermarket promotions — 25% off six bottles. Most major UK supermarkets (Tesco, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Morrisons) regularly offer 25% off when you buy six or more bottles of wine or prosecco. Time your main purchase to coincide with a promotion and you can save 20–25% on your wine budget.
- Ask about sale-or-return before you buy. Majestic Wine and many independent wine merchants offer sale-or-return on full cases — meaning you pay only for what you open. This removes the risk of over-ordering. Supermarket alcohol cannot be returned once purchased, so if you are buying from a supermarket, use this calculator to avoid significant over-ordering.
- Prosecco is the UK default — most guests won't notice at a toast. At a noisy wedding reception with 80 people, the difference between an £8 prosecco and a £25 champagne is effectively invisible. Save the champagne budget for something guests will actively appreciate — like an extra bottle of wine per table at dinner.
- Order 10% extra as a buffer, especially for wine. Our calculator already rounds up quantities. But weddings run longer than expected, some guests drink more, and you would rather have unopened bottles than run dry. If you are using a sale-or-return merchant, ordering 10% extra costs nothing if unused. If buying outright, weigh the buffer cost against the disruption of running dry.
- Non-alcoholic options are increasingly expected. Around 20–25% of UK wedding guests now prefer not to drink. Budget properly for premium soft drinks, mocktail ingredients, and sparkling water. Offering guests a good non-alcoholic option (such as a non-alcoholic sparkling wine for the toast) is increasingly seen as good hosting rather than an afterthought.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many bottles of prosecco do I need for 80 guests?
For a toast only, you need 1 glass per guest. At 6 glasses per 750ml bottle, that is 80 ÷ 6 = 13.3, so you need 14 bottles. Always round up — buy 15 to be safe. If you are serving prosecco throughout the reception as well as for the toast, use our calculator to work out the full quantity based on your reception length.
How many bottles of wine for a wedding of 100 guests?
For a 5-hour reception where around 40% of your 100 guests choose wine, you would have roughly 40 wine drinkers, each having 6 drinks — that is 240 glasses, or 40 bottles. Split roughly half red and half white: 20 bottles of each. Our calculator does this automatically and adjusts the split to your preferences.
How much does a wedding bar cost in the UK?
A self-supplied wedding bar typically costs £15–£30 per guest for the drinks alone, depending on what you serve and how long the reception runs. For 100 guests at a 5-hour reception, expect to spend roughly £1,500–£3,000. Prosecco for toasts adds about £140–£170. Spirits push costs higher — factor an extra £200–£400 for a spirits selection.
What is the standard drinks-per-guest formula for a wedding?
The UK industry standard is 2 drinks in the first hour, then 1 drink per hour after that. For a 5-hour reception that is 2 + (1 × 4) = 6 drinks per drinking guest. This accounts for the initial excitement of arriving and the natural slowdown later in the evening. Our calculator uses this formula automatically.
Should I buy prosecco or champagne for wedding toasts?
Prosecco is the UK standard for wedding toasts and most guests will not notice the difference. A decent bottle of prosecco costs £8–£12 at a UK supermarket versus £25+ for entry-level champagne. For 80 guests (14 bottles), that is a saving of £180–£350 that can go elsewhere. Unless champagne is particularly meaningful to you as a couple, prosecco is the practical choice.
Can I bring my own alcohol to a wedding venue?
Many UK venues allow couples to supply their own drinks, but almost all charge a corkage fee — typically £5–£15 per bottle. Always ask before buying. Even with corkage, buying from a supermarket (especially on a 25% case discount deal) is usually cheaper than the venue's bar tariff. Ask your venue for a full price list and compare before deciding.
How much beer for 100 guests at a wedding?
If around 35% of your 100 guests choose beer and the reception runs for 5 hours, that is roughly 35 beer drinkers × 6 drinks = 210 serves. As 440ml cans, that is 210 cans — about 9 cases of 24. Our calculator works this out instantly and shows you how many cases to buy.
How many non-drinkers should I plan for at a wedding?
Around 20–25% of UK wedding guests now prefer non-alcoholic options, either for health, religious, or personal reasons — or because they are driving. Plan your soft drink and water quantities accordingly. Our calculator gives non-drinkers a higher soft drink allocation automatically. Do not forget that pregnant guests and designated drivers will also appreciate good non-alcoholic options.
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