How much alcohol should we buy for our wedding?

Question

We are purchasing our own alcohol for our open bar at our wedding. We have a bartender already booked. However, I have no clue how to calculate how much beer, wine, and liquor to purchase. Anyone know?

We have about 120 people that are coming, that are of legal drinking age. And the reception should last about 5 hours. I've heard how many drink people consume per hour, and that 20% are beer, 40% wine and 40% liquor, but how much is that? (and I mean how many bottles of wine/cases of beer/ etc).???

Thanks so much!!!

Answer 1

Congratulations soon to be Mrs G. Buy more than you think you need and set up a hotline to your local bargain booze in case supplies run low.

Answer 2

3 kegs (to minimize costs), 3 Cases of wine, 5-10 liquor bottles...that should last a while

Answer 3

If you calculate that 60 people approximately will be drinking wine and you need one bottle of red and one bottle of white per person (just to be safe) the you'll need 60 reds and 60 whites. That's to ensure you won't run out. Then you'll also need around 40 bottles of Bubbly for toasts etc.

Beer is a tough one because it varies so much but if you calculate around 5 beers per beer drinker that's 300 beers. I wouldn't worry about spirits too much, people usually accept that there won't be any at a wedding. But if you really want it there, then a few bottles each of Scotch, Bourbon, Rum, Vodka and gin should do it.

I'm basing my calculations on a 3-4 hour reception. If yours is longer, adjust it accordingly. Also double check with the retailer you buy from because most will allow you to bring back any unopened bottles for a full refund. That way you should buy a lot more just to be safe. There's nothing worse than running out.

Good luck and congratulations!

Answer 4

If you figure three drinks per person, that is 360 drinks..

20 % beer is 72  beers 40 % wine is 144 glasses and 144 glasses of liquor.. one bottle of wine is = to four glasses so 36 bottles of wine, and several assorted liquors.. figure on running out of liquor first then wine then beer.... Congratulations and good luck ....

Answer 5

Purchase 1.5 liters of your wines.  You will get 8-12 glasses out of a bottle. You should stick with easy to drink wines.  I would suggest 2 cases of Pinot Grigio, 1 case of Chardonnay, 1 case of Merlot.  For your champagne toast, 1 case will be more than sufficient. For your beers, probably 6 cases total...4 domestics, 2 imports. Or a keg, depending on your tastes.  For hard liquor...i would buy 6 bottles each of vodka and rum. 4 tequila,bourbon and whiskey. 4 triple sec. Any cordials would depend on your taste...Have you thought about having signature cocktails for your day? Choose just a few cocktails that you enjoy, and buy just those ingredients. Your bartender will love you!

Answer 6

If you are buying for an open bar, you'll have the rest of the alcohol afterwards. If you can make a deal with a bar or liquor store to buy the remainder, then buy more than you need. If not, buy more than you think you'll need anyway.

Answer 7

its called open bar> there is never enough alcohol at weddings> keep your guest happy< when their having a good time your having a good time. dry weddings suck and I will never go to one again

Answer 8

You can say that most people will drink get completely pissed and drink roughly 8-10 units of alcohol each over the course of a night maybe more (I'd be looking at 10-15 myself).

I would say for 120 guests you need at least 100 bottles of wine and 150 cans/small bottle of beer. Spirits are more difficult, what do you get to keep everyone happy?  I would say a 2 large bottles each of whisky, gin, vodka, brandy and whatever else you like, bourbon, pernod, Baileys ?  The list is endless you can't please everyone but you should know if people are fond of a particular beverage.

Don't forget the soft drinks - lemonade, coke, tonic water etc. Plus lots of ice.

Whatever is left over will help you celebrate your honeymoon. Best of luck xx

Answer 9

I had 2 barrels of beer and 10 bottles of wine and we run out half way through.

Answer 10

For our wedding, we were buying alcohol for 200 guests, our liquor store really helped us out with the amounts. We had an hour for cocktails, bar was closed for dinner, but there were bottles of red and white wine at the tables (1 each per 10 people), then the open bar again for 5 or 6 hours.

There are guidelines on the web, but I don't know how helpful they will be -

http://www.thatsthespirit.com/en/enterta...

http://www.thatsawrapper.com/pt-drinkcal...