What is the Wedding Alcohol Calculator?
Buying drinks for a wedding is one of the trickiest parts of catering — run out and guests notice, over-buy and you waste hundreds. This calculator turns a few simple numbers (how many guests, how long the party runs, and the mix of beer, wine and spirits you want to serve) into a clear shopping list of drinks and bottles. It uses the widely-accepted hosting rule of roughly 1.5 drinks per guest per hour, which accounts for heavier drinking early on and tapering off later.
How to use it
Enter your final guest count and the number of hours alcohol will be served (cocktail hour plus reception). Then set the percentage split you expect across beer, wine and spirits — the three should add up to about 100%, but the calculator normalizes them if they don't. The results show total servings, the breakdown by type, and how many bottles or cases to purchase.
The formula explained
Total drinks = Guests × Hours × 1.5. Each category is then total drinks × (its percentage ÷ the sum of all percentages). Conversions assume: 1 beer = 1 bottle/can (sold in cases of 24); 1 wine bottle (750 ml) = 5 glasses; 1 spirits bottle (750 ml) = 16 shots of 1.5 oz.
$$D = \text{Guests} \times \text{Hours} \times 1.5$$$$\text{where}\quad \left\{ \begin{aligned} \text{Beer cases} &= \left\lceil \frac{D \cdot \frac{\text{Beer \%}}{S}}{24} \right\rceil \\ \text{Wine bottles} &= \left\lceil \frac{D \cdot \frac{\text{Wine \%}}{S}}{5} \right\rceil \\ \text{Spirits bottles} &= \left\lceil \frac{D \cdot \frac{\text{Spirits \%}}{S}}{16} \right\rceil \\ S &= \text{Beer \%} + \text{Wine \%} + \text{Spirits \%} \end{aligned} \right.$$
Worked example
For 100 guests over a 5-hour reception with a 50/30/20 beer/wine/spirits split: total = \(100 \times 5 \times 1.5 = \) 750 drinks. Beer = 375 drinks (16 cases), wine = 225 drinks (45 bottles), spirits = 150 drinks (10 bottles).
FAQ
Should I round up? Yes — bottle counts are always rounded up so you never come up short. It's smart to add a 10% buffer for a heavy-drinking crowd.
What about non-drinkers? The 1.5/hour average already blends light and heavy drinkers. If many guests won't drink, lower your guest count or reduce the hours.
Do I need mixers and ice? Yes. Plan roughly 1 lb of ice per guest and 2–3 mixers per spirits drink; those aren't included in the bottle totals here.
