How Many Drinks Do You Need Per Person at Your Wedding?

All your bar-stocking questions, answered.

Let’s be honest: people are more than ready to celebrate, to dance, and—especially—to drink when it comes to weddings. So, if you’re getting married in the coming months, you’ll want to make sure your bar is stocked. This is to help you do find out just how much booze you need, what kinds are best to have on hand, unique ways to let guests imbibe, and even what to do with the leftovers (but we doubt you’ll have any). 

So grab a notepad and—why not—a drink, and start planning your pours.

Do the Math 

It turns out, there is a magic formula when it comes to calculating the amount of drinks you’ll need for your wedding, sort of: Plan for at least one drink per person per hour (so for a six-hour wedding with 100 guests, you’ll need roughly 600 drinks). More realistically, two drinks in the first hour and one drink per hour for the duration of the evening.

To be extra sure, we asked some of our best bar service providers and they also suggested rounding up: “For each guest, figure one drink per hour and then add two”. 

Signature Cocktails 

We love a “His” and “Hers” option. Signature cocktails are a fun reflection of the couple, but can also be a way to save some dough. “If you have a full bar and a signature cocktail, most guests will order the signature cocktail, just because they want to be part of the wedding experience.

Make it personal, incorporate the wedding theme, the couple’s heritage, or hometown, for example. The cocktails should reflect personalities and be sentimental, but also needs to appeal to a variety of people. An Aperol Spritz, Negroni, or Sangria will always be a crowd-pleaser, and he’s seeing espresso martinis and mezcal margaritas trending now.

As for serving style, batched is best. For bigger weddings, I definitely would batch the cocktail, that way you’re not holding up the bar line; for small intimate weddings, it can be part of the experience creating that cocktail onsite.

Don’t Forget the Bubbles

Thinking of doing a Champagne toast? Or, how about passing out Prosecco for guests to sip during a summer ceremony? You’ll need one glass per guest—but typically these ceremonial sips aren’t full pours. You can do a half pour—three ounces versus a full five-ounce pour—and your Champs will go nearly twice as far.