How Much Booze?

by Cathy
(Gloucestershire)

I have one question for you - booze! How did you decide how much to get and what? I am a complete wine novice and am hopeless guessing quantities we'll need. We are having a sit down meal for 100 guests - 30+ of whom are kids so we'll need lots of soft drinks too (was thinking elderflower cordial?). We're also having a disco in the evening - I'm thinking I may ask for a nominal fee for drinks in the evening but haven't decided yet. Any help would be much appreciated!

Just wanted to say thank you SO much for your fantastic site - it's been invaluable to me in planning my wedding.

Looking forward to hearing from you and thanks so much again!

Cathy

Answer:

In my trusted Good Housekeeping cookery annual (I love it, it's a great book), they suggest that you should allow half a bottle of wine per person with the meal and then a glass of something fizzy for the toast.

But, you've got all night to consider and if you're offering free booze all day and night, then you're likely to need a bit more. For my wedding, I completely over estimated and we had tonnes of drinks left over. We were still drinking it months later! For me though, it's better to have too much than not enough, especially if you're providing all the drinks.

I would recommend, based on my learnings, that you should allow approximately 3/4 bottle of wine per drinking adult. Keep your costs low by only offering 2-3 (budget permitting) glasses of fizz for the toast. This will probably be enough but bear in mind, that many of the guests will be older and so may not drink as much as you think. (That's where my problem was - I catered for the worse case scenario in that everyone drank like my uni mates! Not so!)

Ensure you have some red and white wine as different peoples tastes differ. Most people drink white wine though, especially in the summer, so buy 3 white for every 1 red bottle of wine.

For adults and children not drinking alcohol, you should allow 3-4 tall drinks per person, such as fruit juice, squash or fizzy soft drinks throughout the day/night.

Regardless, it is very important to provide lots of water throughout the day and night. Alcohol dehydrates and hot sunny days can be really bring on a thirst, so ensure you have plenty of water on the tables. We bought glass jugs from a pound shop and kept them filled up all day and night. If you're buying bottles allow for 0.5 litre per person at least.

Servings per type of drink:
A bottle of wine holds 6 glasses
A bottle of champagne holds 6 glasses or flutes
A 2 litre bottle of soft drink holds 7-9 servings

So in summary, my best guess would be:
- 3/4 bottle of wine per person drinking alcohol
- 2-3 flutes per person of the fizz for the toast
- 3-4 tall glasses per person for those not drinking alcohol
Lots of water!

Some quick calculations, based on 100 guests, 25 of which are not drinking alcohol:
- 57 bottles of wine (mix of white and red)
- 25 bottles of fizz (cava or champagne)
- 12.5 bottles of 2 litre soft drinks (fruit juice, lemonade, coke, cordial)
- 50 litres of water (bottled or tap)

If you're worried that you've bought too much or that you're not going to buy enough, then buy it on "sale or return". What you don't use, you don't pay for. Most of the big wine merchants will throw in free delivery and glass hire as well. This is great if you're happy to buy in the UK as it doesn't usually apply to those buying in France on a booze cruise.

I hope that helps!