How Many Wedding Reception Drinks Per Person? A Complete Guide

Planning a wedding reception is exciting, but when it comes to food and drinks, the details can feel overwhelming. One of the biggest questions couples face is: how many drinks should you plan per guest? Order too little, and you’ll run out halfway through the night. Order too much, and you may blow your budget or end up with cases of wine sitting in storage.

This guide breaks down the essentials of calculating drinks for your wedding reception so you can toast stress-free.

The Golden Rule: 1 Drink Per Guest Per Hour

A good starting point is to plan one drink per person, per hour of your reception. If your celebration runs for five hours and you have 100 guests, you should expect to serve around 500 drinks in total.

Of course, not every guest will drink the same amount—your grandmother may nurse a glass of wine all night while your college friends hit the dance floor with cocktails in hand. But this average evens out across the crowd and gives you a reliable baseline.

Breaking Down the Drink Types

Once you know how many total drinks you’ll need, the next step is dividing them between wine, beer, and spirits. A common ratio is:

50% wine

30% beer

20% spirits or cocktails

For a 100-guest wedding lasting 5 hours (500 drinks total), that looks like:

250 glasses of wine

150 beers

100 cocktails or mixed drinks

Adjust the ratio depending on your crowd. If your family is full of craft beer lovers, increase the beer allotment. If you’re having a classy cocktail bar, scale up the spirits.

Wine: Bottles & Glasses

A standard 750ml bottle of wine pours about 5 glasses. To cover 250 glasses, you’d need roughly 50 bottles of wine for 100 guests at a 5-hour wedding.

Pro tip: Offer both red and white. A 60/40 split in favour of white usually works well unless your wedding is in colder months, when red wine may be more popular.

Beer: Bottles or Kegs

Beer is one of the trickier items to estimate because serving sizes vary. Plan for one to two beers per guest in the first hour and one per hour after that. For 150 beers, you could order:

About 7 cases (24 bottles each), or

One half-barrel keg (about 165 servings)

Spirits & Cocktails

If you’re offering mixed drinks, figure on 1 litre of spirits per 18 cocktails. For 100 cocktails, you’d need about 6 litres of liquor. Don’t forget mixers—soda, tonic, juices, and garnishes.

Don’t Forget Non-Alcoholic Options

Not everyone drinks alcohol, so always include water, soda, mocktails, or iced tea. A safe bet is one non-alcoholic drink per guest per hour alongside your alcohol calculations.

Final Tips

Always round up—you’d rather have extra than run out.

Ask your caterer or bartender for advice; they know what guests usually consume.

Consider your wedding season, time of day, and crowd. Summer weddings call for more chilled drinks; winter weddings may need more red wine or whiskey.