United KingdomTier 1
Wedding alcohol calculator
Guest count and event hours in. Bottles of beer, wine and spirits out, with a shopping-list buffer.
Free·No sign-up·Last checked 2026-08-27
Formula
Total drinks = guests × % drinkers × [first-hour rate + (hours − 1) × later-hour rate]
Beer bottles/cans = beer share of total drinks (1 each)
Wine bottles = wine share of total drinks ÷ 4.29 (175 mL servings per 750 mL bottle)
Spirit bottles = spirits share of total drinks ÷ 28 (25 mL servings per 700 mL bottle)
Worked example. 120 guests, 75% drinkers, 5 hours (2 first + 1×4 later) → 6 drinks/drinker × 90 drinkers = 540 total drinks.
Questions
The drinks reception and the reception's opening stretch tend to see the heaviest pour; consumption per hour typically settles lower once the meal and speeches start.
A buffer covers uneven pours, breakage and guests who drink more than the average. Many wine merchants offer sale-or-return on unopened bottles, so overbuying slightly is lower-risk than running out.
That's the % of drinkers input — it removes non-drinking guests from the total before the per-category split is applied.