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Redmoon Calculators
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Wedding & Party Alcohol Calculator

Plan beer, wine, and liquor quantities plus ice for a wedding or party based on guest count, drinking rate, and event length — get exact cases and bottles to buy.

Built and maintained by Paul Clark, Redmoon Software

When to use this

Use this while planning a wedding, party, or any hosted event with an open bar, to buy roughly the right amount of beer, wine, and liquor rather than guessing.

How it compares

Unlike a generic “one drink per guest per hour” rule of thumb, this calculator accounts for the share of guests who actually drink, a pacing-adjusted hourly rate, and converts the result into exact cases and bottles to buy for each beverage type.

Enter your values below. Calculations run locally as you type.

Event details

Beer/wine/liquor percentages are normalized to sum to 100% automatically.

Shopping list

Total drinks
289
85 drinking guests
Ice needed
100 lb
Beer
5 cases
116 servings, 40%
Wine
21 bottles
101 glasses, 35%
Liquor
5 bottles
72 cocktails, 25%

For 100 guests over 4 hours, plan on roughly 5 cases of beer, 21 bottles of wine, and 5 bottles of liquor, plus 100 lb of ice.

How it works

Total drinks needed comes from the share of guests who drink, multiplied by the event’s duration and a pacing-adjusted drinks-per-hour rate.

That total is split across beer, wine, and liquor using your chosen percentages (normalized to sum to 100%), then converted into standard serving sizes — 12oz beers, 5oz wine pours, and 1.5oz liquor pours.

Servings are rounded up into whole cases of beer (24 per case), bottles of wine (about 5 glasses per 750ml bottle), and bottles of liquor (about 17 cocktails per 750ml bottle), so you always buy enough rather than running short.

FAQs

Why does drinking pace slow down after the first hour or two?

Guests tend to drink fastest during the first hour or two of an open bar, then taper off as the night goes on. The default rate already reflects this average pacing across a multi-hour event rather than a flat hourly rate.

Should I plan for non-drinking guests by just subtracting them?

You should still budget good non-alcoholic options — sparkling water, mocktails, soft drinks — for the guests who do not drink, rather than ignoring them. This calculator only sizes the alcohol order, not the full beverage budget.

How much ice should I budget per guest?

A common rule of thumb is about 1 lb of ice per guest for drinks alone, more if you are also chilling bottles or using ice for food service or decor.

Worked example

Input

100 guests, 4-hour reception, 85% drink, 0.85 drinks/hr, mix 40% beer / 35% wine / 25% liquor, 1 lb ice/guest.

Output

Total drinks: 289. Beer: 5 cases. Wine: 21 bottles. Liquor: 5 bottles. Ice: 100 lb.

85 of the 100 guests drink, consuming 0.85 drinks/hour over 4 hours for 289 total drinks. Split 40/35/25 across beer, wine, and liquor, that is about 116 beers (5 cases of 24), 101 glasses of wine (21 bottles at ~5 glasses each), and 72 cocktails (5 bottles of liquor at ~17 cocktails each).

Common pitfalls

  • Using a flat drinks-per-hour rate for the entire event ignores that guests drink fastest in the first hour or two and taper off afterward — this calculator’s default rate is already an average across the event.
  • Buying only for the percentage of guests who drink and ignoring everyone else skips planning good non-alcoholic options for non-drinkers.
  • Underestimating ice needs is a common last-minute scramble — budget at least 1 lb per guest, more if also chilling bottles.

Where the consumption figures come from

The model assumes 85% of guests drink, at roughly one drink per person per hour, split 40% beer, 35% wine, 25% spirits. Those are standard catering planning figures rather than measurements, and the per-hour rate is deliberately an average across an event.

Consumption is not flat across the evening. The first hour typically runs well above the average — a drinks reception with nothing else happening — then falls once food is served and rises again with dancing. Planning to the average is right for total volume and wrong for how much needs to be cold and ready at the start.

Bottle arithmetic and the practical margin

Conversions matter as much as the totals: a standard 750 ml wine bottle pours about five glasses, and a 750 ml spirit bottle gives roughly sixteen standard measures. Champagne for a toast is a separate calculation, since it is one glass per guest regardless of the drinking percentage.

Buy more than the calculation and buy it on sale or return where you can. Running out is a visible failure and unopened bottles are frequently returnable, which makes over-ordering close to free while under-ordering is not. Adjust the drinking percentage for the actual crowd rather than leaving it at the default — it varies enormously between groups.

Read more about this

· 7 min read

The wedding bar budget: turning a drink count into what you actually spend

A shopping list of cases and bottles is only half the job. How bar format, buy-back policies, signature cocktails, and where you buy turn that quantity into a real cost — and how to trim it without leaving guests dry.
· 6 min read

How much alcohol to buy for a wedding (without over-ordering)

How to translate guest count, event length, and drinking pace into exact cases of beer, bottles of wine, and bottles of liquor — using the same 12oz beer, 5oz wine pour, and 1.5oz liquor pour math a caterer would use.

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