Help with ordering

Is your wedding at a venue that you supply the alcohol? Or is it a complete blank slate and you are doing the entire bar? If the former then ask the venue how much they see needed. If the latter there are online calculators for how much alcohol to buy for weddings.


If you want to cut costs more you can have beer/wine/seltzer only. Or beer/wine/seltzer and each choose a signature cocktail.

There are alcohol calculators online that might help you.

A good rule of thumb is 2 drinks per person for the first hour, then one drink per person for each hour after. You know your guests best, so you need to take into account their habits. My guests are heavy drinkers and prefer liquor to wine, especially gin and whiskey. I'll be doubling the numbers I mentioned here and will have twice the recommended amount of gin.

If you are able, talk to the staff at a local BevMo or TotalWine or a similar wholesale liquor store. First, talk to your VIP guests who are attending to get an idea of what they drink. Some groups drink beer/wine only and others drink liquor only so there is no one size fits all. You prevent wasted money and alcohol that way. At the same time, it’s better to have too much of something than not enough. Also, find out from the retailers what the local laws are in your state regarding returns of unopened bottles. Some states allow it and others don’t regardless of store policy.


Our guests were mainly non drinkers and those who prefer cocktails so beer/wine only would not save any money because hardly anyone would drink it. Plus there is no science to prove the myth that beer/wine makes guests less drunk than liquor when the opposite is true and it depends on the individual’s alcohol tolerance.