How much champagne to buy?

The general rule of thumb is that you should have one case (12 bottles) per 50 people, which allows for 1-2 glasses per person. That's a 4oz glass, though, so if you think your people will be big champagne drinkers, I feel like two cases per 50 people is a better bet. We're going to just have 8-10 bottles at our post-ceremony dinner for about 40 people, but then we'll have 26-28 more waiting at the reception--we're not providing much other alcohol and my sister promised she would handle one bottle by herself. :p

So if your people are lighter drinkers (or there will be a lot of non-champagne options), I'd go with one bottle per table; if they're going to drink more, then two bottles per table.

It all depends on what other beverages will be there and how many people will drink sparkling wine.

There are 5 glasses of wine in each standard (750ml) bottle. If you place two on each table of 8, they will each have one glass, with a bit more left over. But not everyone will get a second glass.

PS....this is just a pet peeve....99% will buy sparkling wine, not Champagne as Champagne only comes from the Champagne region of France and tends to run anywhere from $30-500 a bottle retail....$60-800 on a restaurant/catering list. ;-)

Yeah after i googled it, I got rid of champagne...we will toast to whatever the guess are dribking at the time. I dont drink therefore didnt want to spend that kind of money. The bridal party champagne toast is included.

We are assuming 4 servings per bottle, so 5 for our 20 person wedding. There will be about 2 servings per person by the end however since about 4 of us will not drink it at all, so we are also buying several bottles of sparkling cider. We are serving no other alcoholic beverages though, so we are assuming our guests will want to have larger servings.

Most of the weddings we work don't have champagne at all the tables. It's a nice thing if you can afford it, but it gets expensive fast. If it's a priority for you, do it. If not, be assured that lots of people have the toast with whatever the guests are drinking.

Champagne for the head table is nice both because it just is and because it looks better in photographs.

Jon

Most of your guests are unlikely to make the fine distinction between champagne and sparkling wine--they'll just notice that they're toasting with something fizzy. :-) The sparkling wine that we're using is $10 a bottle, and the liquor distributor we're using gave us 10% for buying by the case, so we're paying $324 plus tax for our three cases.

Sparkling wine is generally poured in slightly smaller servings than non-sparkling; one bottle for a table of 8 is basically just enough for everyone to toast. As Kathy notes, even two bottles won't give everyone at the table two full glasses. So the big question is still how much you think people will want to drink overall, and what other alcohol will be provided.

I have to meet with my friend the bartender and see what and how much liquor we need to buy on top of the 8 kegs we will be having!

Here are two links to calcuate the amount of estimated champagne you may need:

http://www.thegreenbrideguide.com/page/beverage-calculator

http://www.coolspringswines.com/event-planning/

Hope this helps!

Eight kegs! You have beer fans attending! ;-)

Oooh, helpful link! Thanks, idowedd!