How Much Alcohol Do I Need for a 100-Guest Wedding?

If you're hosting a BYOB-style wedding bar, the most stressful question is almost always the same: how much do I actually buy? Buy too little and the bar runs dry during dancing. Buy too much and you're hauling cases of warm chardonnay home at midnight. The good news: there's a reliable formula, and once you see it, the guesswork disappears.

The Golden Rule: One Drink Per Guest Per Hour

Every bartender's starting point is the same simple benchmark: plan for one drink per guest, per hour of service. A 100-guest wedding with a 5-hour reception comes out to roughly 500 drinks total.

That number sounds enormous, but remember - it's an average across the whole event. Guests drink more during cocktail hour and dinner, and far less once the dancing and dessert begin. It also bakes in a comfortable cushion, so you won't be cutting it close.

Try the Wedding Drink Calculator

Skip the spreadsheet. Enter your guest count and reception length below for an instant cocktail, beer, and wine estimate built on the exact math in this guide.

The Quick-Reference Drink Count

Here's the total number of drinks to plan for, based on your guest count and length of service:

Guests	4 Hours	5 Hours	6 Hours
50	200 drinks	250 drinks	300 drinks
100	400 drinks	500 drinks	600 drinks
150	600 drinks	750 drinks	900 drinks
200	800 drinks	1,000 drinks	1,200 drinks

Splitting Drinks by Type

Once you know your total drink count, you split it across cocktails, beer, and wine. For a craft-cocktail wedding - where signature drinks are the star - a reliable Spokane ratio is:

• 50% craft cocktails & spirits - your signature drinks and classic pours, the centerpiece of the bar
• 30% beer & seltzer - the easy, all-night crowd-pleaser
• 20% wine - split roughly 60/40 red to white, more white in summer

If your crowd skews toward beer drinkers, shift more into beer and pull back on spirits. If it's a beer-and-wine wedding with no liquor, just split the total 65% beer, 35% wine. We'll tailor the exact split to your guest list when we build your shopping list.

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A Real 100-Guest, 5-Hour Example

Let's turn 500 drinks into an actual shopping list using the cocktail-forward 50/30/20 split:

Category	Drinks Needed	What to Buy
Craft Cocktails & Spirits	250	~16 x 750ml bottles (16 drinks each)
Beer & Seltzer	150	~150 cans/bottles (about 6-7 cases)
Wine	100	~20 bottles (5 drinks per bottle)

That's the whole bar for a 100-guest reception. Notice how manageable it looks once it's broken down - a shelf of liquor for the signature cocktails, a few cases of beer, and a couple cases of wine.

How Many Drinks Does a Bottle Actually Pour?

These are the yields bartenders use to convert "drinks" into "bottles":

• 750ml bottle of liquor - about 16 cocktails (1.5 oz pour)
• 1.75L handle of liquor - about 39 cocktails
• 750ml bottle of wine - about 5 glasses
• Bottle/can of beer or seltzer - 1 drink
• Bottle of champagne - about 6 toast-size pours

Planning a champagne toast for 100 guests? You'll want roughly 17 bottles of sparkling wine for that single moment.

Don't Forget the Non-Alcoholic Side

A great bar takes care of everyone. Plan for non-drinkers, designated drivers, and kids - usually about 20-30% of your total headcount. Stock plenty of soda, sparkling water, juice, and the ingredients for a proper mocktail or two. We include mixers, ice, and garnishes in every package, so the only thing on your list is the alcohol and any specialty sodas you want.

Where to Buy It in Spokane

Once you have your list, the shopping run is quick - most couples knock it out in under 30 minutes. Our go-to Spokane-area stops:

• Costco (Spokane & Spokane Valley) - best prices on beer, wine, and Kirkland spirits if you're a member
• Total Wine & More - huge selection and a generous return policy on unopened bottles
• Fred Meyer & Yoke's - convenient for mixers, seltzer, and last-minute additions

Buy what your list says, keep your receipts, and return anything unopened afterward. That return policy is exactly why the BYOB model saves Spokane couples $2,000–$4,000 - you never pay for a drink no one drinks.

The Bottom Line

For a 100-guest, 5-hour Spokane wedding, plan for about 500 drinks. For a cocktail-forward bar - where signature drinks are the centerpiece - that works out to roughly 16 bottles of spirits for the cocktails, 150 beers and seltzers, and 20 bottles of wine, plus a non-alcoholic spread and a champagne toast if you want one. Round up slightly on beer and wine (they're easy to return), and you'll have a bar that never runs dry.

Want it done without a spreadsheet? That's our favorite part. We'll build the exact list, you do one easy shopping trip, and we handle every pour from cocktail hour to last call. Send us a message or book a quick call below.