How much alcohol do I need for a wedding?

Separate the guest list into adult drinkers, adult non-drinkers, and children before buying anything. A wedding with 100 names is not a wedding with 100 alcohol drinkers. Drivers, pregnant guests, people who abstain, and children still need appealing drinks, but their demand belongs in water, soft drinks, juices, and alcohol-free choices. Counting them correctly prevents an inflated alcohol order and an undersized non-alcoholic offer.

Use servings as the common unit. One serving may be a 330 ml beer, a 150 ml glass of wine, a sparkling-wine pour, or one mixed drink. Estimate the event’s total purchase servings, then divide them among the categories you will actually serve. Do not calculate a full allowance for beer, another full allowance for wine, and another for cocktails; those categories compete for the same guests.

A two-hour civil reception and a ten-hour celebration need different stock even with the same guest count. Consumption is not perfectly even from hour to hour, so multiplying one aggressive hourly rule through the entire night easily overstates the order. Use the real time during which drinks are served and account for guests who arrive for only part of the event.

Weather changes the balance more than it should change the alcohol total. A hot outdoor wedding needs substantially more water and alcohol-free refreshment, plus more attention to chilling. Food, dancing, service speed, and a self-service bar also affect the practical reserve. Brorano accepts duration, weather, drinking behavior, non-drinkers, children, and service style so these factors are visible instead of hidden in one rule.

Decide whether the bar offers beer and wine, adds sparkling wine, or also includes long drinks and cocktails. A smaller menu concentrates demand and makes purchasing easier. A larger menu spreads the same overall demand across more ingredients and can create open bottles or half-used mixers. Only include a category if it will genuinely be available throughout the relevant service period.

Brorano estimates broad categories rather than named products or cocktail recipes. It can show purchase servings for beer, wine, sparkling wine, long drinks, cocktails, and non-alcoholic drinks. It does not choose a wedding menu, split wine into red and white, or assign drinks to the reception, dinner, and dance floor. Those decisions remain part of your manual wedding plan.

Convert category servings into generic shopping packages only after the mix is stable. Beer becomes bottles or cans, wine and sparkling wine become 750 ml bottles, and mixed drinks require spirit bottles plus mixer volume. Round at package level and keep a sensible reserve where replacement during the wedding would be difficult. Confirm available fridge space, delivery times, storage, and any retailer rules for returning unopened stock.

Review the estimate with the venue, bartender, caterer, or drinks supplier before ordering. They know the glass sizes, pouring method, local package sizes, and service restrictions. Brorano provides a traceable planning range based on your inputs, including in-glass ice and a rough supermarket-level euro range, but it cannot guarantee actual use, current shelf prices, availability, staffing, equipment, or venue charges.