When it comes to planning your wedding, there are many important decisions to be made, and one of them is figuring out how much alcohol to purchase for your guests. To help you with this task, we have Sophie Hamilton from The Bedford Bar to share her expertise on “How Much Booze to Buy For Your Wedding!” for The Planning Issue. So sit back, grab a drink (or not!), and let’s get planning!

Image: Blue Sky Photography of The Bedford Bar

Someone once told me, the three most stressful occasions in one’s life are having a baby, moving house, and getting married. Let’s just let that sink in. Finding wedding planning stressful? Oh, you’re so not alone! There’s a lot to think about when it comes to weddings-dresses to choose from, menus to plan, and favours to buy. All of these things are lovely and will make your day so beautiful and unique. But your wedding day is also the time to party and celebrate with all your loved ones and friends, and for that, I find a few carefully selected beverages usually help!  I’ll admit, I am a little biased, running a mobile bar that specialises in weddings is my actual job so beverages are often on my mind.

Image: Ryal Sormaz

In my opinion, there is literally no easier way to kill an awesome party than by running out of booze and when I discuss quantities with my clients, their primary concern is always ‘not running out’.  This is even more crucial if you’re celebrating your big day in a more rural location where running to the bottle shop just isn’t even an option.

Fortunately, I have some tricks up my sleeve to help you estimate how much to buy, and ensure your friends can dance the night away with a full glass.  So listen up friends, we’re going to do a quick bit of maths and create the most memorable party your guests have ever seen!

Grab a pen and paper (maybe a coffee too), and let’s dig in!

Header Image & This Image: The Raw Photographer of The Bedford Bar

A couple of questions to start:

1) How many guests are you expecting on the big day?
2) How many hours will the bar be open?  From first drink to last call.

On average, most wedding guests will have 2 drinks in the first hour and one every hour after. If you’re thinking ‘That’s not right, my mates drink double that!’ just think about your elderly aunt or grandma, pregnant mums, or that poor mate that got suckered into driving. They’d be under the table or well over the limit with that many drinks so it all evens out eventually.

So take your number of guests and multiply it by the number of hours your bar will be open.  Now add in one extra drink per guest (or two if they’re really big drinkers!) and that’s the total number of serves you’ll have to buy. Sounds like a lot huh?

Write down the total number of serves, you’re gonna need it next.

At your average wedding in my neck of the woods, 35% of guests will drink wine and sparkling, 35% beer, and about 30% spirits but you can work this out depending on your mates – at our wedding, more people drank spirits than wine and beer. Clearly, we have alcoholic friends… If you’re not including spirits, then split that 30% with half going to beer and half to wine.

Next, we’re going to take that total number of serves and work out how many are wine, beer, and spirits, dividing your total number of serves by the relevant percentage for each of the drink types.

Image: The Raw Photographer of The Bedford Bar

So you’ve worked out how many servings of each type of booze you’ll need. Now we’ll work out how many bottles you’ll need. Each bottle of wine (4 serves in a bottle), bubbles (8 serves), and bottles of beer are usually individual of course, and spirits (18 serves in a 700ml bottle).

Finally divide the number of serves of each type of drink required by the number of serves in each bottle! Done.

Head reeling?  I don’t blame you.  There is absolutely a science to buying wedding alcohol, one with a few variables so while the above is a great guide, there are a couple of other things you could consider.

Images: Love by Shae

Check the weather forecast frequently and thoroughly. People will drink more red on a cool evening, more beer and more cocktails on a hot day and less at a lunchtime wedding than they would in the evening. They’ll also drink more on a Saturday than any other day so be warned.  Weddings held on Public Holiday weekends are the thirstiest of all.

Trying to work out how much red vs white to buy?  This is seasonal.  Summer weddings require more white or rose.  Winter weddings obviously go heavier on the red wine.  If you are not a wine drinker or have no idea at all – a 30/30/30 split, sparkling/white or rose/red should get you there.

If your maths leaving you staring down the barrel of 30 cartons of beer (and let me tell you, transporting those is no mean feat!) getting a couple of kegs may be the cheapest way of getting a large volume of beer. Your local brewery might be able to provide the refrigeration set up or there are a couple of mobile bars around (such as ourselves) that do it. It tastes so much better, is cheaper than stubbies, creates a lot less waste and you’re supporting your local beer fanatics too – winning!

If in doubt buy a bit extra, many bottle shops including the big names will do a sale or return on unopened alcohol if it’s for a wedding so you don’t end up with 48 bottles of white wine left. Before buying for your wedding, make sure you ask the question as some stores have stipulations on their returns policies.  Or could just invite everyone over and have a mad party to drink it all, up to you.

Image: Hannah Kate Photography

Buying booze for a wedding is a bit of a minefield. Planners and caterers have been there, done that, and had the white wine left over after too so ask them and they should be able to point you in the right direction or suggest how much to buy!  All sounding waaaaay too difficult?  Mobile Bars like my own (The Bedford Bar) are all over the country – this is literally what we do, we love it and we can help you take the easy route to an incredible party – one which doesn’t run out of beer.

Images: Blue Sky Photography of The Bedford Bar

About Bedford Bar: Started by a couple of lovebirds looking for that “special something” to have at their own wedding. The Bedford Bar is an innovative solution to your wedding drinks dilemma, operating throughout Far North Queensland. Based in Cairns the Bedford Bar provides bar services with an old-school charm to any event, big or small. Frequently travelling to Port Douglas, Mossman, Mission Beach, and throughout the Atherton Tablelands. The stars of The Bedford Bar show are, of course, our 1950’s Bedford trucks. Transported all the way from Melbourne and Perth and lovingly restored by the team, these beauties retain so many original features and are resplendent in a vintage industrial style including reclaimed silky oak and luxurious details, which will compliment any wedding or party!