How Much Alcohol for a 100-Guest Wedding
One hundred guests is the most common wedding size in the US, and it's a clean number to buy for. Here's the exact shopping list, bottle by bottle, for a 4-hour open bar, plus the yield math behind every figure and an estimate of what it costs per guest.
For 100 guests over a 4-hour reception, plan for 400 drinks, then add 20 percent to get 480. At a wine-leaning mix that's about 48 bottles of wine (4 cases), 5 cases of beer, and 6 liters of liquor, plus mixers, 150 pounds of ice, and 300 cups. Two bartenders cover the night.
The full shopping list for 100 guests
This is a 4-hour open bar at the wine-leaning default of 25 percent beer, 50 percent wine, and 25 percent liquor, with a 20 percent overage buffer already built in. Every quantity rounds up, because running dry is worse than a few unopened bottles you can return.
| Item | How much | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Wine | 48 bottles | 4 cases (12 per case); split roughly half red, half white |
| Beer | 120 beers | 5 cases of 24, or about 1 half-barrel keg |
| Liquor | 6 liters | 1-liter bottles; about 22 cocktails each at a 1.5 ounce pour |
| Mixers | 34 quarts each | Cola, club soda or tonic, and ginger ale |
| Ice | 150 lbs | Double it for a hot, outdoor bar |
| Cups | 300 | 3 per guest across the night |
| Champagne (optional toast) | 17 bottles | One flute per guest, 6 flutes per bottle |
| Bartenders | 2 | About 1 per 75 guests |
| Bartender tip | $100 to $200 | Cash at the end of the night, if not already in the contract |
How we got these numbers
Nothing here is a guess. The list is generated by the same engine as our wedding alcohol calculator, and every conversion is a published yield you can check yourself:
- 1 drink per guest per hour. That's the standard rule from The Knot and Zola. For 100 guests over 4 hours: 100 × 4 = 400 drinks.
- A 20 percent buffer on top. 400 × 1.2 = 480 drinks to actually buy. The common outside guidance is a 10 to 15 percent cushion; we sit at the top of that range because most stores take back unopened bottles, so over-buying is low-risk.
- 5 pours per 750ml wine bottle (12 bottles per case). Wine is 50 percent of the pour, so 240 wine drinks ÷ 5 = 48 bottles.
- 24 beers per case, and about 165 twelve-ounce servings per half-barrel keg. Beer is 25 percent of the pour, or 120 beers.
- 22 cocktails per liter of spirits at a 1.5 ounce pour. Liquor is 25 percent of the pour, so 120 liquor drinks ÷ 22 = 6 liters.
- 1.5 pounds of ice and 3 cups per guest, plus about a quart of each mixer per 3 guests.
Change any assumption and the list moves. A heavier 1.75 ounce liquor pour drops a liter to closer to 19 drinks, so round the spirits up if your bartender pours generously.
What a 100-guest bar costs
The list above sizes the bar; it doesn't price it. As an editorial estimate, the alcohol and mixers alone run about $8 to $12 per guest at typical US retail prices, which is roughly $828 to $1,238 for the whole 100-guest order. That figure is our own construct, built from the exact bottle counts above times common retail price bands (wine around $12 to $18 a bottle, beer $24 to $34 a case, liquor $22 to $34 a liter). It is not a quote, and it excludes labor.
Two things push the real number higher. Bartender labor typically runs $35 to $75 an hour with a multi-hour minimum, so two bartenders for a 4-to-5-hour reception is a meaningful line on its own, plus the $100 to $200 tip. And if a venue or caterer supplies and pours everything through a bar package, you're paying for convenience and markup, which lands well above the DIY retail range. For where your own market falls, see our cost-by-state and cost-by-city pages and the wedding bartender cost guide.
This assumes a 4-hour reception
The list is sized for a bar that's open 4 hours, the typical reception length. Stretch to 5 hours and the baseline climbs to 500 drinks before the buffer, so add roughly a quarter more of everything. Treat one drink per hour as an average, not a ceiling: the first hour always runs heavy as everyone gets a drink at once, and the flat rule bakes that opening surge into the night's average.
Count drinking-age guests, not your full headcount. If a chunk of your 100 are kids or non-drinkers, buy for the number who'll actually visit the bar. On the flip side, a crowd that drinks hard can push toward two drinks in that first hour, so nudge the mix or hours up if you know your people.
Adjust the mix to match your crowd
The 25/50/25 wine-leaning split is a safe default for a mixed guest list, but it's not the only option. A cocktail-forward crowd runs closer to 25 percent beer, 25 percent wine, and 50 percent liquor, which shifts bottles toward spirits. A craft-beer crowd leans beer-forward at 40/30/30. Skipping spirits entirely to keep it simple? A beer-and-wine-only bar goes wine-heavy at 40/60 and drops the liquor, mixers, and a chunk of the labor. Use the calculator below to re-run any of these against 100 guests in one click.
One thing the list deliberately leaves out: signature cocktails. If you're batching a his-and-hers drink, plan that as a separate recipe on top of the base bar rather than folding it into these numbers, since a batched cocktail draws down your spirits and mixers faster than the flat math assumes.
Run your own 100-guest numbers
The calculator below is pre-filled for 100 guests over 4 hours. Change the hours, the mix, or add a champagne toast, and the whole list rebuilds instantly.
Build your bar shopping list
Count drinking-age guests, from 1 to 1,000.
Reception length. Defaults to 4.
How your crowd drinks. Wine-leaning classic is the safe default for a mixed guest list.
Enter your split. If it doesn't add up to 100, we normalize it for you and show the result.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much alcohol do I need for 100 guests?
For a 4-hour open bar, 100 guests come to 400 drinks, and a 20 percent buffer rounds that up to 480 to buy. At the wine-leaning 25/50/25 mix that is about 48 bottles of wine (4 cases), 5 cases of beer, and 6 liters of liquor, plus mixers, 150 pounds of ice, and 300 cups. Two bartenders cover it.
How many bottles of wine for 100 guests?
Plan on about 48 bottles of wine, which is 4 full cases, if wine is half your bar. That assumes 5 glasses per 750ml bottle and the wine-leaning default where wine is 50 percent of the pour. Split it roughly half red and half white, and lean white for a summer or daytime wedding.
How many kegs of beer for 100 guests?
At the 25 percent beer share, 100 guests need about 120 beers, which is 5 cases or roughly 1 half-barrel keg (a half-barrel pours about 165 twelve-ounce servings). A keg is cheaper per beer and cuts down on cans, but only makes sense if your crowd actually drinks that much beer.
How much does a bar for 100 guests cost?
As an editorial estimate, the alcohol and mixers alone run about $8 to $12 per guest at typical US retail prices for a DIY hosted bar, so roughly $828 to $1,238 for 100 guests. Add a hired bartending team and tip and the all-in figure climbs. Prices swing hard by region, so treat this as a planning range, not a quote.
Last updated: . Quantities are editorial planning figures generated from published serving yields; cost ranges are editorial estimates.