Wedding · quantities, budget, quote
How many bottles of wine for a wedding?
A wedding of 100 people drinks between 110 and 130 bottles depending on how long the drinks reception and the party last. The calculator below does the count by colour, on your figures, and tells you whether you need a wine merchant or a local wine shop.
The calculation, moment by moment
Set for a wedding: a two-hour drinks reception (the vin d'honneur, the drinks after the ceremony), a seated dinner, a three-hour party, 80% adults who drink. Change whatever doesn't match your day. A celebrant-led ceremony on site? The drinks reception lasts an hour longer: celebrant-led ceremony.
What each moment uses
Drinks reception
Two glasses in the first hour, one an hour after that. Half sparkling, the rest white and rosé. Details on the drinks reception page.
Seated meal
Three glasses per person over the meal: a white with the starter, two reds with the main course and the cheese. Dessert does without wine, or goes back to the sparkling.
Party
It drops fast after midnight. Sparkling and rosé, served cold. This is where people over-order the most.
Champagne
Toast only or the whole drinks reception: the calculation changes threefold. Dedicated page: champagne for a wedding.
What wine budget for a wedding?
Allow €17 to €25 per guest for decent to good Bordeaux with champagne at the drinks reception and the party, €12 to €18 without champagne at the party, and €45 and up with classified growths at the meal. The calculator's table gives the three levels for your quantities; the wine budget per person page details the 2026 ranges and what moves them.
Should you bring your own wine or take the venue's?
It depends on the corkage fee. At €5 a bottle, bringing your own wine almost always pays; at €15, only if you are aiming for wines above €20. The corkage calculator gives the exact threshold on your figures.
When should you order the wine for a wedding?
Three months before for tasting and choosing, six weeks before for the firm order, with delivery in the week of the wedding to the venue or to your home. Lead times and charges are on the delivery page. If you are going through a professional, see how we work with wedding planners.
What do you do with the bottles left over?
Drink them. Unopened cases are not taken back, by us or by most wine merchants: that is why the calculator's safety margin is 10% and not 20%. A wedding that ends with two cases of red ends well; a wedding that ends with ten cases has paid €300 too much. If there is a brunch the next day, that is what finishes off the margin: see the day-after wedding brunch.
Mistakes that cost a lot
- Counting children as drinkers. Out of 100 guests, 15 to 25 don't drink. The “share who drink wine” field is there for that.
- Planning as much red for the party as for the meal. After dessert, people drink sparkling, rosé and water. The party red ends up in the garage. The hour-by-hour count is on the open bar page.
- Buying everything at the same level. The wine with the meal gets tasted; the party wine is drunk standing. One notch up for the first, one notch down for the second.
- Forgetting the chilling. 60 bottles of sparkling won't chill in a domestic fridge in two hours. Plan tubs and ice, or a cold room at the caterer's.
Would you rather start from the raw figure? The general calculator does the same calculation with no wedding preset. Ready for a price? Quote request.