Wedding · the seated dinner
Wine for the wedding dinner: one bottle for two, and which one
A dinner for 100 guests drinks 45 to 55 bottles, no more. It is the moment when the wine gets tasted, when it is on the table with its label, and when a step up in quality shows. The calculator below counts only the meal; the drinks reception and the evening party have their own pages.
The calculation for the meal alone
Set for 100 guests, a seated dinner, 80% adults who drink. Three glasses per person over the meal: one white, two red.
Course by course
For 100 guests and 80 drinkers. Orders of magnitude before margin and rounding; the calculator gives the exact figure.
| Course | Glasses / drinker | Bottles | Colour and level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 1 | ≈ 14 | Dry white. It is the glass people notice least: a good white Bordeaux is enough, no need to go higher. |
| Main | 1.5 | ≈ 20 | Red. The glass of the wedding. One notch above the rest of the day: this is where the money shows. |
| Cheese | 0.5 | ≈ 6 | The same red, or a second, slightly older red if the budget allows. The glass stays the same. |
| Dessert | 0 | 0 | No table wine. The sparkling from the drinks reception comes back, or nothing. Red with the wedding cake is the most common mistake. |
Raw total: 40 bottles, or 26 red and 14 white. With the 10% margin and rounding to the case of 6 for each colour, the calculator shows 48: 30 red, 18 white. The “45 to 55” range covers tables that drink more than average.
What level of wine for the wedding dinner?
One notch above the rest of the day. The drinks reception is drunk standing, the evening party is drunk dancing; the dinner is drunk seated, with the label in front of you. A Médoc cru bourgeois or a Saint-Émilion with a few years on it for the main, a decent dry white Bordeaux for the starter: that is where the budget counts. To choose the appellation for each moment, see which Bordeaux for a wedding.
How much does the dinner wine cost for 100 guests?
For 48 bottles, from €400 in decent Bordeaux to €750 at the good level, or €4 to €7.50 per guest. With classified growths for the main, allow around €1,800, €18 per guest. The dinner is where a step up costs least per head, because there are few bottles.
Does the menu change the split?
Yes. A fish main takes white from 35% to 50 or 60%; lamb or beef strengthens the red. The page wedding menu wine pairing gives the appellation course by course and the effect on colour. The calculator starts from 65% red and 35% white: adjust by hand on the quote if your menu differs.
Do you need sparkling at the dinner?
Not at the table. Sparkling has its moment before, at the drinks reception, and possibly after, with the wedding cake. Serving champagne during dinner doubles the bill for a pleasure few people notice. The full calculation for the day, drinks reception and evening party included, is on the page wedding wine.
The dinner mistakes
- One bottle per person. That is the rule for the whole day, not for dinner. At the meal, one for two; three hours at table change nothing.
- The same red everywhere. The evening party's wine ends up in plastic cups. Keep the good red for the table and drop a notch after dessert.
- Opening everything in advance. An open bottle not served is lost; an unopened bottle keeps. Ask the caterer to open table by table; the count is on how many bottles per table.
- Forgetting the temperature. A red served at 22 °C in a heated room seems heavy. Thirty minutes somewhere cool before service, even for a Médoc.
Happy with the dinner quantities? Have them priced: named wines, price per case, reply within 48 working hours.