Wedding alcohol calculator
Guests, bar hours, and how hard your crowd goes - out comes a wine, beer, and spirits shopping list with an honest CAD budget range grounded in Canadian store prices.
≈ 540 drinks · 90 drinking guests · 5h bar
- Wine54 bottles (750 ml)
split roughly half red, half white - 5 glasses per bottle
- Beer162 beers (7 × 24-packs)
mix a domestic, a light, and one local option
- Spirits7 bottles (750 ml)
vodka, gin, rum, whisky + mixers, ice, and garnish
- Sparkling toast17 bottles
6 flutes per bottle - cava or prosecco pours the same
Buy 10–15% extra - most provincial liquor stores (LCBO included) refund unopened bottles with a receipt, so over-buying the safe picks costs nothing. Check your venue's corkage policy before you shop.
This math is only as good as your headcount. A 20-guest miss swings the bill by hundreds of dollars - collect real RSVPs free with GetJoyBox e-invites, meal choices and household replies included. Planner apps charge US$99 for that.
Not sure how many will actually come? Estimate your turnout first.
How the math works
The standard catering pacing rule plus documented serving sizes - a shopping list you edit, not an order form.
Pacing: 2 drinks the first hour, 1 per hour after
The same rule LCBO's party planner and professional caterers use. A light crowd runs about 25% under that pace, a heavy open-bar crowd about 30% over - that's the whole "drinking level" adjustment, documented and conservative.
The full-bar split: 50% wine · 30% beer · 20% spirits
The classic planner rule of thumb for what actually gets ordered at a mixed-crowd wedding. Servings are standard: 5 glasses per wine bottle, one 341 ml beer per serving, and about 17 mixed drinks from a 750 ml spirits bottle.
Prices: LCBO / BC Liquor shelf ranges, August 2026
Crowd-pleaser event wine at $14–22, domestic beer at $2.25–3.00 a can, mid-shelf spirits at $28–40, cava or prosecco for toasts at $16–25 - plus a mixers, ice, and garnish allowance on every spirits drink. Big-city venue corkage and premium labels land higher; the range is the honest store-run number.
Every crowd is different - treat the output as a grounded starting point and check your venue's bar and corkage rules first. The bar is one line of the bigger picture: our wedding budget calculator puts it beside venue, photography, and the buffer line everyone skips.
Wedding alcohol FAQ
How much alcohol do we need for a 100-guest wedding?
For a typical 5-hour reception with an average-drinking crowd (about 10% non-drinkers), plan on roughly 54 bottles of wine, 162 beers (7 24-packs), and 7 bottles of spirits - about 540 drinks in total. At Canadian store prices that's roughly $1,670–$2,514 CAD before a champagne toast is trimmed or a signature cocktail is added.
How many bottles of wine per wedding guest?
About half the drinks at a typical wedding are wine, and a 750 ml bottle pours 5 glasses - so over a 5-hour reception plan on roughly one bottle for every two drinking guests. Split it close to half red, half white, and shift toward white and rosé for summer weddings.
How much champagne do we need for a toast?
Toast pours are small, so a sparkling bottle fills about 6 flutes - one bottle per 6 guests. For 100 guests that's 17 bottles, and cava or prosecco pours exactly the same as champagne at a third of the price. Many couples skip the dedicated pour and let guests toast with what they're already holding.
Can we return unused wedding alcohol in Canada?
Usually yes - LCBO, BC Liquor, and most provincial retailers refund unopened, resaleable bottles with a receipt. That's why the smart move is buying 10–15% over the estimate: running out mid-reception is a disaster, while a surplus of unopened bottles is a free return trip.
Is this wedding alcohol calculator really free?
Yes - free with no signup, like every GetJoyBox tool. The drink math is only as accurate as your headcount, so the natural next step is collecting real RSVPs: a free GetJoyBox account includes e-invites with RSVP tracking, meal choices, and household replies - features guest-management apps charge US$99 for.
Your drink math is only as good as your headcount
Collect real RSVPs free with GetJoyBox e-invites - meal choices, household replies, and a live guest count that feeds your bar run, seating chart, and budget. Guest management apps charge US$99 for this. Here it's free, forever.
Shopping lists for common wedding sizes