How to Buy Your Own Alcohol for a Wedding

Co-authored by Leah Weinberg

Last Updated: February 22, 2021 References

Buying alcohol for a party is one thing, buying enough alcohol for a wedding party is another. Buying your own alcohol for a wedding can seem like a daunting task, but you can make it easier on yourself with proper planning. You know your guests best, and you can calculate how much and what type of alcohol you need to buy to last for the entire reception.^{[1]
X
Expert Source

Leah Weinberg
Professional Event Planner
Expert Interview. 5 July 2019.}

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Planning the Reception

1
Count the number of guests that will attend your reception. You will need an accurate head count to calculate how much alcohol you’ll need at your wedding reception. Don’t use a rough estimate or you could wind up without enough booze to last the whole reception.^{[2]
X
Research source}

Tip: In your wedding invitations, have your guests RSVP so you know who will attend your reception. You could even include a checkbox that indicates whether or not they plan to drink.
2
Decide how long your wedding reception will be. You can assume that your guests will have 2 drinks per person in the first hour of your wedding reception, and 1 additional drink for each following hour, so choosing the length of your reception will help you figure out how much alcohol you need to buy.^{[3]
X
Research source}
- Put a start and end time for the reception so people don’t arrive early or linger late.
- A good rule of thumb for a standard 5-hour wedding reception is to calculate 6 drinks total per person.
Advertisement
3
Choose a date and time to influence what people will drink. The day of the week and the time of the reception will inform what type of alcohol people will likely drink, and how much they’ll drink. People will drink differently for a daytime wedding on a Sunday than they will for a wedding reception on a Friday night.^{[4]
X
Research source}
- For daytime weddings, people tend to drink more wine and beer than liquor.
- People drink more liquor and beer for nighttime receptions, especially on a Friday or Saturday.
4
Select the alcohol based on your wedding environment.^{[5]
X
Expert Source

Leah Weinberg
Professional Event Planner
Expert Interview. 5 July 2019.} The location of your wedding reception will also influence what types of alcohol you should serve. If your reception is being held at an event hall that you rented out, people are more likely to drink liquor. If you hold your reception at an antique or a destination wedding, people will drink more champagne and wine.^{[6]
X
Research source}
5
Decide if you want an open bar or a limited bar. An open bar is the more expensive option and means that your guests can order any drink at the bar, at no cost to them.^{[7]
X
Expert Source

Leah Weinberg
Professional Event Planner
Expert Interview. 5 July 2019.} A limited bar offers a set selection of drinks and serves drinks during set windows to limit costs.^{[8]
X
Research source}
- If you choose a limited bar, consider having waiters serve the drinks to control the amount of alcohol being distributed.
6
Consult and hire a bartender to serve your guests. A professional bartender can provide helpful insight into how much alcohol you need to buy for your wedding. If you hire a professional, they will serve a measured amount each time they make a drink, which means your calculations will be more accurate.^{[9]
X
Research source}
- If you allow guests to pour their own drinks or hire an amateur to serve your guests, then they are much more likely to overserve.
- Bartenders will often require a liquor license to sell alcohol. Search online for a bartending service company to hire a bartender near you.
- Your wedding venue may provide bartenders for an additional fee.

Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Calculating the Alcohol

1
Consider the drinking tendencies of your guests. You should calculate the alcohol you plan to buy based on what your guests are more likely to drink. If your guests are more of a beer and wine crowd, then you can purchase a larger portion of beer and wine and save costs by purchasing less liquor.^{[10]
X
Research source}
- Asking your guests what they plan to drink when they RSVP can be considered tacky, but you could ask them what they plan to drink with their meal to get an idea of what they’ll be drinking.
2
Decide what types of alcohol you will serve. A general rule for wedding receptions is to have the alcohol you purchase consist of a ratio of 50% wine, 30% beer, and 20% liquor. But if you believe that your guests are more likely to drink beer or liquor, you need to adjust the ratio to suit your needs.^{[11]
X
Research source}
- You could also just decide what types of alcohol you want to be served. After all, it is your wedding!
3
Set a spending budget for alcohol.^{[12]
X
Expert Source

Leah Weinberg
Professional Event Planner
Expert Interview. 5 July 2019.} The easiest way to keep from spending too much on alcohol for your wedding is to set a budget that you won’t exceed. An open bar can often account for 10-20% of the total wedding budget.^{[13]
X
Research source}
- You can assume that 1 drink will cost you about $5. Multiply that by the number of guests and the number of drinks each guest may drink to get a budget.
4
Review established averages for serving alcohol to guests. When you’re calculating how much of each type of alcohol you need to buy for your wedding, you can consider what event planners recommend is the right amount to keep on hand per hour of your reception.^{[14]
X
Research source}
- For every 25 guests, you will need 17 bottles of beer, 4 bottles of wine, and 1 bottle of liquor.
- For every 50 guests, you will need 34 bottles of beer, 7 bottles of wine, and 2 bottles of liquor.
- For every 100 guests, you will need 67 bottles of beer, 14 bottles of wine, and 4 bottles of liquor.
5
Use an alcohol calculator to find out how much you need to get. An easy solution to calculating how much alcohol you need to buy for your wedding is to use an online alcohol calculator or an alcohol calculating application on your smartphone or tablet. You can select how many people will attend, what types of alcohol you plan to serve, and how much you want to spend.^{[15]
X
Research source}

Tip: An easy to use online wedding alcohol calculator is: http://www.thealcoholcalculator.com/. There are also apps like Alcohol Calculator + and Alcohol Units Calculator you can download to your smartphone or tablet.

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Purchasing the Right Amount

1
Locate potential distributors near you and inquire about pricing. Look online or ask your wedding reception venue if they recommend any local alcohol distributors. Call the distributor and ask them about their prices. If there are multiple distributors in the area, compare their prices to find the best deal.^{[16]
X
Research source}
- Ask the distributors if they give discounts for bulk purchases.
- See if the distributor needs to coordinate with your wedding venue or if you need to have a license in order to place bulk orders.
- Distributors often carry certain brands or product lines, so be sure to pick one that has the alcohol that you want to serve.
2
Ask your wedding venue if they can refrigerate your alcohol. Some of your drinks, like beer and champagne, needs to stay cold until they’re served. Check with your venue to see if they can provide cold storage for your alcohol that needs to be kept cold.^{[17]
X
Research source}
- If you’re not using a venue that can provide cold storage, make arrangements to keep your drinks cold with ice chests and ice.
3
Place an order and schedule a pick-up time the day before your wedding. When you’ve found the best distributor for your alcohol purchase, place an order and schedule a pick-up time a day before your wedding to allow for proper delivery and setup.^{[18]
X
Research source}
- Contact the distributor a day or so before you pick up the order to make sure it’ll be ready.
4
Deliver the alcohol to the venue and store it until the reception begins. Once your alcohol order has been picked up, deliver it to the venue and set it up so the bartenders will know where to access it. Keep it in a location that isn’t easily accessible for the wedding guests, or for children who may be at your wedding.^{[19]
X
Research source}
- Ask a friend or family member to pick-up and deliver your alcohol so you can focus on your last-minute wedding details.
Tip: Ask the distributor if they’ll deliver directly to your wedding venue to save on time.

Expert Q&A

Question

Is it cheaper to supply your own alcohol for a wedding?

Leah Weinberg
Professional Event Planner
Leah Weinberg is the Owner & Creative Director of Color Pop Events — a New York City-based wedding planning company that focuses on the details and lives in the logistics. Now in her 6th year of running Color Pop, Leah’s colorful work and party planning tips have been published online and in print with Vogue, Bravo, Thrive Global, Glamour, Marie Claire, Martha Stewart Weddings, Martha Stewart Living, The Knot, Buzzfeed and more. Leah is also the author of the newly-published book, The Wedding Roller Coaster.

Leah Weinberg

Professional Event Planner

Expert Answer

Caterers generally have different packages when it comes to alcohol, and some allow you to provide the alcohol yourself, which can lead to significant savings. Alcohol can be tricky to budget for with a wedding because venues and caterers are all different and charge differently. Some venues require that they handle the bar, which means you’ll need to know those costs before committing to a venue.
Question

What age does someone need to be to sell tickets for the purpose of alcohol consumption?

Tom De Backer

Top Answerer

If, for example, you're asking your 17-year-old niece to sit at a table where people buy tickets, that's perfectly fine, if it's a private event. At a public event you enter into an employer-employee relationship, which is of course well regulated, so follow the law in that case. Beyond that, anyone you trust to manage the sale of tickets at a private event, can do so.

Warnings

Check local alcohol licensing laws when you’re planning your wedding. You may need to get a license or use a licensed venue to serve alcohol at your wedding.

⧼thumbs_response⧽
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0