How many bottles of wine do I need per person?

A common catering rule is one bottle per two guests for a two-hour meal (roughly half a bottle or 2.5 glasses each). For a longer reception of four or more hours, plan for one bottle per guest. This calculator lets you dial in the exact duration and drinking pace so the figure is tailored to your event rather than a rough guess.

How is the bottle count calculated?

The formula is: Total glasses = guests × hours × glasses-per-hour. That figure is multiplied by your safety buffer (default 10%), then divided by 5 — because a standard 750 ml bottle yields five 150 ml pours. The result is rounded up so you always have a whole bottle rather than a partial one.

What is a standard wine pour at an event?

The industry standard for catered events and restaurants is 150 ml (5 fl oz) per pour. A 750 ml bottle therefore yields exactly 5 glasses. At a self-serve party guests may pour more generously, which is why the consumption-rate slider and safety buffer exist.

What is the recommended red, white and sparkling split?

A typical UK wedding uses roughly 50% red, 30% white and 20% sparkling. A summer garden party skews toward white and sparkling; a winter dinner skews toward red. The calculator defaults to a wedding-style split but you can adjust it freely — sparkling recalculates automatically so the total always stays at 100%.

Should I add a safety buffer?

Yes. Running out of wine mid-event is far worse than having a few bottles left over (which can be returned to most retailers if unopened). A 10% buffer adds roughly one extra bottle per case and is the minimum recommended for any hosted event; push it to 20% for large weddings or events where resupply is impractical.

How many bottles are in a case of wine?

A standard case holds 12 bottles of 750 ml wine, totalling 9 litres. Buying by the case is almost always cheaper per bottle and easier to transport. The calculator shows the number of full cases plus any loose bottles left over so you can plan your order precisely.

Wine Bottles Per Guest Calculator

Planning the drinks for a party, wedding or corporate dinner starts with one question: how many bottles of wine do I need? Get it wrong in either direction — too few and you run dry; too many and you overspend. This calculator uses the same formula that professional caterers and sommeliers rely on, adapted for any event size from a six-person supper club to a 500-guest marquee wedding.

How it works

A standard 750 ml bottle of wine yields five 150 ml pours — the recognised restaurant and events-catering measure. From that baseline, the formula is:

Total glasses = guests × hours × glasses per guest per hour

Total bottles = ⌈(Total glasses × buffer) ÷ 5⌉

The ceiling function (⌈ ⌉) rounds up to the nearest whole bottle so you never end up with a fraction. The safety buffer — set to 10% by default — multiplies the raw glass count before dividing, adding a cushion of extra bottles in case guests drink a little more than expected or a bottle is accidentally knocked over.

Once the total bottle count is established, it is split across red, white and sparkling according to the percentages you set. Each category is also rounded up individually, which is why the split totals may slightly exceed the headline figure — a minor over-order that practically eliminates the risk of running short on any one variety.

The tool also converts the result into cases of 12 (the standard trade unit, relevant for orders from wine merchants and wholesalers) and, if you enter a price per bottle, gives a total cost estimate for your drinks budget.

Worked example

A wedding reception for 80 guests running for 4 hours with a moderate consumption rate of 1 glass per guest per hour:

Total glasses = 80 × 4 × 1.0 = 320 glasses
With 10% buffer = 320 × 1.10 = 352 glasses
Bottles = ⌈352 ÷ 5⌉ = 71 bottles
At a 50/30/20 red-white-sparkling split: 36 red · 22 white · 15 sparkling
Cases needed: 6 full cases + 11 loose bottles

At £12 per bottle the estimated spend comes to £852 — a realistic mid-range budget for wine at a UK wedding.

Guests	Duration	Rate	Bottles (10% buffer)
10	2 h	1.5	7
30	3 h	1.5	30
80	4 h	1.0	71
150	5 h	1.25	207

Formula note

The 5 pours per bottle assumption uses a 150 ml standard pour. Self-serve buffets and garden parties often see guests pour 175–200 ml (closer to 4 pours per bottle), which is why the consumption-rate slider matters more than it might appear. If your event is self-serve, consider bumping the rate to 1.75–2 glasses per guest per hour and setting the buffer to 15–20%. Every calculation runs entirely in your browser — no data is uploaded or stored anywhere.