A wedding drinks order can look deceptively simple until you try to turn ‘a few whites, a few reds and something sparkling’ into actual bottles. This wedding wine planning example is designed for a 100-guest celebration, with a proper meal, an arrival drink and a toast - enough wine for people to enjoy themselves, without treating every guest as though they will drink the same way.
The useful thing about planning wine is that it need not be exact to the last glass. It does, however, need a clear set of assumptions. Once those are in place, choosing bottles becomes the enjoyable part: finding a crowd-pleasing sparkling wine, whites with freshness and character, and reds that feel generous at the table.
Start with the shape of the day
For this example, assume 100 adult guests at a summer wedding with a drinks reception, a three-course sit-down meal and speeches after the meal. Around 85 guests are expected to drink wine or sparkling wine; the rest may prefer beer, soft drinks, low- or no-alcohol options, or spirits from the bar.
That distinction matters. Buying wine for every single person, at every moment of the day, can leave you with an expensive surplus. On the other hand, planning only for the keenest drinkers can make the table feel mean. A sensible middle ground is to cover the key drinking occasions well, then keep a small reserve for the unexpected extra round or a red that proves more popular than anticipated.
This plan assumes standard 75cl bottles. A bottle usually provides six small 125ml glasses, or five more generous 150ml glasses. Wedding pours tend to sit somewhere between the two, particularly when guests are also offered other drinks.
A wedding wine planning example: the bottle count
Here is a realistic starting point for 100 guests.
| Moment | Wine allowance | Bottles to order |
| --- | --- | ---: |
| Arrival drink | One 125ml glass of sparkling wine for 85 guests | 18 bottles |
| Wedding breakfast | Around half a bottle per wine-drinking guest | 45 bottles |
| Toast | One 125ml glass of sparkling wine for 85 guests | 18 bottles |
| Contingency | Roughly 10% reserve, weighted towards table wine | 8 bottles |
| Total | | 89 bottles |
For the meal wines, split the 45 bottles according to both the menu and your crowd. A good default is 24 bottles of white and 21 bottles of red. If you know your guests are devoted red drinkers, reverse that balance. For a warm-weather wedding, a seafood menu or a daytime reception, 28 white and 17 red may be the better call.
The eight-bottle reserve does not need to be an afterthought. Make it five bottles of the more versatile meal wine, two of the other colour and one extra sparkling wine. This gives the venue flexibility without creating a grab-bag of bottles that do not match the rest of the order.
Choose wines for the food, not just the colour
A wedding meal is rarely the place for highly tannic reds, aggressively oaked whites or bottles that need a long conversation before the first sip. You want wines that are expressive but welcoming - delicious for the confident wine drinker and easy for the guest who simply wants a glass with lunch.
For white, look for styles with bright fruit, freshness and enough texture to handle food. Picpoul, Vermentino, Albariño, dry Chenin Blanc and unoaked or lightly oaked Chardonnay are all worth considering, depending on the menu. A crisp white is especially useful where the starter is fish, the main is chicken, or vegetarian dishes have herbs, lemon, creamy sauces or roasted vegetables.
For red, favour ripe fruit and moderate tannin. Merlot, Côtes du Rhône, Beaujolais, Rioja Crianza, Montepulciano and lighter Syrah blends can work beautifully across a broad wedding menu. A very powerful Cabernet Sauvignon might be perfect for a steak-focused supper, but it can feel heavy at a lunchtime meal and divide opinion around the table.
Sparkling wine does not have to be Champagne to feel celebratory. A well-made Crémant, English sparkling wine, Cava or Prosecco can be a brilliant choice, depending on the style you enjoy and the budget you have set. Taste before deciding. The wine for a toast should be one you are pleased to drink, not merely a prop for photographs.
What this plan might cost
The cost of a wedding wine order depends hugely on the bottle choices, but a worked budget makes the decisions clearer. In this example, imagine choosing sparkling wine at £15 per bottle and meal wines at an average of £12.50 per bottle.
The 36 bottles of sparkling wine would come to £540. The 45 bottles for the meal would come to £562.50. If the eight reserve bottles average £13, that adds £104. Your indicative wine total is therefore around £1,206.50, or just over £12 per guest.
That is not a rule, only a useful benchmark. Spending a little more on the wine served with food and choosing a more modest sparkling wine can make sense if your guests will sit down to a long meal. Equally, if the reception is the big social moment and dinner is informal, you may choose a more characterful fizz and a simpler table wine.
Remember to allow separately for service charges, corkage where applicable, chilling, glassware and any beer, spirits or alcohol-free drinks. These practical costs can alter the overall drinks budget more than moving up a pound or two per bottle.
Adjust the numbers for your guest list
The quickest way to tailor this wedding wine planning example is to change the number of wine drinkers, rather than simply multiplying by total guests. If 120 people are attending but 25 are teenagers, non-drinkers or committed beer drinkers, you may need much less wine than the headline number suggests.
Venue style matters too. A dry, hot August afternoon tends to increase demand for chilled sparkling wine and white. A winter wedding with rich food may see red wine disappear first. If guests are arriving early and the bar is open for several hours before dinner, they will generally drink less wine at the table. If wine is the only alcoholic option during the meal, give yourself a more generous reserve.
It is also worth asking the venue how they serve. Large 175ml pours will empty bottles much faster than modest 125ml pours, and pre-poured glasses for a toast can create waste if people are elsewhere when speeches begin. Clear communication with the catering team is as valuable as another case of wine.
Make the order feel personal
A memorable wedding wine list does not need ten different labels. In fact, three wines for the meal - one white, one red and perhaps a small number of a rosé if it suits the season - is often easier for service and more coherent for guests. Personality can come from the producers, regions and stories behind the bottles rather than from unnecessary choice.
If you have a favourite holiday region, a family connection to a particular grape, or a menu with a strong local influence, use that as a starting point. A tasting with an independent merchant such as Givino can help you compare styles side by side and make confident decisions without turning the process into a revision session.
Leave room for guests who are not drinking wine, too. Good alcohol-free sparkling wine, a thoughtful soft drink and plenty of water are part of generous hosting, not an add-on. Choose bottles you would happily open at home, build in a sensible buffer, and let the wine do what it is there to do: help people relax into a very good day.
