Planning a reception can seem overwhelming at times. There are so many decisions to make. One of the decisions involves deciding if you will serve wine. If you do plan on serving wine, how much do you need? What kind of wine is best for wedding receptions? Here are some tips regarding wine for wedding receptions.
When deciding whether or not to have wine, you may consider your own preferences, the rules for the venue, and what your guests may want. If a reception is held on church property, serving wine may be prohibited. Certain venues don’t allow alcoholic beverages. Some religious families may be offended by serving wine.
If you decide to serve wine, knowing how much wine is needed can impact the couple’s decision on the wine budget and the types of wine to be served. If less wine is needed, couples may be able to serve more expensive wines without breaking the wedding budget. A cheaper wine may be needed if more bottles of wine are necessary. Once you know how many bottles of wine you need, you can figure out what types of wine fit within your budget.
How much wine is needed for wedding receptions? A convenient formula is to take the number of guests and divide that number by 2.15. The answer is the number of bottles of wine that will be needed. In addition to weddings, this general formula works for all kinds of events. A standard wine bottle is 750 ml or 25 ounces. This means that each bottle holds five servings of wine that are five ounces each.
The types of wine that people typically drink is influenced by the season and whether the wedding is indoors or outdoors. Autumn through spring, people tend to drink about 50% red wine with sparkling and white making up the other half. For summer outdoor weddings, people tend to drink much more white wine if the weather is warm. White, red, and sparkling wines are more equally divided for outdoor wedding receptions.
Other things will affect the type of wine that people will want to drink such as the menu choices. If you serve only beef, more people will gravitate towards red wine. If chicken, fish, and seafood are being served, more people may choose white or blush wine. A champagne toast may add drastically to the amount of sparkling wine needed.
The length of the reception will impact the amount of wine consumed. The standard formula is often what caterers use for a wedding reception that is approximately two hours long. If the reception will last significantly longer, you may need to add more wedding reception wine. If you know that many people on your guest list do not drink wine, you can tailor your total accordingly. However, it’s always better to have a bit too much wine rather than coming up short.
More helpful tips to plan a great wedding reception can be found on the Best for Bride blog.
Open bar is the name of the game for our wedding. There will be wine available as well, so that is nice.
This was a question that we had since day one. Pick up the bar tab in an open bar, OR just order a bunch of wine. At least now that we know how to calculate it, we can figure that part into the planning.