How much wine to plan for your wedding?

The Big Day is fast approaching and you are starting to get your wedding preparations in order. Many of you have told us that planning a wedding takes a lot of time! And to save you some, we are offering you a little help with the amount of wine to plan for your wedding. We know you will want to treat your guests like royalty, and to do that, it is best not to get the quantities of wine wrong. We are here to advise you and tell you everything about the amount of wine to plan for, so let's get started!

The basics: the amount of wine to plan for your wedding

The secret to getting ahead is knowing where to start. At Oé, we are friendly and will explain the basics of planning the right amount of wine for your wedding. The main thing is to avoid both extremes. Like Grandma Huguette, who would serve us three helpings of her famous sauerkraut on Sundays and give us leftovers for the whole week. It comes from a very good place, but in the end, you don't know what to do with it all. It is the same for weddings. We understand that it is very reassuring to make sure you have enough wine for all your guests. The trap is to plan a little (or a lot) too much and end up with half the bottles unopened. And even though they always make great gifts for guests or to fill your cellar, when you have to stick to a budget, it is best not to get it wrong!

The reverse is also true: a wedding that runs out of wine and Crémant is no fun. Just take it from those who have experienced it. Like Marie, one of our sales managers, who had this bad experience at her last wedding invitation. A wedding is a celebration, and when you celebrate, whether with fruit juice or Oé wine, you raise a glass. So, you need to know how to hit the mark, Emile. 

How much wine should you plan for the aperitif and dessert?

Let's start at the beginning: the wedding aperitif’. The wedding aperitif is the famous cocktail offered to all guests between the ceremony and the wedding meal. It is the moment when you trade “I do” for “Cheers” and everyone raises their glass to celebrate your union. The wedding aperitif usually lasts between two and three hours, so you need to make sure you have enough to keep your guests happy, in other words, well-fed and well-supplied with drinks. 

For food, hors d'oeuvres and verrines are calculated at around 10 savoury pieces per person per hour and 5 sweet pieces. To accompany it all, champagne and Crémant are the stars of the aperitif, so you should plan the right amount, as they will also be served at the end of the meal with dessert or the wedding cake. A bottle of Crémant serves between 6 and 7 glasses. If you only plan to serve sparkling wine at your wedding aperitif, you can allow one bottle for every 3 guests, or one for every 4 if you are also offering other alcoholic drinks. For dessert, you tend to plan one glass per person, or one bottle for six guests.

BLOCK_PRODUCT:oe-le-cremant

How much red wine and white wine should you plan for the meal?

Wine is the key element of the wedding meal, and it is what you will use to accompany the delicious and tasty dishes on your menu. White wine and rosé are served with the starter. To help you decide on the right quantity, we recommend planning one glass per guest, or one bottle for six guests. If the main course on your menu pairs better with white than with red, we recommend one bottle for every three guests. There is no need to be too generous, white wine is generally drunk less than red wine, which stays on the table longer.

And yes, when it comes to red wine, it is pretty much the same story, so you will need to plan a little more than white wine. There is no need to make a cheese course out of it, though (especially since a good red wine pairs well with it). You can allow one bottle for every two guests and an extra glass to accompany the cheese, which amounts to two bottles for three guests. 

BLOCK_PRODUCT:le-chateauneuf-du-pape-2

How much should you plan for the other drinks?

Champagne and Crémant are generally not the only drinks served at the wedding aperitif. If you want to offer your guests a wider choice of drinks and serve cocktails with spirits, you can plan one bottle of spirits for 14 people and two bottles of fruit juice for every bottle of spirits. If beer is also on the menu, allowing one per person will please those who like a beer. 

Don't forget the soft drinks for guests who will drink little or no alcohol. With one bottle of water per guest and one bottle of fruit juice for every 4 people, you can be sure that everyone will have enough to drink.

Are you starting to get the hang of it? Let's help you see more clearly with this little summary. 

For a wedding of 50 people, you should allow:

• For the wedding aperitif : 17 bottles of Crémant or champagne, 4 to 5 bottles of spirits such as gin and rum and 8 to 10 bottles of non-alcoholic drinks (adjust if more people are attending the wedding aperitif),
• For the starter: 9 bottles of white wine or de rosé wine,
• For the main course: 25 bottles of red wine or 17 bottles of white wine,
• For the cheese course: 9 bottles of red wine or fruity white wine to choose from,
• For the dessert : 9 bottles of Crémant or champagne.

Now, that is all theoretical. In practice, you need to take several factors into account, as every wedding is different. Our team will adapt to all your needs and circumstances to help you make your choice and offer you some advice.

Practical questions for planning the right amount of wine

Who will drink wine?

First, you need to ask yourself a simple question: who will not be drinking wine during the wedding aperitif and the wedding meal? You can start by taking into account children, pregnant women and non-drinkers. Also consider the organization of your wedding. If beds or a shuttle service are provided, the biggest partygoers will stay with you until the end of the night and the most daring will even still be up when you go to bed. On the other hand, people who are driving home will normally limit themselves to two alcoholic drinks. As they say, you have to choose between drinking and driving.

Knowing in advance how many guests will attend the wedding aperitif, how many will stay for the meal and how many people will be staying overnight will help you plan the right number of bottles. And we can take it even further: if you take a little more interest in each guest's profile, you will see that you can divide them into two categories: the “light drinkers” and the “party animals”. A wedding usually brings together all kinds of people, from the funny father-in-law like Christian Clavier in What Have We Done to God to the charming thirty-something like Hugh Grant in Four Weddings and a Funeral to the party animals well-versed in celebrations like Owen Wilson in the film of the same name. In short, a wedding is above all a gathering of people. It is often the 18-40 age group that consumes the most alcohol, and the older you get, the less you drink. Once again, this is just theory; in practice, everyone is different. Uncle Roger, who will gladly take a sip of wine between two jokes, may well prove the statistics wrong. So, to properly anticipate the number of bottles, you need to know your guests well.