Catering Quantity Sheet
Take these numbers to your caterer and your venue. Counts are yours to work out; grams per portion are theirs.
BFCBrilliance · bfcbrilliance.com/tools/wedding-catering-quantity-calculator
The event
- Event and date
- Venue
- Confirmed guests
- Spare %
- PORTIONS TO ORDER
- Separate-menu portions
- Standard portions
- Bar hours
- DRINKS TO ALLOW FOR
- Pour size
- GLASSES PER BOTTLE
- BOTTLES TO BUY
The arithmetic
- Drinks per guest
- first hour + (hours − 1) x later rate
- Total drinks
- guests x drinks per guest
- Glasses per bottle
- bottle size ÷ pour size
- Bottles
- total drinks ÷ glasses per bottle, ROUNDED UP
- Portions
- guests x (1 + spare %), ROUNDED UP
- 750 ml at 125 ml
- 6 glasses
- 750 ml at 150 ml
- 5 glasses
- 750 ml at 175 ml
- 4.29 glasses
- ⚠ Pour size
- decide it — do not discover it
Drinks by type
| Type | Share of drinks | Drinks | Bottles | Ordered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Before you order anything
- Guest number is CONFIRMED attendees, not invitations
- Dietary requirements taken from real RSVPs
- Allergies asked about separately from preferences
- Venue's corkage rules checked
- Whether you may supply your own alcohol at all
- Licensing hours confirmed against your bar hours
- Pour size agreed with whoever is serving
- Return arrangement agreed for unopened cases
- Non-alcoholic options counted in the drinks total
- Ice, glassware and fridge space accounted for separately
The pour size decides the bottle count
750 ml is five glasses at 150 ml and 4.29 at 175 ml. Across 900 drinks that is 180 bottles against 210 - thirty bottles' difference from a decision nobody made consciously. Agree the pour with whoever is serving, and know that free-pouring runs generous almost everywhere.
Food spares and drink spares are different
Catered portions are made and paid for whatever happens; unopened bottles can usually be returned or kept. So be more generous with food spares than feels comfortable, and buy drinks by the case with a return arrangement. That asymmetry is why the spare allowance here applies to portions only.