How Much Wine to Serve at a Wedding? And Which Wines?

If you’re planning a wedding and don’t want to be stuck with your venue’s over-priced wine options, then look no further. Helping out with wedding wines is something that comes naturally to us, so we’ve put together this blog post to answer questions all about how much wine to serve at a wedding, and which wines to serve too.

In this blog post we’ll answer the following questions:

• How much wine should you serve at a wedding per guest? Ie how many glasses per guest to serve at a wedding?
• Which wines should you serve at a wedding? Is red or white best?
• Other tips for choosing your wedding wines

How much wine to serve at a wedding?

One of the first things people ask is how many glasses or bottles of wine they’ll need per person for their weddings. Keep in mind that weddings tend to go on a long time, so this is what we typically recommend:

• 1-2 glasses of fizz/sparkling wine per person for arrival and toast. Each bottle of sparkling wine contains 6 glasses of sparkling wine, so an easy way to calculate how many bottles of sparkling wine you need would be to take your number of guests and divide by 3. So, if you’re going to have 60 guests, you would need 20 bottles of sparkling wine for the arrival/toast.
• For the wedding meal: we typically recommend serving ½ to ¾ of a bottle of wine per person. It may sound like a lot, but weddings tend to last for a long time and people also tend to enjoy free wine in any setting. You can also always keep any unopened bottles for later on too. So, for a wedding with 60 people, that would equate to 30-45 bottles of wine total.

Which wines to serve at a wedding?

The question of which wines to serve at a wedding is also a question many planning a wedding have.

• Red versus white wines: we typically recommend a 50/50 split for reds and whites, but it also depends on the time of year and what food you are having too. If your wedding is in a colder month that falls in spring, autumn or winter, you might be better off going with a 60% red and 40% white breakdown. Red wines also tend to work better with red hearty meats, like beef, pork or duck. If your wedding is going to be in the summer, a 60% white and 40% red is likely a better split. White wines are a better fit for fish and chicken courses.
• Which red wines to serve at a wedding? Something easy, soft and fruity for general appeal is what you should go for, and nothing too high in alcohol, so 13.5% tops or below. Merlot, Garnacha or Grenache, new world Pinot Noir, young Tempranillo, Beaujolais or other medium-light bodied reds are all great choices.
• Which white wines to serve at a wedding? For whites, we typically recommend whites that are fresh and fruity without too much acidity. Think Sauvignon Blanc, fresher Chardonnays, Gruner Veltliner, Picpoul (especially if you’re having seafood), Viognier, a quality Pinot Grigio or Soave.
• What about the sparkling wine for arrival and toast? This typically depends on your budget of course, as we all know that premium sparkling wines like Champagne are going to cost more. Prosecco is another choice, and some folk actually prefer it – and it can also be a good aperitif or starter wine and quite reasonable with food too if it comes to it. Other more budget-friendly sparkling wine options include Cava style wines or Cremants.
• Don’t forget about rosé: Rosé brings the fruitiness from red wines and, as it’s served chilled, the refreshing character of a chilled white. This means rosé can be an incredibly versatile food pairing wine too.
• We recommend choosing organic wines for your wedding too, as they’re a better choice for the planet and made with so much passion and care too. All of the wines we stock are indeed 100% certified organic.
• One other thing to consider is that weddings typically have a real mixture of attendees, so it’s often best to opt for vegan wines as well. Thankfully almost all of the organic wines we have available are also vegan, and some opting for no sulphur added wines are always an option too.

When it comes to choosing which wines to serve at your wedding, we typically recommend couples trying a mixed case of wine from us (we can offer a bit of a discount) to try out the wines first and choose the best. You can even do a blind tasting on your own or with friends to see what you like best. We can also help out with any choosing (via email or phone) and advise based on time of year/ what you plan on eating the day of.

4 Other tips for choosing wine for your wedding

• Keeping you budget in mind: Obviously this will be a factor for many, and we can help you determine which wines would work best for you based on your overall budget for wines. Going with something that’s crowd pleasing yet great quality over pricey premier crus will save you a lot in the end. You may also need to find out what the corkage fee is at your venue and factor this in.
• Consider what you already like/don’t like: Do you already know what style of wines you love – or hate and don’t want to go with? Be sure to tell that to your supplier up front. Maybe you hate brash acidity or are simply not a fan of Chardonnay – telling your wine supplier up front will make finding wines to suit your tastes a lot easier.
• Add in your personal touch: Perhaps you both like drinking the same wine at home together, or you just happen to be a particular fan of a certain wine region or type of wine. It’s your wedding, after all, so don’t be afraid to inject some personality into your special day.
• Don’t be afraid to ask for advice: Not sure where to start or are you just looking for something that’s budget friendly, good quality and crowd pleasing? Then don’t be afraid to reach out to us to ask for some options and to get a feel for the cost as well.

We hope this blog post has helped you to figure out how much wine to serve at a wedding, along with which wines for your special day too.