50 guests · evening wedding · 6 hours · seated dinner · mixed bar. Computed with the engine professional crews use, not a rule of thumb.
Wedding
What a 50-guest wedding bar needs
≈ 977 bar serves for 50 guests over 6 hours on a mixed bar with a seated dinner. Water covers bar and table, still and sparkling.
Wine (all types)20 bottles
Sparkling (toast)9 bottles
Beer75 units
Non-alcoholic beer1 case
Spirits (all bottles)27 bottles
Soft drinks & mixers18 cases
Water257 bottles
Team on shift6 people
Ice130 kg · 65 bags
Free numbers from the same engine the full planner runs. Pro turns them into the exact order per product, cocktail ingredients, glassware and one shopping list.
Team
The crew behind 50 guests
6 team members
Bartenders2
Barbacks1
Runners1
Glass cleaners1
Dinner runners (dinner only)1
Range: 6 (minimum and recommended) · 7 (comfortable).
Ice
Ice for 50 guests
130 kg of ice
Cube ice (drinks & chilling)100 kg50 bags
Crushed ice (cocktails)30 kg15 bags
Total to order65 bags13 sacks of 10 kg
When they actually drink it
Those 977 serves do not arrive evenly: the opening hour is the fastest, about 189 serves, because every guest wants a first drink at once; over hour 2 the bar settles into a steady 158 serves an hour; through hour 3 the pace eases to around 157 an hour as the crowd winds down; through hour 4 the pace eases to around 158 an hour as the crowd winds down; through hour 5 the pace eases to around 157 an hour as the crowd winds down; through hour 6 the pace eases to around 158 an hour as the crowd winds down. The totals above already carry this curve, so the bar is stocked for the surge, not for the average.
Field note: ice runs on the clock, not the guest list
A rule from the Green Jar crews: a 3-hour event still needs 60% of the ice a 6-hour one does, because chilling bottles costs the same however short the night is. Stretch the same party to 12 hours and the order grows to 190% of the base, almost double. That is why the duration of your event moves the ice number more than the guest count does.
Adjust it to your event
Same engine, live. Change the crowd, the bar or the hours and recalculate.
Guests
Seated dinner served?
Bar service
Duration
Wedding
Frequently asked questions
How much alcohol do I need for 50 guests at a wedding?
Plan for about 977 bar serves over 6 hours. On a mixed bar that becomes roughly 20 bottles of wine, 75 units of beer, 27 bottles of spirits and 18 cases of soft drinks and mixers, plus 257 bottles of water.
How much wine do I need for a wedding dinner of 50 guests?
A 750 ml bottle pours 6 glasses of 125 ml. With a seated dinner, plan 1 glass of white and 1 of rosé per guest plus 1 bottle of red per 25 guests: 20 bottles for 50 guests.
How many bar staff do I need for 50 guests?
2 bartenders at the recommended level and 6 people in total, counting barbacks, runners and glass collectors plus 1 dinner runner for the seated service. The comfortable level for the same event is 7.
Plan your full bar: bottles, cocktails, shopping list.
The free calculator gives staff, ice and totals. Pro turns them into the exact order per product and one Excel your supplier can read.