There is a moment in every couple's wedding planning journey when they look at the venue’s drinks package, do the mental arithmetic, and their eyes widen in sheer disbelief. The markup on wedding alcohol is legendary. It is not uncommon to see a bottle of wine that you know costs £7 in the supermarket being sold to you for £28.
For this reason, many couples are turning to the "Dry Hire" or "BYO" (Bring Your Own) model. Taking control of the bar can save you hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds. It also allows you to serve drinks you actually enjoy, rather than the venue's standard "house white."
However, becoming your own wedding sommelier comes with its own set of logistics—namely, the dreaded "corkage" fee and the anxiety of running dry before the speeches are over.
This guide will walk you through the benefits, the complications, and—most importantly—the specific UK maths you need to get the numbers right.
Need to calculate your numbers?
Use our free UK tool to calculate exactly how many bottles you need.
Open Alcohol Calculator →Why Supply Your Own? The Benefits
Beyond the obvious bragging rights of serving a craft gin from the town where you met, there are three massive incentives to BYO:
1. The Savings
Even with a corkage fee (which we will discuss shortly), buying your own alcohol is almost always cheaper than a venue package. Supermarkets and wine merchants run aggressive discounts. If you buy a decent bottle of Prosecco on offer for £8, even with a £10 corkage fee, you are paying £18 a bottle. A venue might charge £35+ for that same bottle. Multiply that saving by 50 bottles, and that is money back in the honeymoon pot.
2. The Quality Control
Venue house wines are chosen for their profit margins, not their bouquet. By sourcing your own, you ensure your guests are drinking something palatable. You can choose a red that pairs perfectly with your beef main, rather than a generic Merlot that pairs perfectly with the venue's profit and loss sheet.
3. The Personal Touch
Supplying your own bar allows for signature cocktails, local ales, or that specific brand of rum your family loves. It makes the day feel less like a "package" and more like your party.
The Complication: Understanding "Corkage"
If you are unfamiliar with the term, corkage is a charge made by a restaurant or hotel for every bottle of liquor opened and served that was not bought on the premises.
You might think, "Why should I pay them to open a bottle I bought?"
From the venue's perspective, they rely on alcohol sales to keep the lights on. When you bring your own, they lose that profit. Furthermore, they still have to provide the staff to pour it, the glassware to serve it in, the ice to chill it, and the dishwasher to clean up afterwards. Corkage covers these service costs and the loss of profit.
Tips for Navigating Corkage:
- Check the Contract: Before you set your heart on BYO, ensure your venue allows it. Some have a strict "no outside catering" policy.
- Negotiate: Everything is negotiable. If you are booking a wedding in the off-peak season (e.g., a Tuesday in November), they may be willing to waive corkage on the first 30 bottles or lower the per-bottle rate.
- Do the Maths: If the corkage is £20 per bottle and you plan to serve £5 wine, you are paying £25 per bottle. Is the venue's house wine £24? If so, BYO isn't saving you money. However, if you want to serve £20 wine and the corkage is £15, you are getting a £35 premium experience for what the venue would charge £50+ for.
The Golden Formulas: Calculating Quantities (UK Standards)
The biggest fear for any DIY wedding planner is the bar running dry at 8 PM. Conversely, you don't want to be left with 400 bottles of Chardonnay in your garage for the next decade.
To get this right, you need to step away from guesswork and use rigid UK measurements. Our planning tool uses the following specific logic—stick to these numbers to ensure your buying list matches your guest count perfectly.
1. Wine (75cl)
Standard UK wine bottles are 75cl. While you might pour a large glass at home on a Friday night, wedding pours are standardized to stretch the supply and keep guests pacing themselves.
- The Math: We assume 6 glasses per bottle.
- The Measure: This is based on a 125ml pour.
- Application: If you have 100 guests and you want to allocate them 2 glasses of wine each with dinner, you need 200 glasses.
$$200 \div 6 = 33.3$$
(Always round up to the nearest whole bottle!)
Note: A standard "medium" glass in a pub is 175ml, but for wedding catering and toasts, 125ml is the industry standard. Using this calculation prevents you from over-buying based on "pub measures."
2. Champagne & Sparkling Wine
Whether it’s French Champagne, Italian Prosecco, or Spanish Cava, the bottle size is generally the same standard 75cl. However, flute glasses are narrower, and the foam takes up volume!
- The Math: We calculate 6 flutes per bottle.
- Application: For the toast, you generally need 1 glass per adult guest. For 100 guests:
$$100 \div 6 = 16.6$$
So, you would buy 17 bottles for the toast.
3. Spirits (70cl)
This is where people often get confused between US pints/ounces and UK measures. In the UK, a standard bottle of spirits (Gin, Vodka, Rum, Whisky) is 70cl.
- The Math: A UK standard bottle contains 28 single measures.
- The Measure: This is based on a standard 25ml single.
- Application: If you are stocking a free bar and expect 50 guests to drink 4 spirits each, that is 200 drinks.
$$200 \div 28 = 7.14$$
You would need 8 bottles of spirits.
The "Sale or Return" Safety Net
Even with the best mathematical formulas, every crowd is different. Some weddings are heavy on the red wine; others decimate the gin supply in an hour.
The solution? Overbuy with an exit strategy.
This is the single most important tip for DIY alcohol: Use a retailer that offers "Sale or Return." Major UK retailers like Majestic Wine and Tesco (check specific store policies) often allow you to return unopened bottles in saleable condition.
Why this changes everything:
- Peace of Mind: You can use the calculations above and then add a 20% "buffer" without fear of wasting money.
- The Buffer: If your math says you need 30 bottles of white, buy 40. If they drink it? Great, no one went thirsty. If they don't? You simply drive the 10 bottles back to the store and get a full refund.
- The Rule: Do not soak the labels in ice buckets! If you are chilling white wine or beer, only chill what you need immediately. You usually cannot return bottles with water-damaged labels.
The Ratios: Red, White, or Rosé?
Once you know how many bottles of wine you need (using the 6 glasses per bottle rule), you need to decide the split.
A safe standard split for a UK wedding (assuming a mix of weather) is:
- 50% Red
- 50% White
If it is a summer wedding:
- 30% Red
- 40% White
- 30% Rosé
Pro Tip: If you are serving a specific meal (e.g., Steak), skew heavily toward Red. If you are serving Chicken or Fish, skew toward White. However, never go 100% in one direction—there will always be a guest who only drinks Red, regardless of the heatwave or the fish course.
Final Logistics Check
Before you head to the checkout, consider these three physical factors:
- Glassware: Does your corkage fee include glass hire? If not, you need to rent glasses. Remember the math: You need 125ml glasses for wine and 25ml jiggers/measures for spirits.
- Ice: If you are buying spirits (28 measures per bottle!), you need a lot of ice. A standard bag of supermarket ice serves about 10 drinks.
- Delivery: 50 bottles of wine and 100 bottles of beer are incredibly heavy. Do not try to move this in a standard hatchback on the morning of the wedding. Arrange for the retailer to deliver directly to the venue the day before.
By using the specific UK logic of 6 glasses per wine bottle and 28 shots per spirit bottle, you can use our calendar tool to populate your shopping list with precision, ensuring a fantastic party without the hangover of a terrifying bill.