How Much Soda To Buy For A Wedding [The Calculation To Use]

Calculating the amount of soda you need for your wedding can cause a real headache and a lot of stress. How on earth are you supposed to know how much you need? Besides, getting too little or too much just will not do. Both scenarios are equally problematic. Well, thankfully, the following method will help you know exactly how much to buy.

So, how much soda should you buy for a wedding? It is recommended to allow around 0.5 liters of soda per person per hour at a wedding. Thus, take this number, and then multiply it by an estimation of how many non-alcoholic drinkers you have and the duration. Consider 0.75l if you want to include an extra drink for your guests in case they want more.

Remember, this is not about being 100% precise.

It’s about striking a balance between having enough and not having too much.

And when you come to think of a typical 2l bottle of soda; that’s about 4-6 servings of (12-16 ounces/350ml-450ml).

So, over the course of an hour, a quarter of that per person is probably about right.

But of course, you do need to consider the context; the season of your wedding, and the temperature.

And also the pace of drinking; you’ll likely find that guests drink more, to begin with and slow down much later!

But let us now delve deeper into the calculation and how we arrive at this suggestion.

This way, you can even strategically plan exactly what you need, regardless of the intricacies of your particular wedding.

How Do You Calculate Soda For A Wedding?

You calculate how much soda you need by calculating an estimation of the total number of soda drinkers, by how long your wedding is expected to go on – with some leeway for additional drinks to ensure you have enough.

Here is a very simple formula that you can use to get an idea:

of soft drinks = # of guests * (party duration in hours + 1).

So, here is a couple of examples:

	Duration
Non-Alcoholic Drinking Wedding Guests	1 Hour	2 Hours	3 Hours	4 Hours
10	5 liters	10 liters	15 Liters	20 Liters
15	7.5 Liters	15 Liters	22.5 Liters	30 Liters
20	10 Liters	20 Liters	30 Liters	40 Liters
25	12.5 Liters	25 Liters	37.5 Liters	50 Liters
30	15 Liters	30 Liters	45 Liters	60 Liters
35	17.5 Liters	35 Liters	52.5 Liters	70 Liters
40	20 Liters	40 Liters	60 Liters	80 Liters

Of course, these are just estimates, and this is designed to ensure you have enough.

Also, consider that this is in liters – and that each serving per drink is assumed to be 16 oz (454 ml) per drink.

Lastly, notice how I have not recommended # of bottles, because chances are you may be considering cans too.

In fact, cans are probably more optimal.

While bottles are typically found in 2-liter sizing, they do need to be poured. Either by the guest themselves or a bartender. Plus you need cups…

Cans are much more versatile, but you will need to do a little further maths if you do opt for them.

But it’s not too difficult.

All you need to do to find out how many cans you need is divide the size of each can by the total liter amount recommended by guests and by the duration above.

Or you can use my handy calculator:

Use my free Soda Calculator For Wedding tool!

Now, onto the other crucial thing, you need to consider.

What types of soda to buy.

What Soda Should You Buy For Your Wedding

Once you know how many bottles you need in total, you then should divide that number across the different soda options and drinks, at a ratio that seems right to you.

Nevertheless, it is generally recommended to stick with the classics and to not try and stock every ‘flavor’.

But doing that, you’ll need to purchase a lot more soda and you’ll likely have a lot left over.

It’s also typical that everyone will likely drink just one or two, leaving you quite light for those particular drinks and having a lot of other unwanted flavors left and available.

So, with this in mind, I would recommend you stick to the following:

• Diet Coke/Diet Pepsi/Pepsi Max (Cola)
• Regular Coke/Pepsi (Cola)
• Diet Sprite/ Diet Lemonade
• Regular Sprite/Lemonade
• Club soda
• Tonic water

That should cover the major bases and ensure everyone can choose something they like.

It’s also quite versatile and caters to most people’s tastes and needs.

Of course, you may want to introduce more or alter this somewhat, but that is going to come down to your preferences/your budget.

Now, once you select the soda you want to offer, you then need to decide on how much you want to buy of each.

Now, again this will vary, but something like the following would work well:

• Diet Cola – 20%
• Regular Cola – 20%
• Diet Sprite – 20%
• Regular Sprite – 20%
• Club Soda – 10%
• Tonic Water – 10%

And lastly – do not forget water.

I wouldn’t personally include that in the above.

Your venue may provide this or you may need to.

But getting smaller, individual servings of water is strongly recommended.

My recommendation for water is 1/2 a liter (500ml/17 oz) per guest for every other hour.

So for 50 guests, that would mean 100 bottles of water for a 4-hour reception, for instance.

How Many Cans Of Soda Do You Need For A Wedding?

If you opt for cans of soda, you will need to purchase the right amount accordingly. Here is the breakdown based on the total liter amount referenced above.

So for instance, 10 guests for 1 hour – 20 cans – this is based on 0.5 liters of soda required (although you need to round up as there is 0.33l per can).

	Duration
Non-Alcoholic Drinking Wedding Guests	1 Hour	2 Hours	3 Hours	4 Hours
10	10 cans	30 cans	45 cans	61 cans
15	23 cans	45 cans	68 cans	91 cans
20	30 cans	61 cans	91 cans	121 cans
25	38 cans	76 cans	114 cans	152 cans
30	45 cans	91 cans	136 cans	182 cans
35	53 cans	106 cans	159 cans	212 cans
40	61 cans	121 cans	182 cans	242 cans

*Cans based on 330ml/11 oz serving size.

So you may need quite a lot of cans!

But as previously stated, this is just an estimate.

You would logically assume people slow down their soda drinking as the night goes on!

But we want to be sure we have enough here.

How Many Bottles Of Soda Do You Need For A Wedding?

If you opt for 2l plastic bottles of soda, you will need to purchase the following amount. Again, this is based on the liter amount referenced in the ‘How Do You Calculate Soda For A Wedding?’ section:

	Duration
Non-Alcoholic Drinking Wedding Guests	1 Hour	2 Hours	3 Hours	4 Hours
10	3 x 2L bottles	5 x 2L bottles	8 x 2L bottles	10 x 2L bottles
15	4 x 2L bottles	8 x 2L bottles	12 x 2L bottles	16 x 2L bottles
20	5 x 2L bottles	10 x 2L bottles	15 x 2L bottles	20 x 2L bottles
25	7 x 2L bottles	13 x 2L bottles	19 x 2L bottles	25 x 2L bottles
30	8 x 2L bottles	15 x 2L bottles	22 x 2L bottles	29 x 2L bottles
35	9 x 2L bottles	18 x 2L bottles	27 x 2L bottles	36 x 2L bottles
40	10 x 2L bottles	20 x 2L bottles	30 x 2L bottles	40 x 2L bottles

Finally

As you can see, working out how much soda you need for a wedding does involve a little math.

It’s similar to what you will need to do for liquor.

But hopefully, the numbers here give you a good starting point and idea of how to get to a reasonable figure, for your particular wedding.

If I can give any final advice it would be this.

Try and work out who will be drinking what. It will be a general prediction but try to work out who will be drinking alcohol and who will be drinking soda.

Also, consider that some guests will drink both alcohol and soda, so it is always good to have a little extra.

And the beauty of soda is that you can always save it for yourself for later, or take it around friends/family.

Or, depending on where you shop and assuming you keep your receipt, you should be able to return it if you do buy too much.

So, don’t worry too much.

The other big decision is whether you opt for cans or bottles.

This will come down to personal preference, budget, the type of venue and whether you have bartenders but generally, cans are much more versatile.

They do not need pouring, enable guests to grab and go, tend to last longer, keep colder, and have a lower risk of spillage.

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