Elderflower 75
the welcome drink for one hundred guests
Mix the gin, elderflower syrup and lemon juice. For one glass, shake this with ice for ten seconds; for a wedding, mix it in bottles that morning and chill them.
Strain or pour 6 cl of the chilled base into a chilled champagne flute.
Slowly top up with 8 cl of ice-cold prosecco. Pour along the inside of the glass so the bubbles stay in the glass.
Squeeze the lemon zest over the glass so the oil lands on the bubbles, then hang the twist over the rim.
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One hundred glasses in a half hour
The busiest moment of a wedding is the toast: all guests want a glass at the same time, and within fifteen minutes. A base prepared in advance makes that possible. Two people pouring 6 cl of base into a flute and topping it up with prosecco can serve around eight glasses per minute together. For one hundred guests, mix 3 litres of gin with one and a half litres of elderflower syrup and one and a half litres of lemon juice, and chill twelve bottles of prosecco: a 75 cl bottle yields nine glasses. After the toast, things slow down. Allow for two drinks per guest in the first hour and one per hour thereafter. Keep the menu small: a welcome drink, a long drink such as a Gin & Tonic, and an alcohol-free option. Cocktails that need to be shaken per glass, such as the Espresso Martini, should only be served if someone is stationed behind the bar doing nothing else.
The right glass
For a bubbly welcome drink, the champagne flute is the practical choice. Its narrow bowl keeps the carbonation in the glass longer, and guests can walk around with it calmly without spilling. Choose a flute of 18 to 26 cl, so 14 cl of drink fits with room for the foam. A coupe looks great in photos, but spills over the rim more quickly once the dancing starts. Allow for one and a half glasses per guest: glasses are put down and never found again. View our champagne flutes.
RCR Adagio Champagne Flute 18 cl (6 pieces)
Bohemia Columba Champagne Glass / Flute 26 cl (6 pieces)
Both sets together € 85,90.
The right tools
For these wedding cocktails, in addition to glassware, you use a shaker, a jigger for precise measuring, a fine strainer for double straining, a citrus juicer and a zester for the twist. These are the bar tools we use ourselves; you can find everything in our bar tools & cocktail sets.
Glassware set (our choice 01) + 5 bar tools together € 171,70.
What do you need to make these Wedding cocktails?
For these wedding cocktails, you need gin and prosecco. Popular bottles include Hendrick's, Tanqueray No. Ten and Gordon's. On each drink page, you can read the alcohol percentage, what it tastes like, which cocktails it works well in and which glass you need.
Seven cocktails for large groups
Good to know
How much alcohol do you need for a wedding
A common rule of thumb is two drinks per guest in the first hour and one per hour after that. A hundred guests and a two-hour reception therefore means three hundred glasses, followed by another four hundred for a four-hour evening party. If you serve prosecco straight, you get six 12.5 cl glasses from a bottle; in a cocktail with 8 cl of sparkling wine, that makes nine. For the base of one hundred Elderflower 75s, you'll need about forty lemons. Unopened bottles keep well, so it's better to buy one case too many than too few. Arrange the ice separately: one kilogram per guest if you also need to chill bottles.
Which cocktails are suitable for a wedding
A wedding cocktail should be finishable in one step. That rules out anything you have to shake, muddle, or blend per glass. What remains works well: the Kir Royal is cassis with sparkling wine, the Aperol Spritz is poured in three parts over ice, and the Hugo Spritz has a flavor profile similar to the Elderflower 75. A Mojito looks festive, but muddling mint takes a minute per glass; for a hundred guests, that's almost two hours of work. Choose two cocktails with different characters, one refreshing and one bitter, and leave the rest to wine and beer.
A cocktail bar without a bartender
Don't have a bartender? Set up a table where guests can serve themselves. Put the base ingredients in carafes or labeled bottles and place them in a container with ice and water; this cools them faster than ice alone. Place a card beside each cocktail with two lines: how much base to use and what to top it up with. A jigger next to the bottle prevents the first guests from pouring double portions. Place the glasses upside down on a cloth, open the sparkling wine only when a line starts to form, and appoint someone to remove empty bottles every half hour and chill new ones.
Alcohol-free at the wedding
Make sure guests who do not drink have something to choose that looks just as festive. For the Elderflower 75, replace the gin with non-alcoholic gin or 3 cl of chilled green tea, and the prosecco with non-alcoholic sparkling wine; elderflower and lemon provide the flavor. Serve it in the same flute, so no one has to explain why they are drinking something different. For the evening, an Non-Alcoholic Spritz works well, and you can find more recipes in the mocktails overview. For the youngest guests, kids' cocktails are ready, with juice, bubbles, and a straw.
Frequently asked questions
How many cocktails should you plan per guest at a wedding?
Plan on two drinks per guest in the first hour and one per hour after that. For the toast after the ceremony, that means one welcome drink per guest, ready within fifteen minutes. Not everyone drinks cocktails, so serve wine, beer, and a non-alcoholic option alongside one or two cocktails.
Which cocktail is easiest for a wedding?
A cocktail with a bottled base that you top up with bubbly, such as the Elderflower 75 or a Kir Royal. It takes ten seconds per glass. Spritzes are almost as quick, but require ice in every glass, which means bringing in bags of ice and keeping them cold.
Can you make wedding cocktails a day in advance?
Yes, but without the lemon juice. You can bottle the gin and elderflower syrup days in advance; squeeze the lemon juice on the morning of the wedding and add it then. Add the bubbly and ice only to the glass, otherwise the carbonation will disappear or the cocktail will become watered down.
Which glasses do you need for a wedding?
Plan on one and a half glasses per guest per type of drink, because glasses get put down and are never found again. For one hundred guests and bubbly for the toast, that means 150 flutes. For spritzes and long drinks, add large wine glasses or highball glasses, and give the children a sturdier glass.
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