Kate and her husband converted a century-old barn on their property in Woodinville into a wedding and event venue. They host about sixty events a year, mostly weddings with 150 to 200 guests. Couples bring their own caterers and bartenders from an approved vendor list.
A new preferred caterer asked the venue to name them as an additional insured, and Kate was not sure what that meant.
What she asked for
What it means to add someone as an additional insured.
What the review found
The venue's liability limit was $1 million with no umbrella. Two hundred guests, alcohol, a dance floor in a barn, and a parking area on a dark country road make for real exposure. A single serious injury, especially one involving alcohol, can produce a claim far above $1 million.
The venue relied on vendors' insurance it never checked. Its contracts required caterers and bartenders to carry liquor liability, but Kate had no certificates on file. If a bartender overserved a guest who then crashed on the way home, the claim would likely name the venue too.
Host liquor liability was not enough. Kate assumed her host liquor coverage handled alcohol. Host liquor covers a business that serves alcohol incidentally. It does not cover a venue whose events regularly center on it.
The barn was underinsured. The building was insured at its assessed value, not what it would cost to rebuild a restored barn with modern safety systems.
What we put in place
We moved the venue to a carrier that writes event venues, with general liability that includes liquor liability at the venue level, rather than relying only on vendors. We added a commercial umbrella at $4 million over the general liability, liquor liability, and auto.
We built a vendor compliance process: every caterer, bartender, and rental company on the approved list provides a certificate showing liquor liability where relevant, names the venue as an additional insured, and renews it annually. We also added an option for couples to buy one-day special event liability through the venue's carrier.
We rebuilt the barn's commercial property value at replacement cost, and added business income, since a fire in June would cancel a season of booked weddings.
Why it mattered
The following summer, a wedding guest who had been drinking fell from a raised deck and was seriously injured. The claim named the venue, the bartending company, and the couple. The bartending company's liquor liability, which named the venue, responded first, and the venue's own coverage and umbrella sat behind it. The limits were there for a claim this size.
If you run an event venue
- Carry an umbrella; events with alcohol produce large claims
- Verify every vendor's liquor liability and get named as an additional insured
- Host liquor is not enough if alcohol is central to your events
- Insure the building at rebuild cost with business income for lost bookings
Get a free policy review before wedding season.