Event Insurance. What the what?

FeelTheRain

We just met with our reception venue last week and that was the first we heard of having to provide our own liability insurance for the day of our reception. We have to have proof of it 30 days prior to the reception which is 10/14/16. I would post this to my city's board but I went on there and no one has posted anything there in forever so I want to make sure somebody sees this! Does anybody have any recommendations for a company to get special event insurance through? I already tried our insurance company we have for renters insurance and they max out at $500,000. The wording from our venue says "The COI (Certificate of Insurance) must list *venue name* as additional insured. It must certify Bodily Injury and Property Damage with limits of at least $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate." I found one quote for $160 but wanting to know of other companies that may offer it cheaper? 

glasgowtolondon

I had to get this for my venue too. We got ours through a company called event insurance services ltd as it was recommended by our venue, I wanted to know for sure we were properly covered for the venue as it's a museum. Idk if ours is restricted to the UK though. It was similarly priced so maybe that is pretty standard?

The liability insurance is a bugger for sure, but thats what we get for booking a venue that isn't usually used as a wedding venue. They told us from the word go though, so it's a bit shady that yours hasn't mentioned before now - wasn't it in the contract?

[Deleted User]

So different area so can't be much help other than vague suggestions. Our venue also required event insurance (sounds like many places require this). They recommended a company who often does their event insurance so your venue might also have some recon rations. Our event insurance is $250 so yours is probably reasonable unless you are in a very inexpensive region.  

FeelTheRain

Well nutsack. There it is. It just says "Renters will be required to provide proof of liability insurance for their event." I just asked FI and said he saw that but didn't think it was a big deal. Which it's not! But in the original contract, that's all it says. There's no where that states $1,000,000. If it was $500,000 or less our renters insurance on our apartment would just automatically cover it for free. Do you think I have a leg to stand on if I take this original contract without the specified amounts and tell her we will provide the $500,000 since we didn't sign anything telling us how much it had to be? Or would that just be making drama with our venue and we should just get the full $1,000,000 to keep the peace?

[Deleted User]

FeelTheRain said:

Well nutsack. There it is. It just says "Renters will be required to provide proof of liability insurance for their event." I just asked FI and said he saw that but didn't think it was a big deal. Which it's not! But in the original contract, that's all it says. There's no where that states $1,000,000. If it was $500,000 or less our renters insurance on our apartment would just automatically cover it for free. Do you think I have a leg to stand on if I take this original contract without the specified amounts and tell her we will provide the $500,000 since we didn't sign anything telling us how much it had to be? Or would that just be making drama with our venue and we should just get the full $1,000,000 to keep the peace?

I'd be worried that if something happened, you are on the hook for the extra $500,000 in damages that you chose not to include in your insurance. 

FeelTheRain

I remember being little one time and eating dinner at Macaroni Grill and my parents were talking about getting their taxes done and my dad was using weird words and numbers and I didn't understand any of it. I remember having a little girl panic attack and thinking about how complicated being a grown up sounded like. This is my 8 year old self's worst nightmare. Insurance? Poo. Liability? Liabili-No. Aggragate? Aggra-huh? Just pour me a glass of wine, show me where to sign and tell me I'm pretty. Kidding!....sort of. 

dyerwise

We have the same thing with our venue and we did ours through our homeowners insurance it was $125. I wouldn't try to fight it, its not worth it, plus if you have my luck the place would burn down in some random national lampoons type disaster.

MaggieF1990

Our second choice venue would have required us to get our own event insurance. Like a PP said, it seems to be in the cases of places that are not typically or traditional wedding venues (this was a warehouse/office of an architecture firm). When we looked into it, it was between $150 and $200, so I think your quote sounds reasonable.

Jen4948

I think lots of venues require you to get liability insurance or have your own coverage on a homeowner's policy or something like that. Your quote sounds pretty normal to me.

lyndausvi

We had to get liability insurance also.  My parents were the hosts and just  added an amendment to their home owner's policy.  In their case it was free, but that might have to do with the amounts of their existing polices.


It's becoming more and more common for venues to add one.

ernursej

I'm a stickler for contracts and if your contract only states that you need to have insurance but not the amount, I'd get the amount you can get with your renter policy. I would go back and let the venue know that if it isn't written, it isn't enforceable.

In saying that, depending on your ability/interest in dealing with crap, just go and get the amount that they have told you to get and then you wouldn't have to deal with a thing.

I was curious so I asked my lawyer friend and he told me that in a court (Canada) you would likely be fine as you are meeting your contractual obligations by getting the insurance and if there is no written amount, that is the businesses problem and they should update their contract.

SP29

I would ask your venue to let you know who their clients usually use. Since it's a requirement for everyone, they should probably know of a company or two.