Alcohol Liability

blferguson1s · June 2012

So one of the venues we're considering does not provide alcohol or a bartender. If we chose this site, we'll have to provide everything. I'm fine with this, and FI's uncle is a bartender who I'm hoping we could get to help us out. My mom and I are curious though about liability issues. If someone were to manage to get themselves into a wreck after drinking (which of course we hope isn't even an issue), would the liability fall on us as the ones hosting the party? I know it can vary some depending on what state you're in, but if anyone knows where I can find this information, that would be super helpful. Thanks ladies!

cnf2013 · June 2012

You'll want to look up Social Host laws for your state and probably your county, as they typically vary. It will fall on you guys though, as the hosts. You should still find out what the ramifications are. You can also outsource a bartender for probably about $50-$200 for the night, depending on who you use. You'll also want someone who is TIPS certified to bartend as that will reduce the ramifications should something happen. You can ask your venue what their liability policy for outsourcing alcohol is as well as whoever you buy from/have bartend if it's not your uncle. Would your uncle want to bartend as opposed to enjoying the celebration?

anastassiiat · June 2012

I think they venue should be able to answer that question. I know one of the venues that we were looking into did not povide alcohol, but they took liability if something were to happen. Check with them, and if they can't provide information maybe check with the town that you will be getting married at? That's just my guess though.

EDIT: The venue I've talked about above did provide their own certified bartenders though, so maybe that's why they said they'd take the liability?

emilyb213 · June 2012

Here in PA, it depends on the venue...some venues carry umbrella liability policies even if they're BYOB, but others (like ours) do not, so we will need to provide our own event insurance policy for that day. I know here, there are actually a few agencies who specialize in event insurance, and it's typically around $250 for something like a wedding.

Sjmiller418 · June 2012

Definitely check with what the laws like PP's said but also if you do need some extra liability coverage there are several insurance companies that you can get wedding insurance through to help protect your deposits should something unexpected happen and the ones I looked at also offered additional liability coverage for circumstances just like this to cover if anything should happen. I think the liability insurance from the one i had looked at was like $150 but Im sure they vary a lot from state to state and such.

FutureMrsPrice2013 · June 2012

I thought about this too and was not going to invite children except those in the wedding party. My FI said that wouldn't be very nice yet everyone wants alcohol. So we're having alcohol and hopefully parents will know the cut off lol.

n3rdl3t · June 2012

You should definitely check with your venue about the requirements. Ours told us flat out that if we wanted to serve alcohol we'd have to get both a liquor license and a liability policy.. We're on a super tight budget, so we decided to skip the booze altogether (most of our family isn't big drinkers anyways) and do sparkiling grape/apple juice for toasts and just have a bottle of bubbly on the wedding night

blferguson1s · June 2012

Thanks ladies! It's looking like we probably won't be going with this venue as we heard some things from that winery I was complaining about that eased our concerns. I figured it would be something good to bring up for others as well and wouldn't hurt to get more info on just in case we end up with this venue.

Alcohol Liability

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