A Louisiana wedding needs a permit only if the alcohol comes with a fee.

You may not need one. ATC's special event permit turns on whether alcohol is sold or supplied as part of an admission or other fee, so a hosted bar with no ticket and no cash is outside the definition, on private property or not. A ticketed reception or a cash bar is inside it, and the permit is three consecutive days, ten days' notice, twelve a year. Louisiana immunizes lawful service to adults for what happens afterward, but not for a fall or a fight at the event, and the venue contract asks for both limits.

No, and the contract says so. The venue's policy protects the venue, and a Louisiana venue agreement usually asks for two things from you: your own general liability limit, and the venue named as an additional insured on it. The second clause moves the venue's exposure at your event onto your policy. A guest hurt on the dance floor, a damaged wall or a claim over a drunk guest is presented to your certificate first, and the venue's insurer expects to find it there.

Not easily. Louisiana R.S. 9:2800.1 shields a permit holder or social host who serves a person of legal drinking age from liability for injuries suffered off the premises, and does not touch an injury that happens at the event itself. Two things survive that: service to a minor, which no immunity statute forgives, and the venue contract, which asks for host liquor liability whatever the statute says.

Louisiana liquor liability insurance

Only if the caterer holds the permit. In Louisiana the special event permit can sit with the host, and when it does the liquor exposure sits with the host too, which is the case the caterer's insurer will point out. When a licensed caterer holds the permit its policy answers claims against the caterer, and still not claims against you. Either way the host side, from a guest hurt at the reception to the venue's contract claim, is your event policy's to answer, so buy it with host liquor included.

Yes, and most events do. Single-event coverage is written for the dates of the event, usually including set-up and tear-down, and it is issued quickly enough to satisfy a venue asking on short notice. If you run more than three or four events a year, an annual policy is generally cheaper and means the certificate exists before it is asked for.

Almost always three things, and only the first is a number: a limit, usually one or two million per occurrence; their entity named as additional insured by endorsement rather than typed on the certificate; and often a waiver of subrogation. Send us the contract rather than the number: the wording is what gets certificates rejected, and it is the part people summarize.

No, and they are constantly confused. Event liability pays when somebody else is injured or their property is damaged. Cancellation coverage pays YOU back for money you have already committed when the event cannot happen. Venues require the first; the second is the one that saves your own budget, and most organizers buy only the one they were asked for.

What cancellation coverage pays for

Host liquor is commonly included where you are not in the business of selling it: a wedding with a hosted bar, a company party. The moment there is a cash bar, a license, or alcohol as a revenue line, it is liquor liability proper and it is a separate coverage that the base form excludes by name.

When host liquor stops being enough