The venue asks for a certificate. The deposits are the part nobody insures.
The liability your venue requires and the cancellation coverage for deposits you have already paid are two different policies, and they get bought as though they were one. We sell them as two.
Tell us the situation.
One licensed human replies the same business day — not five agents, not an auto-responder. If the policy you have is already the right one, we will tell you.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
Send us what you have. We’ll tell you if it’s right.
Your current policy paperwork, a renewal notice, or nothing at all. A licensed agent reads it and replies the same business day.
What wedding businesses actually need.
Event liability
General liability for a single event or a season of them. It is the coverage a venue, park or municipality requires, naming them, before they will confirm the booking.
Without it — Almost every venue requires it named before they will confirm, and most couples buy only this.
Event cancellation
Reimburses the committed costs of an event that cannot go ahead for a reason outside your control, and the exposure peaks before the gates open, because most of the money is spent by then.
Without it — Deposits are non-refundable and are paid a year out, which is the whole exposure.
Liquor liability
If you serve alcohol, your general liability almost certainly excludes what happens after you serve it.
Without it — A cash bar or a licensed supplier moves this beyond host liquor and beyond the base policy.
Inland marine & equipment
Tools, equipment and property in transit. It picks up exactly where commercial property stops, which is the moment the item leaves the building.
Without it — Rented equipment, a marquee, hired furniture and anything in your care on the day.
Umbrella & excess liability
Extra limit stacked above general liability, auto and employers liability. Usually the cheapest million dollars on the policy.
Without it — Some venues specify limits above a million before they will contract.
What the insurance company will ask about your wedding business
We read the applications the markets use for businesses in this field and pulled out what they actually ask. Have these answers ready and a quote takes a day instead of a week, because nobody has to come back to you for the missing piece.
About the business
- What services do you provide (boarding, day care, grooming, training, or other)?
- How long have you been in business and at your current location?
- How many employees do you have?
- Do you sell any products under your own label?
How you operate
- How many pets do you have on site on an average day?
- How many kennels or compartments do you have?
- Are all pets monitored in common areas?
- Are all play yards and play areas fenced?
- If you transport animals, are they tethered or caged during transport?
Safety and controls
- Do you have functioning fire extinguishers on site?
- Do you have functioning smoke and heat detectors in all areas?
- For any building built before 1978, does it have aluminum wiring or knob and tube wiring?
Your history
- Have you had any property or liability losses in the past three years?
- Has your insurance coverage been canceled or non-renewed in the past three years?
Money and people
- What coverage limits do you want for pet liability (starting at $100,000 per incident)?
- What coverage limit do you want for pets themselves ($1,000 to $10,000)?
Have these ready
- Description of what your business does and how you operate
- Your loss history for the past three years (claims you or your current insurer know about)
- Information about anyone else with a financial interest in your business
You answer what you can; a licensed agent fills the rest with you.
What our wedding clients ask us.
What does the venue actually require?
Liability, usually one or two million per occurrence, with the venue named as additional insured, and that is all it protects. It answers if a guest is injured or the venue is damaged. It does nothing at all if the wedding cannot go ahead, which is the loss most couples are actually worried about and the one they have not bought.
What does cancellation coverage actually pay for?
The money already committed and not refundable: the venue deposit, the caterer, the photographer, the band, the dress. Covered reasons are specified rather than open-ended: illness or injury of the couple or close family, a vendor going out of business, extreme weather preventing access, damage to the venue. A change of mind is never covered, and neither is a supplier you knew was in trouble.
When should we buy it?
As soon as the first deposit goes out, which is usually a year or more ahead. Coverage is priced on the costs at risk and buying late leaves the earliest commitments uninsured, and no insurer will write a weather peril once a named storm is in the forecast for your date.
We are getting married abroad. Does it still work?
It changes the policy rather than ruling it out. Territorial limits, local venue requirements and whether a claim would be handled in that jurisdiction all matter, and some countries require locally issued coverage before a venue will contract. Say where and when as early as possible; retrofitting a destination onto a domestic policy is the slow version.
What does a wedding insurance application ask for?
The applications for wedding businesses ask about 4 things above all: what services do you provide (boarding, day care, grooming, training, or other); how many pets do you have on site on an average day; do you have functioning fire extinguishers on site; have you had any property or liability losses in the past three years. Have description of what your business does and how you operate and your loss history for the past three years (claims you or your current insurer know about) ready and a quote takes a day instead of a week.
Commercial insurance is 96% of what we do — it is not a department here, it is the whole business. Not ready to talk? The guides answer the questions this page raises in more depth. Already insured with us and need a certificate or a policy change? Ask the service team rather than starting a quote — it is faster and it goes to the people whose job it is. We also write home and auto, which is usually cheaper alongside the business policy than apart from it.
Handed a lease, a vendor packet or a client contract with insurance requirements? Paste it into the COI Requirements Decoder to see what each one means for your business, or read what the requirements mean.