Over 80% of wedding and event venues now require renters to BYOI (bring your own insurance) to help protect the venue from various lawsuits that could arise from liabilities and damages caused by renters. This helps insulate the venue’s main business insurance policy from claims (and potential cancellation!) and can also potentially lower insurance premiums for the venue in the future.
However, many venues also require the insurance policy and documents to contain certain endorsements and coverages. Below we will examen common venue requirements for event insurance.
If your venue is forcing you to use a specific insurance company, this is illegal! Report all violations to your state’s insurance regulator.
See our comprehensive 2025 review of all of the major U.S. event insurance companies:
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1. Minimum Coverage Limits
Many venues have set minimum coverage limits for liability and property damage. For liability, $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate is very common. For property damage, $1M is becoming more common, although $250,000 is the minimum starting point for many.
2. Additional Insured
Almost all venues will ask to be listed as an additional insured on the certificate of insurance. Specifically, this is where their company name and address is printed on the certificate to show that they are in fact an additional insured to the policy. Sometimes multiple Additional Insureds will be listed if the venue is owned by a larger entity.
3. Specific Endorsement Request
Some higher end venues are now requesting specific endorsements to the event policy. The most common ones are Primary Noncontributory and Waiver of Waiver of Transfer of Rights Against Others to Us.
Knowing these requirements before purchasing a policy can save you hours/days of grief so be sure to ask your venue their requirements beforehand.