The certificate the venue will not let you in without.
If a hall, a park or a city permit office has asked you for proof of insurance, this is the policy they mean. Send us what they asked for and we will match the wording exactly, that is what stops the certificate being rejected.
Build your file See what’s covered Get event insurancePublic liability, host liquor, venue naming and vendor requirements
Weddings, festivals, markets, fundraisers and AGMs
The venue’s insurance requirement, your date and expected numbers
What is event insurance in British Columbia and do I need it?
Event insurance is short-term liability cover for a single occasion, a wedding, a festival, a market stall, a fundraiser or an AGM. It covers injury to guests and damage to the venue. You almost certainly need it if the venue, the city or a park board asks for proof, and their requirement will specify a limit and usually name them as an additional insured.
Without the certificate the venue demands, the event does not happen. And if a guest is injured at an event you organized without cover, the claim follows you personally rather than the occasion. The BC Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch puts the permit holder’s position plainly: “This means you (or your organization as the permit holder) are liable for any violation of liquor laws or SEP terms and conditions”. The permit is in your name. So is what happens under it. Read the Province on special event permits (opens in a new tab).
If alcohol is being served, host liquor liability is a separate question and it is the one we most often see missed.
Cover for one day, or a season.
Public liability
Injury to a guest or damage to the venue arising from your event.
Host liquor liability
Where alcohol is served or a bar is run. Required by most venues and permit offices.
Venue and additional insureds
Naming the hall, the city, the park board or the property owner exactly as they require.
Equipment and hired-in property
Staging, sound, tents and anything you rent for the day.
Vendors, exhibitors and stalls
If the organizer asks each vendor to carry their own, we can arrange that for them too.
Multi-date and seasonal
Weekly markets, program series and recurring events usually sit on one arrangement.
What to send us, and when.
Event certificates are routine, but only if we have the right information. Three things do most of it.
The venue’s requirement
Their actual wording, not a summary. It names the limit and who must appear on the certificate.
What is happening
Date, location, expected attendance, whether alcohol is served, and anything physical or unusual.
How long you have
Tell us the deadline when you send it and we will tell you straight away whether it can be met.
How this can play out.
The hall emails four days before the wedding asking for a certificate naming them as additional insured. Without it, the booking is cancelled. With the wording in hand, it takes an afternoon.
This is a small policy. It is also a first meeting.
A small job, written properly
An event policy is a small job. A market stall can sit beside a business, and a society gala beside a board that has never looked at directors cover. The small job gets written properly either way.
And if all you ever need from us is one certificate for one afternoon, that is completely fine.
Worth reading next: serving alcohol at your event in BC.
The conditions written into event cover.
Event insurance covers a day that cannot be rerun. Its conditions all point the same direction: the risk was decided in the planning, not on the day.
Liquor without its own liability
Serving or selling alcohol needs liquor liability and often a permit first. The general event policy alone answering for an over-served guest is wishful reading.
The certificate the venue rejects
Venues specify wording, limits and who gets named, and they check on move-in day. A certificate that says the wrong thing cancels the load-in, not just the cover.
Vendors and performers uninsured
The food truck, the bouncy castle, the pyro act: each should carry its own cover and show it. Their gap becomes the organizer’s claim by default.
Cancellation bought too late
Cancellation cover responds to the unforeseen. Buying it after the forecast turns or the headliner wobbles insures a known problem, which is the one thing it cannot do.
Every one of these is settled weeks out or not at all. Walk the venue contract and vendor list against the policy while the calendar still has room.
What organizers ask us.
How much liability cover does a venue usually require?
Venues set this, not the law. Two and five million dollars are the figures that come up, and the only one that matters is the one in the venue’s own wording. The venue’s own wording will state it, so send us that rather than guessing.
Do I need liquor liability for a wedding?
If alcohol is being served, almost certainly yes, and most venues and special-occasion licences require it. It applies whether you are selling drinks or giving them away.
The venue wants to be named on the policy. Is that normal?
Yes. Naming the venue, the city or the park board as an additional insured is standard, and a certificate without it gets sent back.
Do my vendors need their own insurance?
Usually yes if you are the organizer. Requiring each vendor to carry their own liability, and to name you, is how organizers avoid inheriting everyone else’s risk.
Can I insure a market that runs every weekend?
Yes, and a seasonal or annual arrangement is far less work than buying cover week by week.
What if the event is cancelled?
Liability cover and cancellation cover are different products. If losing deposits would be serious for you, ask about cancellation specifically rather than assuming it is included.
Catering the event yourself? restaurant insurance.
Large public events often need more than $2 million: higher liability limits.
Send us the venue’s requirement.
Their wording, your date, and the deadline. That is usually everything we need.