Insurance first?

Most venues require it, but you don't get it until after you sign the contract, and I think that we just had to provide proof of insurance 30 days before our wedding. In our policy, we had to name the venue, address, and date of the event, and the venue will likely have a set minimum liability coverage that your policy has to meet, so I don't know that you'd be able to complete an application anyway.

We did not get any insurance and any venue we looked at didn't require us to obtain any. The venue should have liability insurance in place for these reasons. We did have to provide a certificate of insurance for any outside vendor (photographer, DJ and florist) that we brought in. I would not have booked our venue if they didn't have any insurance in place.

Most venues have their own insurance that protects them in the event something is their fault. It is becoming pretty standard (virtually every venue we have talked to) as a way for venues to build a buffer and avoid their own policies getting hit for guest issues. The policies are generally pretty cheap ($100-150) and keep it so venues aren't absorbing the cost and having their insurance get dinged for the actions of others. A couple of places told us it was an actual requirement of their own insurance to require event insurance.

Most venues require it. book your venue and they will direct you on how and where to get your insurance. We are getting married at our local Shrine Club and we have got to purchase our venue insurance through a company that the Shrine Club uses. This is ours:

General Liability Coverage

Limit for each incident (Occurrence)

Includes host liquor

Damage to Rented Premises