<p>Might want to get some lightning strike insurance, too…</p>
<p>Deleting. </p>
<p>MichiganGeorgia,
Although some of these posts I find hilarious, I am going to take yours at face value and provide a straight answer.
I agree that since the bride’s family signed the venue contract, they would have to purchase the insurance. I think. 
As for the bus liability, I believe that the reputable bus company I have contracted with has $5 million dollars of insurance.</p>
<p>2 things at play: 1. who gets sued when there is bodily injury and/or property damage?
Does the venue require you to provide evidence of your own coverage (as opposed to relying on their coverage)?
Anyone in the line of liability should have coverage - it is cheap and typically could be included in your homeowner insurance already.</p>
<p>I am wondering if venues that serve alcohol already have that kind of insurance, and pass the cost of it along to the hosts as part of the package that they are charging (maybe that is one factor in the huge mark up on the price of liquor at so many venues), and that venues that either don’t generally serve alcohol, or if the primary package for an event does not include alcohol, that fee is added on.</p>
<p>In either event, I would find out what/who is covered by the insurance policy. A premium of $150 is cheap if it protects against liability for a guest drinking and then engaging in any kind of bad behavior, from fighting to falling to driving.</p>
<p>Might this fall under an umbrella policy that you may already have in force? You could tell your son and his legal eagle bride that you are comfortable without purchasing additional insurance but that they are welcome to purchase their own if they feel it is necessary. 
Or, just get the darn insurance put it behind you. Aren’t weddings fun! :)) </p>
<p>S and his wife are both attorneys and they bought this kind of coverage for their wedding two years ago. It also covered his dad & I for the rehearsal dinner. The wedding was held on Lookout Mountain and, while there was bus service, there were some who did drive; hence, the concern.</p>
<p>I think you should have the reception in Washington state or Colorado.
Keep it dry, but just give a cooky to those who miss the wine.
You could keep the shuttle.</p>
<p>^^^^It is in Washington State, EK, and no, I don’t indulge. ;)</p>
<p>I appreciate this thread because it serves as a reminder that I need to look into fulfilling a requirement set by one of the hotels we’ve designated for guests at our d’s fall wedding. They want us to provide liability coverage in a pretty hefty amount ($500K). I thought I’d call our home insurance agent and see about a rider or something? The sales manager at this particular Hilton property said it’s a standard requirement that shouldn’t cost us much. I wonder if it’s something new because, when our oldest d was married 2.5 years ago, the issue of insurance never came up.</p>
<p>This is just a hotel for people to stay at during the weekend. No festivities are planned there. A bus will transport people to the reception and back. All other vendors have their own insurance, the cost of which is passed on to their customers. And the other hotel we’ve chosen, a Marriott, has no such requirement. Weird.</p>
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<p>I attended a wedding where a thunderstorm knocked the power out just as the band was beginning to play at the reception. I think it came back after about 40 minutes, but the potential was there for a disappointing end to the celebration. </p>
<p>Frazzled, that requirement by the hotel is pretty extreme if you are not holding any festivities there. You are not a guarantor of your guest’s behavior under those circumstances. I would challenge that requirement, particularly if other hotels in the area are not requesting such insurance.</p>
<p>Frazzled-That must be a property specific requirement. S2’s wedding with a block of guest rooms was just a few months ago at a Hilton property with no such requirement. We also had a block of rooms at a Hilton property for S1’s wedding with no festivities at that site (wedding was at a nearby Marriott). Again, no insurance requirement. Frankly, I had never even heard of this until this thread. I wonder if it’s a new trend.</p>
<p>OP - Thanks. I actually was being serious. There’s so many ways people may sue. We even have to have liability insurance on our Golf cart just in case someone is a passenger and they somehow get hurt… </p>
<p>Lawsuits involving golf carts are pretty common - often involving kids or those who have had too much to drink. It is not just the passenger who sues, also those who have been hit by them. </p>
<p>OP, thanks for this thread. I now have something else to discuss with S and FDIL who are planning for and paying for their wedding themselves. They’ve booked their venue and I don’t know if the issue of liability insurance came up. I know S would hate the idea of spending $ on insurance, but FDIL is more realistic about what could happen.</p>