Event Contract Items to Specify
When writing up your event contract with your venue, make sure you specifically specify all of the following items to better protect yourself and have a solid contract.
1) Is Tax Included? – Tax and gratuity are a large expense associated with planning any event. Make sure you specify whether tax is included in the price you’re given or whether the venue uses “plus-plus” pricing that will tack on gratuity and tax at the very end. If it is “plus-plus”, make sure you take that into account before determining whether a venue is in your price range.
2) Alcohol – When serving alcohol, it’s imperative that you specify the venue’s policy for liquor liability and anyone that’s serving alcohol has been trained and certified.
3) Food and Beverage Minimums – Typically any event space comes with a price, however, in many venues, if you meet a minimum amount of money in food and beverage items, the room fee is waived. Make sure you specify what the food and beverage minimum is and what the penalty is for not meeting it, just in case.
4) Ancillary Revenue Minimums – Similar to the food and beverage minimum described above, this is another minimum that is measured by the revenue brought in to the venue through ancillary items.
5) No Alterations/Renovations – When you visit venues, you take in the entire venue from the walls, flooring, windows and exterior. To ensure that the venue is in the same condition as when you walked through it, make sure you include a condition in your contract about the appearance of the premise. Make sure that no renovations can be going on during your event and if there are any changes before your event date, that they are spelled out in the contract.
6) Legal Fees – It’s very important to specify that you will only be covering your own legal fees in the event that something goes wrong and you and the venue end up in court or mediation.
7) ADA – Make sure the venue you are choosing is ADA compliant if you have elderly people or people that have trouble getting around attending your event. Specify the requirements needed under ADA in the contract.
For additional advice and ideas about planning any type of event, visit EasyEventPlanning.com and choose from 68 different event types!
Written by Brittany Schmidt
