Your Private Event Insider's Glossary
The language of great
private events,
made easy.
Every venue word, explained in plain English. Bookmark this one. You will use it for years.
Private events are one of the most joyful corners of hospitality. Behind every beautiful dinner, party, or celebration is a venue team doing detailed, creative work: choreographing service, designing menus, holding space for people to connect. The language they use to describe that work is rich, specific, and precise. It has evolved inside the industry for decades.
This glossary opens that language up. Every term here shows up on real proposals, real contracts, and real inquiry replies. Once you know what each word means, conversations with venue teams become faster and more collaborative. You get to the event you want sooner, and the venue gets to do what it does best.
Start here
First, a word about the host.
If you are planning a private event, you are the host. The host is the person at the center of the planning, the primary point of contact for the venue and any vendors, and almost always the person who signs the contract and takes responsibility for the final bill.
Plenty of events are planned by a team. A partner, an assistant, a friend, a colleague, an event planner, a parent of the bride. All of them might help with research, decisions, vendor calls, and day-of coordination. That collaboration is wonderful and venues are used to it.
But there is still one host. One name on the contract. One person the venue picks up the phone for when something needs a decision. Knowing which person plays that role from the start makes every conversation faster and clearer. If the host is you, the rest of this glossary is written for you.
Pricing and minimums
F&B minimum food and beverage minimum
The amount you commit to spend on food and drink. A floor, not a ceiling. It is how venues make private events possible in the first place, reserving the space for you and building a night the kitchen and service team can plan around.
Minimum spend
Similar to an F&B minimum, sometimes broader. It can include food, drink, room hire, and service charge counted together, or a subset of those. A quick question to the venue will tell you exactly what is included.
Guaranteed guest count
The number of people you confirm you are paying for, regardless of who actually attends. Set three to seven days before the event so the kitchen can order and staff can be scheduled. Once given, it can usually go up but rarely down.
Per person pricing
A flat rate multiplied by your guaranteed guest count. Clean and easy to read. Ask what is included (service, tax, upgrades) so you are comparing two quotes on equal terms.
Plus plus (++)
An industry shorthand meaning service charge and tax will be added to the headline number. A $150++ dinner means $150 plus the venue’s service charge, plus sales tax. Once you know the code, every quote becomes easy to read.
All-inclusive
A single price designed to cover the main elements of your event in one clear number. Ask the venue for the full list of what’s inside and what might sit alongside it (rentals, overtime, upgrades). When you see both, you have the full picture.
Deposits, holds, and reservation fees
Space reservation fee
A payment that confirms your date. Usually credited toward your final bill. It lets the venue close that date to other inquiries and start planning your event with confidence.
Deposit
A widely used term that can describe a refundable hold, a booking fee, a damage deposit, or a first installment of payment. Ask the venue which one they mean and how it applies to the final bill.
Hold
A soft reservation with no money down. The venue holds your date while you confirm details. A friendly courtesy that becomes a booking the moment you say yes.
First right of refusal
If another host inquires about your held date, the venue calls you first and gives you a window (usually 24 to 72 hours) to confirm. A lovely mechanism for high-demand dates. Ask for the response window in writing and you will be ready.
Damage deposit
A refundable amount held against potential damage, returned within a defined window after the event. Ask when you should expect it back and the answer goes on your post-event checklist.
The elements of a great quote
Service charge
A percentage added to your food and drink total, usually 18 to 25 percent. It funds the people and work that make private events possible: servers, bartenders, back-of-house support, and the coordinator running your evening.
Gratuity
A tip that flows to service staff. Sometimes included in the service charge, sometimes listed separately. A good venue will explain their distribution policy in one sentence if you ask.
Administration fee admin fee
A line item covering event coordination and planning work: menu customization, vendor calls, timeline builds, and walkthroughs that happen before your event. Ask what it covers and you will see the real work it pays for.
Site fee, venue fee, or rental fee
Three terms for the same concept: the cost of occupying the space itself, separate from food and drink. Different venues use different words. They all mean the physical room is yours for the window agreed.
Cleaning fee
A post-event charge to fully reset the space. Common for venues that host high-volume formats like large receptions or weddings, where the reset is substantial.
Corkage
A per-bottle fee for wine or spirits you bring in yourself, usually $15 to $50 a bottle. Some venues waive it when you buy from their list. Others reserve their beverage program for house pours. Ask early and you will know what works.
Tasting fee
A charge for a bespoke menu tasting before your event, where the chef designs or refines courses specifically for you. A lovely step when you want a fully custom menu.
Bar styles, explained
Hosted bar open bar
The host covers the cost of all drinks for guests. Charged either as a flat per-person package or by consumption (the venue tracks pours and bills you afterward). The most common format for celebrations and corporate events. Guests never see a price.
Cash bar
Guests buy their own drinks at the bar. The host pays nothing for the alcohol itself, though some venues charge a bartender or setup fee to staff the bar. Common for fundraisers, casual gatherings, and events where the host wants to cover the food but not the bar.
Partial hosted bar also called a limited or modified bar
The host covers some drinks and guests pay for others. Common combinations include host-paid wine and beer with a cash bar for cocktails, or a hosted bar for the first hour and cash bar after. A lovely middle ground when you want to set a budget without losing the welcome.
Consumption bar
A hosted bar billed by what is actually poured. The venue tracks every drink and you pay the total at the end. Best when you trust your guest list to drink at a normal pace, and you want to avoid paying a per-head package price.
Package bar
A flat per-person price for unlimited drinks within an agreed window (often two to four hours). Predictable budgeting and easy math. Bar packages usually come in tiers: beer and wine, full bar, premium bar.
Dry event
No alcohol served. Either the host's choice or required by the venue. The venue will plan an alternative beverage program (mocktails, espresso bar, soft drinks) that can be just as memorable.
Kitchens and catering
Full kitchen
An on-site kitchen that can cook your menu from scratch, from raw ingredients to plated courses. Most restaurants offering private events have one. It opens up the widest possible menu, including hot food, multi-course dinners, and live cooking stations.
Prep kitchen
A kitchen designed for assembly and finishing rather than full cooking. Food is prepared elsewhere and brought in to be plated, warmed, or finished on-site. Common at galleries, studios, and event spaces that bring in catering. Plenty of beautiful menus work brilliantly with a prep kitchen.
Service kitchen
A small kitchen built for plating and dispatch. Food arrives ready and the kitchen handles final touches: warming, garnishing, plating. The most limited of the three, but ideal for canapés, family-style spreads, and grazing tables.
Off-premise catering
Food prepared at a separate kitchen and delivered to your venue. Standard for galleries, museums, private homes, and any venue without its own kitchen. The caterer handles their own staff and equipment.
Vendors and the day-of team
Preferred vendor list
A list of caterers, florists, photographers, DJs, and rental companies a venue has worked with before and recommends. The venue knows these vendors deliver on time, treat the space well, and understand the building. Booking from the preferred list is the easiest path to a smooth event.
Exclusive vendors
Some venues require you to use specific vendors for certain categories, most often catering or alcohol. Exclusive arrangements are common at hotels, museums, and historic spaces. They reflect the venue’s relationships with partners who know their kitchen, layout, and rules.
Outside vendors also called independent vendors
Vendors you bring in from outside the venue’s preferred list. Some venues welcome them with no questions, some require approval, and some charge an outside vendor fee to cover the additional coordination. Always ask before you sign anyone, and ask whether your chosen vendor needs to provide a certificate of insurance.
Day-of coordinator
The person who runs your event on the day, managing the timeline, the vendors, the venue team, and the host’s sanity. Sometimes provided by the venue, sometimes hired separately. For events with three or more vendors, a day-of coordinator is one of the best investments you can make.
Venue coordinator
The venue’s in-house point of contact who handles the planning process and the venue’s side of the day. Different from a day-of coordinator: a venue coordinator manages everything inside the venue’s remit, while a day-of coordinator manages your entire event including outside vendors.
Certificate of insurance COI
A document showing that a vendor (or sometimes the host) has liability insurance for the event. Many venues require COIs from outside vendors before they can set up on-site. The vendor’s insurance company issues these in a day or two, so ask early in the planning process.
What you are renting
Buyout
The entire venue is yours for the agreed window. No other guests, no walk-ins, just your event. Buyouts command a premium because the venue dedicates the night entirely to you, and they are ideal when privacy, flow, or brand experience matter.
Exclusive use
A flexible form of private access that varies by venue. It might mean a private room inside an operating restaurant, the whole venue during off-hours, or a dedicated area where your guests have their own space. Ask the venue to describe exactly what exclusive use looks like for them.
Semi-private
A defined area within an operating venue. Your guests have the space to themselves, and the venue continues serving elsewhere. A great fit for dinners and intimate gatherings where the buzz of the wider room adds to the atmosphere.
Private dining room PDR
A dedicated room, usually with a door, inside a restaurant. Built for private events with its own menu and service. Some of the most beautiful private event experiences happen in PDRs.
The contract
Force majeure
A clause releasing both parties from obligations in the event of something neither can control. A well-written force majeure clause is mutual and specific. It protects everyone, and good venues welcome conversation about how it is scoped.
Cancellation schedule
The tiered refund policy if plans change. Typically: fully refundable until X days out, partially refundable until Y days, non-refundable after Z. Each venue sets these based on how far ahead they plan and staff.
Attrition
The allowed flex between your estimated guest count and your final guaranteed count, usually 10 to 20 percent. Attrition gives you room to adjust as RSVPs come in.
Overtime
A per-hour charge for running past your contracted end time. Staff are paid, kitchens are held open, and the venue team stays late, so overtime rates reflect that real cost.
Why we put this together
Great private events happen when hosts and venues speak the same language.
We work with wonderful venues every day. They run private events with extraordinary care, and they welcome hosts who come to the conversation ready to collaborate. This glossary exists so more people can walk into that conversation with confidence.
When the language is shared, everything gets better. Proposals are clearer. Planning feels like planning. And the event itself, the part everyone is actually here for, comes together the way it was meant to.
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