Articles / July 14, 2026

Your venue wants a COI from your photographer. Here’s what to send them.

By Anthony Jenkins, founder — 4 minute read

A COI (certificate of insurance) is a one-page document proving your photographer carries liability coverage. Most Atlanta venues require $1M per occurrence in general liability, often $2M aggregate, with the venue named as additional insured. Any working corporate photographer can produce one quickly; we carry $2M general liability plus equipment coverage and issue COIs within one business day.

Why venues ask

It isn't bureaucratic theater. If a light stand goes through a ballroom mirror or a guest trips over a cable run, the venue's own insurer wants a vendor policy to claim against before touching the venue's policy. So venues push the requirement downstream to every outside vendor: caterer, AV crew, photographer. No COI on file usually means the vendor doesn't load in. Planners have watched it happen at the dock.

What the certificate shows

Four things matter on the page: the general liability limits (per-occurrence and aggregate), the policy's effective dates (they must cover your event date), the certificate holder (your venue's legal name and address), and the additional insured endorsement naming the venue, your company, or both. That last line is the one venues actually check, and it's the one an unprepared vendor can't produce.

What to send your photographer

Three items, ideally the week you book: the venue's exact legal name and address as the venue wants it written, any specific endorsement wording from the venue's vendor packet, and the deadline it's due. With those in hand, the insurer turns the certificate around in a day. Without them, everyone plays email tag the week of your event.

Red flags

• The photographer stalls or goes quiet when you ask. Working commercial shooters get this request constantly; hesitation usually means no policy.
• They offer homeowner's or "personal" insurance. Venues will reject it. Commercial general liability is the requirement.
• They can't add an additional insured. Legitimate business policies do this routinely, typically at no cost.
• The certificate arrives with limits below the venue's stated minimum. Check the numbers against the vendor packet before you forward it.

When to handle it

Request the COI when you book, not the week of the event. It's a five-minute task with weeks of runway and a genuine problem with days of runway. If your venue also requires an NDA for the event content itself, ask at the same time; we sign those on request as well.