Corkage fee at a wedding venue: what it is, how venues charge it, and what to ask

Those four details decide the bill, because the same fee costs a very different amount depending on how it’s counted. Below: why venues charge it, the three ways they write it, six published examples, what to ask, and wording for the contract and the BEO.

Rules about outside alcohol, licences and who may serve it vary by state and by each venue’s licence. This post makes no claim about what is allowed where you live. Check with your state or local alcohol licensing authority and with the venue before you plan to bring your own.

What a corkage fee is and why venues charge it

Fylde Council’s wedding venue describes its fee as covering the opening, pouring and serving of the wine you bring, plus use of its glassware. The sommeliers in a 2019 Wine Spectator roundtable give similar reasons from the restaurant side: the time to open the bottle and clean the glasses, and the wine sales the restaurant loses when a guest brings a bottle. MayFair Farms, a venue, adds that a corkage fee offsets bar revenue the venue would otherwise earn. A venue that never sold you a drink still pays staff to serve yours.

How venues charge it

Published corkage fees: examples, not an average

We read six published fees. Six policies from different places can’t describe your market, and the restaurant figures date from 2019, so use them to see how fees are written and not to guess what yours will be.

MayFair Farms’ guide (May 26, 2026) gives wider ranges across venues in general: zero at venues that welcome BYOB, $5 to $15 per bottle, and $10 to $25 per guest as a flat BYOB charge. Its example is the arithmetic that matters. A $10-per-guest fee for 150 guests adds $1,500 to the bar budget. The Cold Spring Tavern page is a reminder to settle the lines around the fee: a 22% service charge appears on the same page and nothing says whether it applies to corkage. Our guide to service charge vs gratuity covers why that belongs in writing.

A worked example with made-up numbers

Suppose a couple with 120 guests brings 48 bottles of wine. At $20 a bottle the corkage is $960. If the venue charged $10 a guest, the same night costs $1,200, and the two versions match at 60 bottles. A flat $750 would be the cheapest of the three. The numbers are invented for the example.

Run your own bottle count against the venue’s rule. The free wedding alcohol calculator gives a count for your guests and hours, and the free open bar cost calculator prices the venue’s own bar for the comparison.

When a corkage fee applies

It applies when the venue serves a drink it didn’t sell: outside wine at a wedding dinner, a BYO bar where the couple supplies everything, or bottles for a toast. Some venues limit what can come in. Gloria Ferrer’s page takes outside sparkling wine off the table altogether. Others cap the bottle count, as the Craft and Casa Lever policies do. In the policies we read the fee sits on bottles brought in from outside, so ask the venue to say in writing that it doesn’t apply to drinks you buy from it.

What to ask a venue

• Is outside alcohol allowed at all, and which kinds: wine, beer, spirits, sparkling?
• Is the fee per bottle, per guest or flat, and is it counted on bottles brought or bottles opened?
• What does it pay for: glassware, chilling, a bartender, ice, mixers, cleanup?
• Who may pour, and is a venue bartender required? Is the bartender an extra charge?
• When is it billed, with the final balance or after the event? Fylde bills after.
• Do service charge and tax apply to the corkage line?
• Is there a cap on bottles, and what happens to leftovers?

How to write it in the contract and on the BEO

Put the fee in the contract as its own clause and in the BEO as lines the bar team can follow. Sample wording to adapt, which an attorney in your state should review:

“Outside alcohol. The Client may bring wine only, up to [48] bottles of 750 ml. Corkage is $[20] per bottle brought, billed with the final balance. Corkage covers opening, pouring, serving and the Venue’s glassware. It does not cover ice, mixers or bartender fees. Alcohol is served only by [the Venue’s bartenders / a bartender the Venue approves].”

On the BEO, the bar section needs the facts, not the legal wording: what the client supplied, how many bottles, when they arrive, when to chill them and who pours. For example: “Client wine, 48 bottles, delivered by 3:00 PM, chilled by 5:30 PM, poured by venue bar staff. Corkage billed on bottles brought.” The banquet event order guide shows where the bar lines go. The free venue rental agreement template has an alcohol section to start from, and the twelve clauses post explains the rest of the contract.

Next step

Open your rental agreement and find the alcohol clause. Add the four details that set the bill: the structure, the amount, the drinks it applies to and what it pays for. Then put the matching lines on the BEO template so the bar team and the invoice agree.

Sources

• Gloria Ferrer, Wedding Welcome Package (© 2026). $20 corkage per 750 ml bottle on outside wines, and the sparkling wine rule. The page words the rule slightly differently in two places, so the winery should confirm it. Read October 16, 2026.
• Cold Spring Tavern, Cost Summary (© 2025, no date on the page; prices subject to change). $30 per bottle corkage, and a 22% service charge on food and beverage. Read October 16, 2026.
• Wine Spectator, Sommelier Roundtable: BYO Dos and Don’ts (October 18, 2019). Corkage at Craft, Maple & Ash and Casa Lever, and what sommeliers say it covers. Restaurant fees, now seven years old. Read October 16, 2026.
• Fylde Council Weddings, Drinks Service (© 2026, a UK venue; pounds sterling). £10 per bottle, billed after the event, covering opening, pouring, serving and glassware. Read October 16, 2026.
• MayFair Farms, Wedding Venues That Allow Outside Alcohol (May 26, 2026). The per-bottle and per-guest ranges and the $1,500 example. A venue’s general guide, not a price list. Read October 16, 2026.

None of these is an average. Alcohol rules, licences and liability differ by state and by venue, and nothing here is legal advice.