wedding guide

Alcohol

Many of our exclusive catering partners can provide alcohol service for you under their catering license. This option is always the most straightforward and less time-consuming option for you. However, we do allow our clients to bring in their own alcohol under the following guidelines:

  1. You must have written approval from your venue contact.
    – This can be done via email.
    – We do not approve student groups that are not sponsored by their Dean, Faculty or Department.
    – You agree to follow all BC liquor laws and regulations.
  2. You understand that a per person galley fee will be applied to your bill. This is $3 per person and will be requested 1 month prior based on your final guest count.
  3. You, or a member of your event team, wedding party or other responsible family or friend obtains a Special Event Permit for the event. We recommend starting this process a minimum one month prior to your event. Note that UBC RCMP won’t approve any permits within 14 days of the event.  Please see permit application instructions below.
  4.  Your caterer or professional bartending vendor manages the service of the alcohol during the event. These vendors can also help you with glassware, mix and additional bar rentals that may be needed.
    • NOTE: While you must use a caterer from our exclusive list to serve food and beverage at your event, you do not need to for bartending/alcohol service.
      • If you do not use your caterer for this service, we do require that you do use a licensed bartending service, that carries insurance.
      • We highly recommend you utilize your approved caterer for ease of managing less vendors and lower costs getting rentals from one location (less delivery/pickup fees).
      • See below regarding external bartending service approval process.
  5. All bottles and cans are taken off site after your event.  Check with your caterer if they can take your recyclables.

 

External Bartending Service Approval Process

If you have decided not to utilize your caterer for your alcohol service, you may submit a request for approval of an outside vendor with your Venue Manager. Please see below for the information and steps:

NOTE: Do NOT confirm with an outside vendor with any deposits or contracts before being approved to access the space. We cannot be responsible for any deposits paid or commitments made with external vendors.

  1. Once you’ve selected the company you are interested in using please obtain and send the following to your venue manager:
    • Business License
    • Proof of Insurance
    • Company website and primary contact name and email
  2. We may require the external vendor to attend a site visit to understand the rules and expectations of our outside vendors.  If a site visit is required we will inform you so you can schedule the site visit with the venue. You must be present at the site visit with your vendor to ensure you are also aware of what is expected.
  3. Any cleaning fees or issues following the event due to the external vendor will be added to your final invoice.

 

Special Event Permit Information

Apply for your permit through this link. There are several important things to note when applying for this:

  1. You will need a BCeID or a BC Service Card App to apply.
  2. The cost is $25 for a private event and $100 for a public. It is non-refundable.
  3. For all events under 500 guests, you will need a Special Event Server License (SES). The cost is $25 and it takes approximately one hour to complete the test.
  4. You will need to set up a My LDB Account to apply for your permit. Your application will get flagged/turned  down if you submit too high of an product amount to purchase. See RCMP NOTES ON SPECIAL EVENT PERMIT.
  5. When applying for a license on UBC Campus, the application will automatically be flagged for our local RCMP to review. They won’t approve any applications under 14 business days for your event.

RCMP Notes on Special Event Permit

University RCMP’s policy on liquor serving is 1 drink per person per hour to a maximum of 5 hours.

  • PLEASE NOTE: The ‘Suggested No. Servings’ amount listed on Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch’s (LCRB) online conversion tool may not accurately represent the University RCMP’s permitted servings amount.
  • Permit applicants are responsible to ensure their requested serving amounts do not exceed the University RCMP’s policy.
  • Permit applications with serving amounts higher than allowed by University RCMP detachment will be cancelled.
  • Please contact UBC_RCMP@rcmp-grc.gc.ca if you have any questions about serving amounts.

Information you need when applying for your Special Event Permit

  1. When applying you must select Vancouver (UBC). If you select Vancouver, it will be automatically approved and then cancelled a few days later by UBC RCMP — you will then have to start the process all over again at your own cost.
  2. Location name: Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre.
  3. Venue type: Banquet Hall.
  4. Service area: the rooms that you are serving alcohol in and/or licensing. Write down the names for the rooms you have rented on your contract that you intend to serve the product in.
  5. Maximum number of guests in service area at any given time will be your guest count. You cannot exceed 300 people. If you have a guest count greater than 300, then speak with your venue contact before applying.
  6. They may ask you for a security plan. You can write the following:

The Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre has the following security plan and measures in place for all (evening) licensed events.

  • The facility hires a third party license security guard (currently through Guard Teck Security), for all licensed events in the evening after 5pm weekdays and 4pm weekends (once the building is closed to public).  The facility  staff handle the onsite communication with the guard. They are placed at the entrance of the building to ensure that no outside non guests enter and that no alcohol goes outside.
  • The facility has minimum one staff member onsite for  all events. They are trained in emergency evacuation protocols, as well as how to manage safety and medical emergencies on  the UBC Point Grey campus.
  • The facility requires that all liquor service be provided through the list of exclusive caterers or licensed bar services, and that all staff handling the service of alcohol have serving it right certificates.
  • Evacuation ERP plans are located centrally at every elevator in the building.  Here is a copy of these emergency plans in this links below (for weddings you will need L1 & L2)

L1 2019      L2 2019        L3 2019