Corkage Fees at Polish Wedding Venues: I Checked 65 and I Have Bad News

A corkage fee is what a venue charges for letting you bring your own alcohol. It sounds simple, and it sounds simple in conversation too: “we do charge corkage, but it’s small.”

The trouble is that “small” can only be calculated after the wedding. With 120 guests, the difference between 20 PLN and 50 PLN per person is 3,500 PLN. That’s roughly what an engagement session together with an outdoor session costs, according to my offer, or half of a decent band.

I wanted to write this piece with actual figures. So I approached it the way it should be approached: on 1 September 2026 I went through the websites of 65 wedding venues near Warsaw looking for the corkage fee amount.

The result was so clear-cut that it changed the whole piece.

What I found after checking 65 venues

I checked three groups of venues: 23 barns and rustic locations, 18 boho-style places, and 24 palaces and manor houses. That’s 65 venues in total, all within roughly 80 kilometres of Warsaw. In every case I read the venue’s own website, not a wedding directory, because directory prices can be two seasons out of date.

I don’t know all of these venues only from their websites. I’ve photographed an outdoor wedding at Pałac Zegrzyński myself, and you can see more of my work in the portfolio.

Not one of the 65 venues states the corkage amount. Not a single one. There’s no sentence anywhere saying “corkage is this much.” That’s surprising, because venues quote corkage quite normally over the phone, so it isn’t a trade secret. It just doesn’t make it onto the website.

Three venues state outright that they don’t charge corkage. These are the only three out of all 65 that write anything about corkage at all:

• Cicha 23 in Marki: “Cicha 23 does not charge a corkage fee.” The same FAQ adds that there’s a freezer in the catering area and the caterer helps chill the alcohol.
• Stodoła Rasztów, a barn venue near Klembów: “No, we don’t charge a corkage fee.” The same FAQ also says there’s no cake-cutting fee, but you have to sort out the cake yourself.
• Pałac Lasotów in Zielonki: “There are no additional charges such as corkage, an extra service fee, or parking.” On top of that, from May to October, the wedding cake is included in the price.

One venue out of 65 states a price per person. Hotel Venecia Palace: 350 PLN per person on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but only for receptions above 150 guests. Below 150 guests, the price is set individually.

That’s everything. Sixty-one venues say nothing about either the price or corkage. All figures were checked on 1 September 2026, directly on the venues’ own websites.

What this actually means

It’s tempting to read this result as “venues are hiding something.” That would be a convenient thesis, but I don’t think it’s true. Venues don’t publish prices for a reason that’s entirely rational on their part: a wedding isn’t an off-the-shelf product. The price depends on the menu, the guest count, the day of the week, the month, and whether you’re taking rooms for the night.

Either way, the result for you is the same: you can’t compare venues online. Comparing five places means five emails, five phone calls and two weeks of waiting, and at the end you still end up with five figures that describe five different scopes.

This is where corkage comes in, because it’s the most common place where these scopes diverge. Venue A quotes a price without corkage. Venue B quotes a price with corkage built in. Both are telling the truth. You end up comparing two figures that mean different things.

One more thing is worth noting from this survey: all three venues that mention corkage say they don’t charge it. Not charging corkage has become a selling point venues boast about. Venues that do charge it stay silent. That’s a useful rule of thumb when reading a website: since not having a corkage fee is something worth advertising, silence on the subject usually doesn’t mean there isn’t one.

How much corkage actually costs

Here I have to be honest with you, because this is the heart of the piece.

I’m not going to give you a price range. Ranges circulate online, they’re easy to find, and they look credible. I checked where they come from: guides quoting other guides. One of the most repeated figures comes from a wedding venue’s own blog, meaning a source describing its own market, with a stake in it.

I could copy those figures across. The piece would then look exactly like twenty others, just with my name on it, and you’d be making a decision worth several thousand PLN based on a number whose origin I don’t actually know.

Instead, I have something you can actually verify: three named venues that don’t charge corkage and say so openly. If that’s an important criterion for you, these are three phone calls worth making.

And one practical thing I know from weddings, not from the internet: corkage is charged in two different ways, and that matters more than the rate itself. Per person, or per bottle. At the same rate, these two models produce completely different bills depending on how much your guests actually drink. Charging per bottle can work in your favour at a wedding where little alcohol gets through, and badly against you at one where a lot does. Ask about the model before you ask about the amount.

Other charges that show up in contracts

Corkage is the best known fee, but it rarely comes alone. The items below come up in couples’ conversations often enough that it’s worth asking about them from a list, not from memory.

• Cake fee. For cutting and serving a cake the venue didn’t make.
• Service charge. Added as a percentage of the bill, sometimes separately, sometimes folded into the per-person price.
• Extending the reception. Almost always charged per hour started, past the agreed finish time. This is the item that most often catches people off guard, because the decision is made late at night and the bill arrives later.
• Parking. Less common, but it happens, especially at venues in the city.
• Exclusive hire. A surcharge for making sure there’s no second wedding on the same day. At venues with several halls, this is a real item.
• Minimum guest count. Not technically a fee, but it works like one: if the minimum is 150 guests and only 110 show up, you pay for 150.
• Overnight stay for staff. At venues further from Warsaw, this applies not only to guests but to the crew too. It’s the same with me: above 200 km from Warsaw, overnight accommodation is added, and I mention it at the quote stage, not after the wedding.

Questions to ask the venue before you sign

Copy this and send it by email. Answers in writing are worth more than answers over the phone, not because anyone is lying, but because in a year’s time no one will remember what they said.

1. Do you charge a corkage fee? If so, in which model, per person or per bottle, and how much?
2. Is there a fee for serving the cake if we bring our own?
3. What exactly is included in the price per person, and what isn’t?
4. What is the minimum guest count, and what happens if fewer guests attend?
5. Until what time does the contract run, and how much does each extra hour cost?
6. Is there another reception at the venue on the same day?
7. Is there a fee for service, parking or exclusive hire?
8. When do we need to confirm the final guest count, and until when can it be changed?
9. Is the price fixed on the day the contract is signed, or can it rise before the wedding?

That last question is the most important one, and the one fewest couples ask. You typically sign the contract a year or eighteen months before the wedding.

What the contract should include

I’m not a lawyer and this isn’t legal advice. I’m writing about what I’ve seen happen to couples for whom something went wrong.

• The price per person and a list of what it includes. Not “wedding menu,” but what’s actually in it.
• Every additional charge, named and priced. If there’s no corkage fee, the contract should say so explicitly. No mention isn’t the same as no fee.
• The minimum guest count and the deadline for confirming it.
• Hours. Start and finish times, and the rate for any extension.
• The conditions under which the price can change before the wedding.
• Non-refundable deposit or refundable advance payment. In a Polish contract these are two different legal terms, zadatek and zaliczka, and they are not interchangeable: a zadatek stays with the venue if you cancel, a zaliczka is returned. Check which word is used in your contract, because it’s the one difference that matters if things fall apart.
• What happens if the wedding is cancelled for reasons beyond your control.

And a sentence I repeat to couples every chance I get: whatever you agree on in conversation needs to go into the contract. Not because anyone is trying to cheat you. Because over a year and a half, the person you spoke to at the venue often changes.

What to take away from this

• Out of 65 venues checked near Warsaw, not one states the corkage amount on its website. Checked on 1 September 2026.
• Three venues state that they don’t charge corkage: Cicha 23, Stodoła Rasztów, Pałac Lasotów.
• Since not charging corkage is something venues boast about, silence on the subject usually doesn’t mean there isn’t a fee. Ask.
• The billing model, per person or per bottle, can matter more than the rate itself.
• Everything agreed in conversation needs to go into the contract, including the sentence confirming a fee doesn’t apply.

Prices and venue policies change every season, which is why every figure in this piece has a checked date next to it. Before you sign a contract, confirm the current terms directly with the venue.

One more thing before you start calling round venues

If you’re still at the stage of choosing a venue, that means you have plenty of time before the wedding. It’s a good moment for an engagement session, which is part of my offer: not so you have nice photos for the invitations, but so we can check that we’re comfortable together in front of the camera before the day that has no retakes.

You’ll find what’s in my packages and how much they cost in the offer.