WEDDINGS2026
What does an all-inclusive wedding venue include?
The word gets used loosely. Here is what it actually has to cover.
What does an all-inclusive wedding venue include? The food, the bar, the tables and chairs, and the staff, all from one place, for one price, so you are not hiring a separate caterer, rental company and bar service. At the Roostertail that price is quoted per person and already has tax and gratuity built in. It is still not the whole cost. Here is exactly what the term covers, and what it never does.
What does an all-inclusive wedding venue include
An all-inclusive wedding venue includes the food, the bar, the room, the tables and chairs, and the staff to run the night, all from the venue itself, for one quoted price. You are not assembling a caterer, a rental company and a bar service separately and hoping they show up on the same afternoon. At the Roostertail, a waterfront wedding venue in Detroit, that means a kitchen and a bar the venue runs itself. Everything is catered in house.
The word gets stretched. Sometimes it only means "outside vendors are allowed" or "there is a preferred list." That is not the same thing. A genuinely all-inclusive venue owns the kitchen and the bar program, so the same team plating dinner is pouring the open bar and bussing the tables, and there is one point of contact if something runs late.
The honest version of the term still has edges. It covers the meal, the drinks, the furniture and the staff. Here it does not cover the flowers, the photographer, the band or DJ, or the cake, and most venues draw the line in the same place. The next sections walk through the Roostertail's own three-part price, then draw that line plainly.
The three numbers that make up the total
"All-inclusive" at the Roostertail is not one price. It is three, and a quote that only mentions one of them is not the total. The first is the per-person package price: $149, $179 or $219 a person, and that figure already has tax and gratuity added in. There is no separate tax and gratuity line waiting at the end, because both are already inside the number you were quoted.
The second is a site fee, a range stated as $4,500 to $9,500. It is not fixed and it is not a food and beverage minimum. It moves with the per-person rate you choose, your guest count, the date, the time of day and the room, and a higher per-person spend brings the site fee down. Nobody can hand you one number for it without those five inputs.
The third only applies if the ceremony happens on site: a one-time ceremony fee, $2,750 on the Marine Room's side patio or $3,850 on the Palm River Room's waterfront deck. That covers 30 minutes of guest arrival, the 30-minute ceremony itself, a rehearsal, chairs and setup, an aisle with a grand reveal, photo spots, indoor restrooms and a weather backup plan.
Add those three together and you have the real total. Skip any one of them and the number you are working from is not the number you will pay. For the full breakdown by guest count, see the Roostertail's all-inclusive wedding packages.
What the per-person price gets you
The per-person number buys the reception itself. It runs 4.5 hours on Package One and 5 hours on Packages Two and Three, and it includes an open bar for part of that time: 4 hours of house pours on Package One, 4.5 hours of a premium bar on Package Two, 4.5 hours top shelf on Package Three.
Dinner is plated or buffet on the first two packages, and dual plated (salmon and chicken, or filet and chicken) on Package Three. Package Two and Package Three add a cocktail hour with passed hors d'oeuvres, a choice of three. Package Three adds a late-night snack: coney dogs, Detroit-style pizza, a pretzel wall or fries.
All three packages include a champagne toast at the head table and cake table, a venue coordinator for the night, dietary accommodations, and cake cutting. Halal options run $5 per person more, and children or vendor meals are $75 each. None of that is a hidden add-on. It is simply not baked into the base per-person figure, so ask for it by name.
What the site fee covers
The site fee is the part couples understand least, because it is a range rather than a flat number. What it buys is fixed even when the price is not: 60-inch round tables that seat 10, plus tall tops, a gift table and a cake table. Silver or gold Chiavari chairs with cushions. House linens in a range of colors, with white or black napkins. Silver or gold chargers and table numbers.
It also covers customizable LED color lighting in the room, guest and vendor Wi-Fi, one bartender for every 100 guests, free self-parking in the venue's own lot, private restrooms for your event space, and the attached waterfront space for photos. The venue coordinator on the night is included here too, working alongside what the per-person price already covers.
That is a long list for one line item on a quote, and it is why the site fee moves. A couple spending more per person, on a Saturday in peak season, in the larger of the two rooms, will see a different site fee than a couple on a Thursday in January with a smaller guest count. The range exists because the inputs do.
What is never included, anywhere
Here is the honest boundary at the Roostertail, and at most venues that use the term. Florals are not included. Photography and video are not included. Entertainment, whether a DJ or a live band, is not included. The wedding cake itself is not included, even though cake cutting is.
Those four categories are vendor bookings you handle outside the venue, because they are not things a kitchen and bar program provides. If a quote implies otherwise, ask exactly which line item it is hiding in.
The venue coordinator is worth naming precisely here too, because the title gets misread. A venue coordinator runs the building on the night: the room, the staff, the timing, the service. That person is not planning your wedding, choosing your florist or building your seating chart. For the fuller list of what to ask a coordinator directly, see the questions to ask your wedding venue coordinator.
Reading an all-inclusive quote so nothing surprises you
Ask for the total in three lines, not one: per-person price, site fee, ceremony fee if you need it. If a venue gives you a single number, ask what it does not cover before you compare it to another venue's single number, because the two numbers may not contain the same things.
Confirm the bar hours and pour level by name, not just "open bar," since the length and the shelf both change by package. Confirm whether tax and gratuity are already inside the per-person figure or added at the end. At the Roostertail they are already in it, which is unusual enough to state plainly and confirm in writing.
Ask what the site fee buys in your specific room and on your specific date, since it is a range, not a fixed charge. And ask what is on you to book separately. Florals, photography, entertainment and the cake will be on that list here, all-inclusive or not. When you have your guest count and a date in mind, check the date and the three numbers come back as one written quote.
Questions people ask
- What does all-inclusive mean for a wedding venue?
- It means the food, the bar, the tables and chairs, and the staff running the night all come from the venue itself for one quoted price, instead of a couple hiring a separate caterer, rental company and bar service. At the Roostertail that price is a per-person figure, $149 to $219, that already has tax and gratuity built in.
- What is included in an all-inclusive wedding venue package?
- The per-person package covers the reception itself: 4.5 to 5 hours, an open bar, plated or buffet dinner, a champagne toast, a venue coordinator, dietary accommodations and cake cutting. A separate site fee, $4,500 to $9,500, covers the tables, Chiavari chairs, linens, lighting, Wi-Fi, one bartender per 100 guests and free parking.
- Does an all-inclusive wedding venue price include tax and gratuity?
- At the Roostertail, yes. The per-person price of $149, $179 or $219 already has tax and gratuity added into it, so the number quoted is the number charged for that part of the bill. Many venues quote a base price and add tax and gratuity afterward, so confirm this in writing before comparing two quotes.
- What is never included in an all-inclusive wedding package?
- Florals, photography and video, entertainment such as a DJ or band, and the wedding cake itself are not included in the all-inclusive price at the Roostertail, and most venues draw the same line. Cake cutting is included, but the cake is a separate order a couple places outside the venue.
- Why does the site fee change instead of being one number?
- The site fee is a range, $4,500 to $9,500, because it is set by the per-person rate chosen, the guest count, the date, the time of day and the room booked. A higher per-person spend lowers the site fee. It is not a food and beverage minimum, so no single number applies until those details are set.
- Does the venue coordinator plan the wedding?
- No. A venue coordinator runs the venue side of the night, the room, the staff, the timing and the service, and is included in every package. That person does not plan the wedding, book vendors or build a seating chart the way an independent wedding planner would.