Wedding Barn Lawsuit

Several wedding barns have filed a lawsuit in Trempealeau, Wisconsin against the Wisconsin Department of Revenue in 2024.  The lawsuit, Farmview v. DOR, concerns new legislation, Wisconsin Act 73, that has passed in Madison restricting how wedding barns are able to serve alcohol at their venues.    

What is a Wedding barn, you may ask.  A wedding barn is typically a privately owned barn that has been converted to host private events such as weddings.   

Wedding barns have become increasingly popular for a variety of reasons.    

1. They are often surrounded by nature and scenic vistas.    
2. They can be considered a unique, nontraditional venue for a wedding.  
3. They are often very spacious.  
4. They typically are much more flexible than traditional venues and halls.  
5. Allowing items to be brought in by the hosts or other contracted parties instead of the venue can save large amounts of money.  

One of the larger areas to save money at a wedding can be around the serving of alcohol.  Wedding barns often let the hosts arrange to bring in their own alcohol to serve to guests opposed to having to purchase it and have it served through the venue.  

Many traditional venues in Wisconsin took the position that this gave wedding barns a competitive advantage since they were required to have liquor licenses and follow strict guidelines about the purchasing and serving of alcohol.  This increased cost had to be passed on to the hosts of the weddings.   

The Tavern league of Wisconsin strongly advocated for changes to the law that would address this disparity and alleged unfair advantage.  Wedding barns were able to get around prior alcohol laws by labeling their events as private so that they were not subject to the same licensing as establishments like bars and restaurants.   

History of the Law  

Wisconsin alcohol regulations have been set up in a three-tier system as outlined in Chapter 125 of the Wisconsin Statutes.   

1. Manufacturers. 
2. Wholesalers or distributors 
3. Retailers 

The original purpose of this system was to prevent monopolies and was passed in the 1930’s after prohibition ended.   Wedding barns were not an issue at this time, so they were able to work around the existing laws.   

The New Wedding Barn Law 

The new law requires that wedding barns either get a permit or obtain a liquor license to operate legally if they are serving alcohol at weddings.   This new law also creates a new division at the state Department of Revenue to administer and enforce the new law.   

Moving forward, wedding barns must either limit the number of events that serve alcohol or get a liquor license.  

The new law also relaxes the restrictions in the three-tier system, makes changes to the full-service retail privileges, and changes to contract manufacturing.   

The Wedding Barn Lawsuit  

The lawsuit filed by the wedding barns claims that the wedding barns equal protection guarantees are being violated and that the State of Wisconsin is imposing an illegal, non-uniform tax.   

Fortunately, for those who have already booked weddings, the wedding barn provisions do not go into effect for two years.   After two years, however, if these restrictions are not overturned, newlyweds will likely have additional costs if they want to serve alcohol at their weddings if they are planning it at a wedding barn.