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Are You Covered? Get Wedding Insurance for Peace of Mind!
Updated: Jul 7, 2021
Wedding planning is already full of nerves, excitement, and anticipation, but don't plan your BIG day without a Plan B or wedding insurance; especially if you're planning a wedding that is during hurricane season!
You got your Fiancé/Fiancée, your dream wedding venue, and everything else is falling into place for your dream wedding, but are you covered? Do you have wedding insurance? So, what exactly is wedding insurance—and how does it work?
Though you might not want to think about it, disasters can strike your wedding day. From a sudden cancellation to stolen gifts, a hurricane or natural disaster, to a damaged gown, wedding insurance can help protect you against the unforseen, and can also afford you great peace of mind. Check out some common wedding roadblocks below:
What Is Wedding Insurance?
Basically, wedding insurance protects a couple's investment from circumstances beyond their control, and reimburses expenses incurred. Wedding insurance may help you breathe a little easier. A policy can pay for any damage or injuries that occur during the big event, or reimburse you if it’s postponed or canceled. Purchasing a policy can be quick. Here’s what to know about wedding insurance..keep reading!
Insurance that covers weddings
Having insurance for potential wedding disasters makes sense for many couples, especially if the celebration will be large and expensive. Depending on where your wedding will be, you could get coverage through:
An existing homeowners insurance or renters insurance policy.
A separate wedding insurance policy.
A special event insurance policy.
Ask their insurance agent about liquor liability and whether a venue or home have coverage if a drunken guest causes a car accident after leaving your wedding.
How Much Does Wedding Insurance Cost?
A basic insurance policy that covers loss of photos, videos, attire, presents, rings and deposits usually costs anywhere between $155 and $550, depending on the amount of coverage you want. General liability insurance, which covers up to $1,000,000 for accidents, costs around $200.
When Should You Get Wedding Insurance?
When you start writing those checks you should get wedding insurance. So, the sooner the better. Let's say you put a deposit on your wedding reception hall 12 months prior to your wedding date and then it burns to the ground a few weeks before the big day. With wedding insurance, you'll be sure to get your deposit back. But note: Most insurance companies have limitations on how far in advance you can purchase insurance.
What Does Wedding Insurance Cover?
Problems with the site, weather, vendors, key people, sickness or injury are the top concerns come wedding day. There's usually a specified maximum amount, which can be claimed under each section, and a deductible also applies. Be sure to find out the details of your insurance plan.
Venue: Check to see if your ceremony and reception site is already insured. If it's not, wedding insurance can cover the cost arising out of unavoidable cancellation such as damage or inaccessibility to the ceremony site—if your reception hall is unable to honor your reservation because it has burned in a fire, experienced an electrical outage or just plain closed down. Sometimes this policy covers the rehearsal dinner site too.
Weather: Any weather conditions which prevent the bride, groom, any relative whose presence at the wedding is essential or the majority of the guests from reaching the premises where the wedding is to take place. Insurance covers rescheduling the wedding and all the details involved, including ceremony flowers, tent rental and reception food.
Vendor no-show: What if essential wedding people—the caterer or the officiant, for example—fail to show up? A wedding insurance policy usually covers cancellation or postponement of the wedding for these reasons.
Sickness or injury: Wedding insurance may also include sickness or injury to the bride, groom or anyone essential to the wedding.
Military or job: It's true, military personnel may be shipped out at a moment's notice. Wedding insurance can cover postponement of the wedding due to the bride or groom suddenly getting called to military duty. This can also apply to a last-minute corporate move, like the bride's company suddenly relocating her to another city.
Wedding Insurance Doesn't Cover...
You can get a wedding policy to cover just about anything outside of your control that messes with your big day, but most policies don’t pay for things like:
A change of heart. In other words, cold feet don't count.
Watches, jewelry or semiprecious gemstones or pearls (even if they are attached to clothing) may not be covered.
Theft or loss of engagement ring. While your wedding rings may be covered by the policy, your engagement ring probably will not.
A rainy day, rather than extreme weather (extreme weather includes Acts of God like... earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, tornados, etc.).
If your wedding includes fireworks, bounce houses, live animals or other attractions insurers find risky, you could be declined for a policy. Some insurers may still offer you a policy, but exclude problems involving these types of attractions.
Deciding to switch to a different vendor, such as a caterer, florist, or photographer once you’ve already paid a deposit or nonrefundable retainer fee.
Additional Coverage
Couples can take out supplemental policies to defend against damages incurred by other wedding-related items such as photography, videography and stolen wedding gifts, and even destroyed wedding attire.
Photography: Some policies pay to retake the photographs after the fact if the photographer fails to appear or the original negatives are lost, damaged, stolen or not properly developed. Some policies will pay to restage the event with the principal participants so that pictures can be retaken. A policy may also pay costs for rehiring a photographer and buying a new wedding cake and new flowers.
Videographer: When a videotape produced by a professional videographer is damaged (he or she used faulty materials, for example), a policy usually pays a certain amount to have either a video montage created, a video compilation made of the photographs and other wedding memorabilia, or, if possible, a retaking of the official video at a restaging.
Gifts: Whether they're mailed to your home or handed to you on your wedding day, valuable items like gifts are something else you might want to consider insuring. Think about a party crasher lifting unattended presents from your reception. Gift coverage pays to repair or replace non-monetary gifts that are lost, stolen or damaged. A police report is usually required for stolen gifts. The damage or theft generally has to take place within a limited time period (ranging from 24 hours to 7 days, depending on the specific policy) before or after the wedding, in order to be covered.
Attire: This coverage pays to repair or replace the bridal gown or other special attire when it is in your possession and is lost, stolen or damaged (including financial failure of the bridal store). Special attire usually includes the clothing and accessories bought or rented that are to be worn by the bride, groom and attendants at the ceremony.
Personal liability: Personal liability covers bodily injury or property damage caused by an accident that occurs during the course of the wedding (your best man trips and falls on his way up to the mic to roast you, or Uncle Dennis suffers a Harvey Wallbanger wall banger).
Medical coverage: This covers reasonable medical expenses (up to the policy's limits) for each person who is injured during the covered events from a cause of loss, which would be covered by your personal liability.
Honeymoon: Your honeymoon can cost as much as a new car. But before buying travel insurance to protect your investment, see if your credit card and/or homeowner's policy covers you if your luggage gets lifted, your trip is delayed or you have to cancel. If not, you can a buy separate, trip-only policy. Call your insurer, or ask your travel agent for details. Also, certain wedding insurance packages include optional travel insurance for your honeymoon.
Common wedding insurance claims
A lot can happen after you put down wedding deposits. Vendor issues are the most common type of claims and are among the costliest.
The most common wedding insurance claims are:
Vendor issues: 30%
Illness or injury: 29%
Weather issues: 16%
Among the vendor-related claims nearly two-thirds involve wedding or reception venue problems. Typically, this involves facilities that closed unexpectedly or can no longer accommodate the wedding, causing it to be rescheduled.
Other common claims typically involve vendors that go out of business or just fail to show up on the big day. Examples include:
A photographer fails to deliver your photos.
A florist goes bankrupt and doesn’t refund the deposit.
Your seamstress loses the gown or is misplaced during travel.
The transportation company you hired goes out of business.
A caterer never shows up.
Things to Consider
Every insurance policy and every wedding scenario is different. Be sure to talk to your insurance agent—and have him or her explain the nuts and bolts to you. You want to make sure you understand every detail of your policy.
So, are you wedding planning and looking for a wedding photographer?
Are you all about capturing those unposed and authentic moments?
Well, if you answered, "YES!" let's chat!
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Happy Wedding Planning!
LOVE>PEACE+LIGHT, Sirena
