Your special day is important to you. You want everything to go perfectly for you and your guests. Despite perfect planning, disasters can still happen. You should consider how much a financial investment you put into your planning. Catering, the venue, decorations, and what you wear add up. Wedding insurance can help protect you and your guests against unforeseen situations, giving you peace of mind about the event.
What Weddings Cost
The national average for a wedding, according to Zola.com, costs $29,000. Wedding expenses, however, depend on many factors. How many guests you have, the venue, decorations, the catering, and the area where you have the wedding are factors. For example, an average wedding in Alaska costs $12,083, but an average wedding in Washington, D.C., costs $45,400. That’s a lot of money to lose if you have wedding problems. Having wedding insurance can help you recover these expenses in an emergency or unanticipated situation.
What Is Wedding Insurance?
Wedding insurance policies typically cover two different insurance issues. The first insurance issue is for cancellation or postponement. The second insurance type is liability for accidents or damage before, during, or after the wedding. For your wedding, you will need both cancellation and postponement insurance as well as liability insurance to cover unexpected, potential costs.
Why Should You Buy Wedding Insurance?
The reason you should buy wedding insurance is that insurance can save you money. No matter how careful you are, you can have financial losses. Something going wrong before, during, or after your wedding is pricey. You can have legal and financial liabilities from wedding-related incidents.
Cancellation or Postponement Coverage
There are many situations where you need wedding insurance. Cancellation or postponement are among the most expensive reasons. Extreme weather, such as hurricanes, can delay or cancel your wedding. Some policies will not cover common weather issues, such as rain. Your wedding venue could abruptly shut down, either through bankruptcy or other emergencies. Wedding cancellation and postponement insurance can reimburse you for non-refundable deposits you paid.
Sometimes wedding participants, the honorees, their parents, grandparents, or ceremony officials will become sick or injured and unable to attend. For those in the military, a sudden deployment can wreck the best-laid wedding plans. Delayed transportation to the wedding or shuttered hotel accommodations can cause cancellation or postponement.
Other Cancellation Coverage
Cancellation wedding insurance does not only cover venue cancellation or wedding postponement but covers loss or damage to wedding objects. This insurance covers lost wedding rings, damaged wedding clothes, and loss or damage to wedding photographs and videos. Weddle cancellation insurance can also cover loss, theft, or damage to wedding gifts. Damage to the wedding from weather-related issues is often covered by cancellation and postponement of wedding insurance.
Protection for Vendor No-Shows or Bankruptcy
Cancellations don’t always involve bad weather, closed venues, or ill wedding participants. Your wedding budget may include deposits or fees for professional services like florists, hairstylists, makeup artists, musicians, and photographers. Cancellation insurance covers these fees paid to vendors who don’t show up or who go out of business. You should have contracts and invoices for services and goods from any vendor or service provider. Without written contracts and receipts for vendors and other providers, you will not be able to prove you paid for the insured services.
The exception to no-shows are vendors and other service providers who have COVID-19. COVID-19 is a known infectious disease, creating circumstances that give rise to cancellations and postponements of events. Therefore, as an expected situation, wedding insurance does not cover COVID-19.
Liability Coverage for Accidents, Damage, and Injuries
Wedding liability insurance coverage pays for injuries or property damage during your wedding. For example, if someone breaks a leg during the wedding or reception or a participant damages venue property, wedding liability insurance will cover the injury or damage expenses. Many venues require event liability and property damage insurance. Wedding liability limits range from $500,000 to $5 million, depending on the policies. Some policies do not have a deductible. Other insurance policies require deductibles for property damage coverage. Deductibles are the claim expenses you cover as out-of-pocket expenses for property damage before insurance pays for expenses.
Host Liquor Liability Insurance
Damage and injury insurance coverage often includes host liquor liability insurance. Liquor liability insurance protects you financially if you serve alcohol at your wedding. Serving alcohol at an event risks liability if a wedding guest or participant has too much to drink and crashes into another car after leaving the wedding. The injured driver can sue you for serving alcohol, but the liquor liability insurance will cover your legal defense.
Medical and Therapy Coverage
Depending on the insurer, you may add medical payment coverage to your wedding insurance policy. For example, if someone trips and need medical care for injuries, the insurance would cover their medical costs within the insurance liability limits. For you, some insurers will cover professional counseling coverage, including therapy for emotional stress caused by a canceled or postponed wedding.
What Wedding Insurance Doesn’t Cover
Wedding insurance usually doesn’t cover “change-of-heart” scenarios. A change-of-heart scenario is when one of the wedding participants decides they don’t want to go through with the wedding. Not committing to going through with the wedding is different from sudden illness, injury, or military deployment. In a change-of-heart situation, the people responsible for the wedding expenses will lose the costs of the wedding, such as venue, accommodations, catering, decorations, clothing, and other expenses. A few insurers cover change-of-heart scenarios, but not many.
Wedding insurance typically won’t cover equipment rented from a third-party business unaffiliated with the wedding venue. You should make sure the vendors you hire have their insurance. For coverage, you will need their proof of insurance and liability limits.
Other situations wedding insurance will not cover are risky attractions such as fireworks, bounce houses, or live animals. Wedding situations such as scuba diving, cave exploring, or other high-risk situations may not be covered by any cancellation, postponement, or liability insurance. Insurers may offer you a policy but exclude these types of attractions and potentially hazardous situations.
Wedding Insurance Is Necessary
For your wedding, insurance is essential. Consider the benefits of wedding cancellation, postponement, and liability insurance for your event through Entertainment Sports Promotion (ESP). Unforeseen problems such as shuttered venues, accidents, and injuries can add expenses to what should be a joyous occasion. For your peace of mind, choose wedding insurance for your special day.
