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Wedding Insurance - What You Need To Know

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Weddings are among the most significant investments that many of us make in our lives. To protect that large investment, more and more people are opting to buy wedding insurance.

Here are a few scenarios that could be protected by insuring a wedding:

Sudden severe weather prevents your celebration, or causes many of your guests to cancel.
The charming restaurant you chose to host your rehearsal dinner has gone out of business, but not before they cashed your deposit check.
One of your vendors or service providers fails to show, but keeps your deposit.
A sudden illness or withdrawal of military leave makes it impossible for certain family members to attend.
Your darling nephew--the ring bearer--loses the ring while “practicing” his entrance.
Mid-hug, someone accidentally spills a glass of Merlot down the side of your antique wedding dress.

When choosing a wedding insurance company, look for providers who have been in business, have an established presence and provide the product you need at reasonable rates. You may also want to buy insurance at the beginning of your planning process, and purchase it before any significant deposits are made. However, if you are not the plan-ahead type, remember that cancellation insurance can still be purchased no later than 14 days before the event, and liability insurance can be purchased up to 24 hours before the event.

WedSafe.com is an insurance provider that I recommend. Their policies start as low as $75 and fall within two different categories:

Liability & Property Damage Insurance protects you if you’re held financially liable for property damage, bodily injury or an alcohol-related accident. This is the type of insurance required by many wedding and reception venues.
Event Cancellation / Postponement Plus protects your financial investment with coverage for nonrefundable expenses or lost deposits should you have to cancel or postpone your wedding.

Both types of policies can be purchased individually or together as a package. When purchased together, WedSafe offers a 15% savings on your premium. You might also consider becoming a WedSafe Fan on Facebook.

What experience have you had with wedding insurance? Please share your thoughts with our wedding community by commenting below.

About This Blog: Christine Dyer has an MBA in marketing and shares over ten years of marketing expertise with the wedding community. In this weekly blog called Supercharge Your Wedding Business, you'll find advice on an array of wedding business topics such as how to market to brides, social networking, wedding PR, wedding sales, vendor networking, branding, pricing and much more. .Please pass this news along to your own professional wedding network. To receive this advice in your email inbox each week, Sign Up for a Free BridalTweet Membership.

Comment by All Traditions on March 2, 2010 at 8:18am: It is very important for brides to know that liability insurance does not include any losses due to alcohol related incidents. That would be a different insurance. Also, the additional liquour insurance policies usually are void if not poured by a professional....read all your fine print.

Comment by Julie Kemerling on March 2, 2010 at 11:05am: I can't say that I've heard of this type of coverage that the client can opt to purchase - thanks for posting this information. Julie @ http://www.afinephotographer.com

Comment by Diana Litz on March 2, 2010 at 5:44pm: Does this insurance cover the deposits lost if the bride or groom cancels last minute? It seems like the groom canceling last minute happens and leaves the bride (and her family) hertbroken, humiliated and on the hook financially for things that can't be canceled on such short notice.

Comment by Diana Litz on March 2, 2010 at 5:47pm: I worded that wrong, the deposits are only part of the loss if it's in the last week or so. Most vendors expect full payment at that point in the process. Does this insurance cover those losses?

Comment by suzanne caron on March 2, 2010 at 5:55pm: It never even occured to me that I would need someything lode wedding insurance. Wow, what an eye opener. I will definately be getting some.
Thanks Christine.

Suzanne

Comment by Marilyn Chandler on March 3, 2010 at 9:46am: Thanks, for the information. Just received brochures from WedSafe, so I can give them to my brides.

Comment by Dennis Way on March 23, 2010 at 2:50am: How does this Liability insurance handle a missed set of part of the photos, for example the florist show up almost 90 minutes late for the photo session witht the bride and groom, but does get them to the church in time for the actual ceremony. It is dark after the ceremony and all the photos withe B&G and wedding party Before the ceremony are in Dark. Making a bride and maids look natural without flowers is a little funny looking, those dresses done have pockets. I got creative with the no flower posing but still unhappy birde.. We met 3 hours before the ceremony to have the first look and all portraits done. The birde told the florist , but they forgot. in my 20+ years of photographing weddings this is the 3rd time it's happened? Normally 75% of the brides portraits are done prior the cermemony. What is the normal policy for your insurance company in this case? Photos were done after but not a happy bride and florist says we still got them no refund necc. thanks

Comment by Christine Dyer on March 23, 2010 at 2:58am: Hi Dennis - Feel free to reach out to WedSafe directly to ask your questions. I'm not an expert on insurance, so I don't want to give you the wrong information. Good luck! - Christine