Wedding Insurance and the Limited Wedding Budget

When you are working with a bride and groom determined to reduce their wedding budget, where do you draw the line on wedding insurance? Is it optional? Is it a necessary evil? Or is it a budget item that, much like auto insurance, you dislike paying for but thank the heavens you did when something goes awry?

We have all heard wedding horror stories. Many Certified Wedding Planners have experienced them. Someone gets cold feet, a vendor or venue doesn’t deliver as promised, a natural disaster or untimely deployment intervenes, or the owl delivering the priceless family heirlooms decides to call it a day mid-delivery. Not that wedding insurance will always cover runaway grooms or fowl, but there are definite scenarios to consider covering when advising your clients on budget cuts.

In a nutshell, wedding insurance can protect your client’s investment when something out of their control interferes with their well-laid and well-paid plans. For instance, severe weather or other natural disaster can ruin venue plans, a serious illness or death in the family can cast a pall on the proceedings, or the limousine company holding the deposit and travel arrangements may go out of business the previous week. These types of wedding disasters can be mitigated by purchasing wedding insurance.

Other instances where coverage can, if not save the day, lessen the pain caused by someone else’s negligence, bad timing, or horrible luck include if the bride’s gown is damaged beyond repair during alterations, the officiant triple books the wedding day and fails to show up for the ceremony, or the bride or groom is suddenly called for an emergency military deployment.

While there is never a complete remedy for a wedding day dream turned into a nightmare by unforeseen circumstances, wedding policies, ranging from $75 to $1000, can provide some compensation for money lost to deposits, repurchases, and other expenses. In most cases, the person paying for the wedding must be the person taking out the policy.

Many insurance companies offer wedding insurance, but it is up to the CWP to help the couple figure out which company and policy works for their situation. If you research your local carriers just as you would any other vendor, you will be able to identify and recommend the companies and agents best suited for your clients.

As for a bride or groom getting cold feet, wedding insurance cannot keep them from bolting, but it can help reduce the financial pain that accompanies the shock. For more information on wedding mishaps and the potential remedies, visit Wed Safe, a company that specializes in private event insurance. Other sources to learn more about wedding insurance are The Knot, USA Today, and About.com.