Wedding
Insurance
Weddings,
regardless the current economy, are still quite expensive events. The average
cost of a wedding still approaches $30,000. Insurance has become a necessary
component to provide special protection for this extremely important, personal
event.
Wedding
insurance is not standardized, so policy wording can be quite different among
the specialty insurance companies that offer the protection. Wedding insurance
can help protect against the huge expenses suffered if, for certain reasons,
the wedding is either postponed or is cancelled. Protection can be purchased to
respond to loss involving unrecoverable expenses as well as to lawsuits that
result from a wedding that is held as planned.
Usually, to
qualify for coverage, a wedding’s cancellation or delay has to be caused by an
eligible source of loss/disruption such as catastrophic weather, a church where
the wedding is to be held suffers smoke damage and is suddenly closed, or the
reception caterer closes her business the day before the wedding.
Items covered
by the policy are usually expenses that can’t be recovered (non-refundable).
Eligible expenses often include the following:
·
Facility Rental (church, reception halls, etc.) Costs
·
Catering Costs
·
Clothing Rental Fees
·
Photographer Fees (in some cases, videographer fees may also
qualify)
·
Hotel Costs
·
Transportation Costs (limos, taxi costs for transporting wedding
party or guests incurred by insured or honoree)
·
Air Transportation
·
Other miscellaneous, non-refundable costs
Eligible
expenses include those related to the honeymoon as well. Examples of “Other
expenses” may be the deposits for services, such as florists, entertainers,
etc. Naturally, payment of these costs is subject to the policy’s limit.
This coverage protects
against losses or lawsuits that allege that the insured/honoree is responsible
for bodily injury, personal injury or property damage to a third party.
However, any claim must be due to an incident that takes place at the wedding
(including reception). The coverage obligation includes a duty to legally
defend an insured/honoree against claims/losses.
Example: The
Brydals are sued by a best man who was seriously injured when the nervous groom
turned abruptly to get the wedding ring and knocked the best man off a podium.
Many wedding
policies offer additional coverages such as:
·
Photographs and Video Tape Coverage
·
Gift Coverage
·
Rented Property Coverage
·
Special Attire Coverage
·
Jewelry Coverage
When some
accident comes about to turn the big day into the big cancellation or the big
disaster; having wedding insurance could take the financial sting out of the
situation.
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