Saturday, May 19, 2012

Insurance for assurance?

My mom asked me the other day if I had purchased wedding insurance.  The question kind of threw me for a loop, as while I had added my engagement ring onto our renter's insurance policy (the thought of losing it made me feel sick until the policy was updated!), I hadn't really thought about purchasing insurance for the wedding itself.  I told her I'd look into it.

Image via Forbes / Photo by Alan Cleaver
One of the largest offerers of wedding insurance in the US seems to be WedSafe.  They offer two different types of insurance - Wedding Event Cancellation/Postponement Insurance, and Wedding Liability Insurance.

They suggest the following concerns might lead you to purchase Wedding Event Cancellation/Postponement Insurance:

  • Concern about recovering deposits if a vendor goes bankrupt or doesn't show
  • Concern that extreme weather or an unexpected illness / injury could force cancellation/postponement
  • If bride/groom is in the military and might be asked to forgo leave (thus missing the wedding)

Vendors are a wildcard, though we have contracts with all of them that cover for any cancellation or other issues, for the most part.  I guess there is always the possibility that a hurricane could hit Texas the weekend of our wedding, but I suppose I'd be more concerned about that if we were going to be in Houston than in Austin.  And of course there is always a chance someone (bride, groom, important family member) could become ill and be unable to attend.  Thankfully neither of us are in the military so no chance of the third issue.

WedSafe also suggets the following might lead to a need for Wedding Liability Insurance:

  • If the venue requires your own liability insurance
  • If you're concerned about legal liability for alcohol-related accidents
  • If you're concerned about lawsuits for property damage or bodily injury

Our venue doesn't require us to have liability insurance ourselves, but it does require vendors to have insurance.  We are hoping to eliminate the second issue by having transportation available from the hotels to the venue, so everyone can have a good time and not worry about being on the road as a driver.  And as for the third...well, I certainly hope everyone has fun, but not so much fun that they do something silly and hurt themselves.

All in all, I think we're going to forgo the wedding insurance policy.  We're having this shindig come rain or shine, and we'll do the best we can if anything goes sideways, I guess.

Did you look into wedding insurance?  How did you make a decision?

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