Should I Insure My Wedding?

There is no denying that the global outbreak of the coronavirus will impact our lives for years to come. While we will definitely get through this emotionally and economically challenging time, what life will look like after we return to “normalcy” is not necessarily certain. However, one thing that remains sure is that couples will continue the ageless expression of love by getting married.

Another thing that will hopefully be a certainty is that couples will obtain event insurance for their big day. My hope is that this will be as important as finding the dress, selecting a venue, and hiring the wedding planner (😊).

During this difficult time, couples are grappling with the question, “Should I cancel or postpone my wedding?” After months of planning, arranging, dreaming, and imagining THE DAY, this is a heart-wrenching decision. In addition, there are financial implications. I am not stating that event insurance will make this decision easier; but it does help to alleviate some worry.

So, what is event insurance?

Allstate Insurance Company has a very informative blog on this very topic. Below is a summary of some of the information it provides.

• What Is Event Insurance:

Event insurance is also known as special event or one-day insurance and helps to protect the insured’s investment when planning a private event. It can be obtained for all types of social events such as weddings, anniversary parties, quinceañeras, and more.

• Event insurance coverage:

There are two types of coverage – cancellation and liability. Cancellation event insurance reimburses (up to the coverage limit) non-refundable deposits in instances of unforeseen occurrences that prevent the event from taking place. (Think, for example, tornado, hurricane, military deployment, or government shutdown. It doesn’t, unfortunately, cover “cold feet.”) On the other hand, liability event insurance protects the policyholder against the legal responsibility from things such as guests’ or vendors’ injury or venue damage during the event.

• When to obtain event insurance:

Often there are time restrictions of when the insurance can be obtained. Some have recommended purchasing a policy as soon as event expenditures have begun.

• Cost of event insurance:

There are many variables that will impact the cost of the event insurance policy. Considerations include the time of year, location, number of attendees, length of the event, plus the level of coverage obtained.

The information above is just the tip of the event insurance iceberg. There are so many aspects that policies can specifically address; such as, honeymoon travel, home event liability, wedding dress damage, heirloom jewelry coverage, and even elopements. In addition, and no doubt, the COVID-19 pandemic will introduce new features of coverage that were never considered before.While this is not intended to be legal advice, hopefully it is a convincing argument that event insurance is a necessity, not a luxury.