Benefits of Wedding Insurance

Whether you're planning a destination wedding at an exotic location or a smaller wedding close to home, you may consider buying a wedding insurance policy to protect your investment. According to the statistics from The Wedding Report, the average cost of a wedding in the first half of 2010 was $23,867. Many couples work with consultants and wedding planners to handle the logistics of the wedding planning process, and some choose to add wedding insurance to the bill.

If you're planning to shell out thousands of dollars for your ceremony, you might be a good candidate for wedding insurance. Here are some of the key benefits of wedding insurance:

Offers Liability Protection

Weddings can be a fairly large financial investment and you may end up paying big deposits to secure the wedding venue, for catering services and event spaces. Liability coverage with your wedding insurance package can cover the costs of accidents or damages incurred at the wedding venue or event space. This might include alcohol-related incidents, property damage by you and your guests, and some medical expenses associated with bodily injuries that happen at a particular wedding location.

Cancellation Reimbursement

If your wedding has to be canceled because of an injury, extreme weather, or one of the members of the couple has to be deployed by the military before their wedding day, wedding insurance may reimburse you for the cancellation costs. If your wedding has to be canceled because one of the vendors goes bankrupt before the big day, or your wedding planner declares bankruptcy or disappears, you could also be eligible for some type of reimbursement.

Postponement Coverage

Similar to cancellation coverage, this type of coverage will help to manage the costs associated with postponing the wedding. If someone has cold feet a few days before the wedding or the couple decides to change the date after contracts have been signed and deposits made with various vendors, wedding insurance may help to cover some of the costs associated with postponing the Big Day.

Loss or Damage Coverage

If your wedding dress or tuxedo arrives damaged or a part of your wedding decorations order gets lost, your losses and damages may be covered by wedding insurance. Some wedding insurance providers honor claims for the loss or damage of wedding attire, décor, and other items that don't arrive at the final destination according to plan.

Wedding insurance does have many limitations and insurance companies have many exclusions to prevent insurance fraud. Still, purchasing wedding insurance can help to offset some of the costs associated with unforeseen events and help you plan that special day with peace of mind.

Sources:

Wedding Planning Institute - Average Cost of Wedding Increases

WedSafe.com - Wedding Insurance

USA Today - Your Money: Wedding insurance can cover all sorts of things