Wedding Insurance

To Insure or Not to Insure?

Wedding insurance is an emotive subject. Some will vehemently suggest that wedding insurance is essential to cover anything that may go wrong, but others will say that it’s a waste of money.

In 2007, 20% of the 300,000 weddings that year took out wedding insurance. That’s quite a scary statistic when you think about the money involved in weddings.

In 2008, the average cost of weddings in the UK was £17,000 with South East and London weddings costing in average of £22,858 (up from £21,901 in 2007). That’s someone’s annual salary spent on one day, day during which your friends and family watch you sign a bit of paper.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love the romance and the commitment of the day, but if you strip that away, when else would you pay someone up to £1,000 to drive you half a mile down the road. When would you spend £500 on flowers or pay for everyone you know to have a five course meal and drinks? It’s an enormous amount of money to spend on one day! And in 2008, 53% of couples paid for their weddings by themselves.

Considering all this, would you spend yet more money on wedding insurance?

What Happens When You Make a Claim

When making a claim, it can be a bit long winded. They will ask you for some details over the phone and then send you a claim form. When you send back the claim form you will need to include all the relevant documentation.

Make a photocopy of everything you send them! They will probably need the originals, so make sure you retain a copy. I cannot stress this enough. Retain a copy of any documentation you send to a wedding insurance company.

Additional documentation would include any cancellation fees, receipts, damage (either the damaged item or photos of the item), an estimate for repair/cleaning or a letter from relevant tradesperson confirming the damage is beyond repair/cleaning or a medical certificate from a general practitioner.

Once you make a claim, the claims handler will process your claim and you will be told if you will be reimbursed or not.

Finding the Insurer That’s Right for You

First, calculate roughly what your wedding will cost. It is worth paying a little bit extra on your policy to make sure you cover all the costs.

I would recommend using a well known provider. You may have to pay £3 or £4 more on your policy but I think it’s well worth it to make sure you’re getting the best protection.

Debenhams, John Lewis and American Express all offer wedding insurance. Wedding Plan is at the top of a lot of recommended suppliers. Each insurer offers different policies but similar cover. Think about what’s right for you and the cost that you’re prepared to lay out.

The internet has a wealth of information about different insurers.

• Debenhams wedding insurance
• John Lewis wedding insurance
• Wedding Plan wedding insurance
• Money Supermarket wedding insurance suggestions

Pros

• Depending on your policy, you will be covered against loss of wedding rings, service providers going bust or for some reason, the wedding being cancelled.
• You will have the piece of mind knowing that if something does happen that you won’t lose all your money.

Cons

• The cost – when you’re already spending a lot of money on one day, do you really want to spend more?
• It can be difficult to claim, make sure you document every tiny party of your wedding with receipts and written quotes.

To insure or not to insure?

H2b and I have decided to take out wedding insurance. We paid almost £86 to insure us against loss and damage, public liability, gifts, the photos going wrong, breakages and all sorts for up to £18,000. I feel better knowing that if the worst does happen, all our money won’t be wasted.

Whether or not you choose to have wedding insurance, the decision is yours. It will depend on how much of your budget will be available to spend on insurance and how much you can afford to lose if you don’t take out insurance. How much will you gain if you don’t get it? How much will you gain if you do?