Wedding insurance

What is wedding insurance?

You may have planned every tiny detail of your nuptials, but unfortunately things don’t always go to plan and that’s where wedding insurance can step in.

It can cover a wide range of events that result in cancellation, damage, loss or injuries, helping you to rearrange your big day or replace stolen or damaged items.

Cover will be in place in the run up to the wedding as well as the day itself, so taking out a policy as soon as you begin signing contracts with suppliers can be a good idea. Typically, this can be done up to two years before the ceremony date.

What doesn’t it cover?

It’s unlikely that you’ll receive a payout for:

• Poor weather – Even if it’s lashing it down, it’s unlikely that you’ll be covered unless you have a specialist policy, especially in cases where the weather was forecast ahead of time (known risk). A storm causing the venue to be unusable or preventing the officiant from getting there could be valid reasons to claim depending on the policy
• Cold feet – If you and your partner decide you no longer want to get married and lose money as a result of this, you won’t be covered
• You want to cancel the entire wedding because of a small issue – For instance, if your dress or suit is damaged, you can claim for the cost of that but if you want to cancel your wedding because of it, you won’t be covered
• Cancellation due to money problems – If the cost of the wedding is running away from you and you need to cancel because you’re struggling to cope financially, unfortunately you won’t usually be covered. You may want to consider talking to a debt adviser for free from charities like StepChange and National Debtline

It’s important to read the terms and conditions of policies carefully to see what you’ll be covered for.

Wedding insurance abroad

It will depend on the policy whether you’re covered as standard for having your wedding abroad or if you’ll need to purchase an add-on to be protected.

Generally, you’ll have a similar level of cover to what you would receive in the UK, but there’ll be key differences, so it’s vital that you read the terms and conditions carefully and contact the insurer if you’re in doubt at all.

This could include the wedding ceremony and reception having to be held within a certain timeframe if they’re being carried out separately, for instance if the ceremony is abroad and the reception is later in the UK. Some policies will also exclude public liability cover abroad or personal liability cover in North America.

There may be restrictions around where you’ll be covered to hold your wedding too, like Ukraine and Russia, as well as other surrounding countries due to the ongoing conflict.

Remember that wherever your destination wedding is being held, you’ll still need travel insurance to provide cover for things like medical expenses and flight cancellation which aren’t included in your wedding insurance policy.

When to buy it

Ideally, you should take out wedding insurance before you’ve started signing contracts with suppliers and the venue. Basically, as soon as you stand to lose money if it was cancelled.

Check with the insurer, but this can usually be done up to two years before the ceremony date.