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The past few years have been disastrous for wedding planning. With weddings getting cancelled, postponed, or couples resorting to court weddings. However, there seems to finally be a light at the end of the tunnel in 2022. Things are getting better, and it’s the perfect year to start planning. It is the year to make wedding dreams a reality. As a wedding is a beautiful event where loved ones tie the knot to spend the rest of their life together.
Although planning a wedding is far from beautiful and not as fun as the actual event. It is chaotic and stressful. From booking the venue, caterer, photographers, guest list and the massive bill at the end. In fact, average spending on weddings in Hong Kong costs around HKD 400,000 and differs depending on the country.
It is a cost one would not want to waste – as it is a lot of money to lose if anything goes wrong. But there is a way to avoid financial loss if things go wrong, such as weather, vendor cancellations, damages, and so much more.
The best and only way is to purchase wedding insurance. It is an insurance that understands things don’t always go as planned. Therefore, it is the perfect first step in planning a wedding. As there is, unfortunately, a long list of things that can affect and potentially ruin a wedding. This article will explain everything about wedding insurance and why a couple needs to purchase it before the big day.
What Is Wedding Insurance?
Wedding insurance is a type of event insurance that covers you from losses due to certain situations involving your wedding day. These include accidents at a wedding, extreme weather, problems with the venue or vendors, and many more incidents that may prevent the wedding from occurring.
The insurance provides financial cover during these situations so the couple can use the money to re-plan or invest it in other ways. Therefore, it is the perfect insurance to help the couple enjoy the purpose of the wedding without stressing about money loss.
In addition, insurers can customise wedding insurance to fit any wedding, no matter how big or small the wedding is. Although the pandemic cover has been removed from all wedding insurance and pandemic cancellation will not be covered.
Common Wedding Risks & Wedding Insurance Cover
Extreme Weather Cancellation
The weather can be a wedding event’s best friend or nightmare. Most couples dream of a sunny wedding with natural light shining on them as they say “I Do”. Unfortunately, the weather can be unpredictable. A beautiful day can be affected by a typhoon, hurricane, snowstorms, and many more disasters. Situations like this brings anger, stress and hopeless feelings. Then more when you remember the amount of money you could lose due to non-refundable costs. Additionally, the couple may have to pay even more to postpone the wedding by finding the new dates, moving vendors, informing everyone -all over again.
For instance a place like Hong Kong, the weather can be unpredictable – even if you plan to avoid typhoon season. A typhoon can appear out of nowhere near the wedding day and pick up speed closer to the day. If it reaches a typhoon 8, the whole city is basically shut down, and even if it is an indoor wedding, no one will be able to attend.
Wedding insurance is the just-right stress relief when a wedding is suddenly cancelled or postponed due to weather disasters. The insurance will reimburse all the non-refundable costs and allow the couple to re-invest into moving the wedding. Although the cancellation will only be covered if the weather drastically affects the wedding and more than 50% of guests can’t attend. The insurance will not cover light rain cancellations or a slight weather inconvenience.
Equipment & Property Damage
When booking a venue, no one thinks of the accidents that could happen and the damage risks. There are hundreds of things that could go wrong at the venue and cause property or equipment damage. Damage could occur to the venue property and rented equipment. An additional cost will have to be paid by hosts when guests or the event itself damages the rented equipment or venue.
For example, when a guest at a wedding damaged the venue’s white carpets when they spilt a glass of red wine. The venue charged the couple HKD 42,000 for property damage. The couple will be liable to pay this cost, even if it was an accident and a guest’s mistake.
The couple will be glad they purchased wedding insurance, as it will pay for property damage costs. In addition, the insurance will assist the policyholder no matter what was damaged during the event. So, when things do go wrong, the host won’t need to panic and can rely on insurance.
No-Show of Essential Person
Imagine a wedding event without food, music, or photos. Apart from guests and family, few more people are as important to make the wedding as successful and beautiful. These people include food vendors, photographers, and entertainment. Each group is essential to most weddings and plays a big part. Even if one cancels, there is a significant gap in the event, and it won’t flow the right way.
For example, if the essential person is the caterer. A wedding cannot go on without food and drinks; therefore, the hosts will postpone to another date, if the caterer is no show. No appearance postponement can be costly, and the hosts may lose more when changing dates.
At this point, the wedding insurance will cover the cost of postponing and all non-refundable costs. Although the policyholder will have to provide the insurer with a list of essential people or groups that the wedding will not proceed without. Essential groups covered can include vendors, photographers, stylists, bands and more. The day should go the way the host plans, and wedding insurance ensures you don’t need to make major compromising decisions.
Public Liability
Weddings are occasions you want to share with your loved ones, from friends to families. As soon as hosts invite guests to a wedding, they are liable for their safety and enjoyment. Therefore, the hosts are liable if someone is injured or ill at the wedding and will have to pay for their recovery. Believe it or not, a guest may even sue the couple for injury and medical costs.
There has been an instance where the guest or couple has sued the wedding host due to food poisoning. As a result, the host had to pay medical bills. Later the host connected with the catering company and got compensation from their insurance.
Whether the guest is sick or injured from the dance floor- wedding insurance will cover the liability costs. As public liability is part of wedding insurance cover. The insurance will cover the cost of third-party injuries and property damage claims. The hosts should let the guests enjoy the occasion, and insurance will take care if things go wrong.
Dress, Photos and Gifts Coverage
A few tangible assets make the wedding even more special and fun for the couple. These include the beautiful dress/outfit, event photos and gifts from loved ones. Unfortunately, all these assets can be damaged due to unforeseen risks- like stolen gifts, dress ripping, or overexposed pictures. These risks can be awful to the couple and ruin the event’s purpose.
For example, an average wedding dress costs around HKD 10,000. There is a risk the dress rips or is damaged a few days before the wedding. The repair on such short notice may add up to a considerable cost and buying a new dress may be out of the budget. Unless the couple has wedding insurance.
Wedding insurance will cover these risks and provide the cost of repairing the dress, gifts or even reshooting main pictures. The insurance knows how vital these assets are to the couple and will solve an unwanted situation the best it can. If experts cannot repair the dress or gift, the insurance will provide the cost of replacing the asset.
Additional Cancellation Cover
A few more unfortunate reasons can force a wedding event to be cancelled or postponed. Such as fires, floods, one of the couple falls ill or even if a close family member is sick. Any situation like this can be a disaster to the event and force cancellation or delay.
For example, a new trend is outdoor weddings in nature. There is a risk of a forest fire near the venue; the fire will force the host to cancel the wedding. The host will still lose their non-refund costs even though it was a natural disaster. Additionally, an event may also be cancelled, for instance, if the bride’s father has a heart attack just a day before the event (any family emergency).
Wedding insurance will cover all these cancellation risks. The insurance will prove the funds lost due to cancellation and damage caused by the disaster. Additionally, insurers can add extensions to cover all possible risks apart from the pandemic cover. Although, the insurance will not cover any cold feet runaways cancellation, so as long as no one runs away, you will be covered.
When To Buy Wedding Insurance and Why?
As you can tell, many things can affect a beautiful occasion. Wedding insurance helps reduce the financial impact of these risks and helps think of the best solution. Couples should buy the insurance around the same time as booking the venue. To help the insurer calculate the possible risks accurately. You want wedding insurance to cover all potential risks, which is valid for at least a year.
Additionally, the insurance provides financial protection when things go wrong. Without insurance, you will have to pay out of your pocket, which can be a lot. The insurance also reduces the stress when facing any of these wedding risks. Therefore, the couple can use the reimbursement to either repair the damage or use the costs to re-plan in the future (cancellations).
Dream weddings deserve to be a reality. Thus, wedding insurance makes sure you can spend how much you want on your special day without worrying about wedding risks.
Wedding insurance allows you to hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
To learn more about Wedding Insurance and cover an event with no stress in Asia, contact Red Asia Insurance.
