Importance of Wedding Insurance...

With the unexpected Volcanic Ash situation causing chaos and delays across the World it is important that your wedding day or Honeymoon is covered for any eventuality. Wedding Daze would like to share with you these guidelines on wedding insurance from Which? the straight forward, non bias advice guide.

Do I need wedding insurance?

Weddings now cost as much as a new car. Couples spent an average of around £17,000 in 2008, according to a survey by You & Your Wedding magazine. So, if you’re planning to wed, should you add the cost of wedding insurance to your budget?

Before considering wedding insurance, check any protection you already have.

Paying for anything between £100 and £30,000 with a credit card means you can claim your money back from either the card provider or the retailer through section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act if there is a problem with goods or services. Visit our guide to your rights when paying by credit card for more information.

‘Chargeback’ could also be a possibility if you paid by Visa or MasterCard credit card for an item that cost less than £100 or you paid by Visa debit card. Through this process, your provider can try to get your money back from the retailer on your behalf but it isn’t legally obliged to.

Many home contents insurance policies increase cover for one month before and one month after the wedding of someone in the household to cover wedding gifts and sometimes items bought for the wedding. Check your policy documents for details.

Do I need wedding insurance? What will wedding insurance cover?

Loss or damage

If you have to cancel the wedding for any unavoidable reason, such as an injury to you or your partner, the policy should pay out if you are out of pocket. This is likely to be one of the most useful areas of cover that policies offer.

Wedding insurance can also cover you for loss or damage to wedding attire, such as the wedding dress, as well as presents, the wedding cake, rings, flowers and gifts for the guests. Cover starts a set period before the wedding and finishes a set period after – from seven days before to 24 hours after for wedding gifts, for example – but this will vary depending on the policy.

Any loss or theft should be reported to the police within 24 hours.

Failure of Suppliers

You’ll be relying on wedding services from a range of providers. Wedding insurance can cover any extra costs you incur up to the policy limit if something goes wrong with these services. Wedding insurance also covers you for deposits you can’t recover or the cost of arranging alternatives if suppliers go bust, but you would already be covered by section 75 if you paid by credit card.

Some insurers, such as Weddingplan, exclude wedding gift providers, such as the recently failed Wrapit.

Another important area covered by wedding insurance is your personal liability for injury to third parties or loss or damage to third party property. You may already be covered for this under your home contents cover but some wedding insurance policies cover the actions of all wedding guests as well as the couple.

Additional areas of cover that some policies offer are for legal expenses, personal accident and stress counselling.

Check the policy details if you are having the reception on a different day from the ceremony or if you are getting married overseas.

Should you take out wedding insurance?

Wedding insurance can protect you against a range of unfortunate events and help you make sure you are not out of pocket as a result, but whether it’s worth taking out ultimately depends on the cost of your wedding and how worried you are about things going wrong.

All aspects of the policy will have exclusions and cover limits and there will also be general exclusions, so check your policy documents carefully. See Wedding insurance rated for selected cover limits.

Wedding Insurance companies recommended by Which?

http://www.which.co.uk/advice/wedding-insurance/wedding-insurance-contacts/index.jsp