Wedding Insurance: How to Protect Your Big Day

What Is Wedding Insurance?

Wedding insurance is a specialized type of coverage designed to protect the financial investment made in a wedding. It typically covers situations beyond your control that could lead to cancellation, postponement or added expenses due to accidents, weather or vendor issues.

There are two main types of wedding insurance:

• Liability Insurance: This coverage protects you against financial liability arising from your wedding, including guest injuries. Most venues already have insurance coverage.
  
  
• Cancellation/Postponement Insurance: This coverage protects your financial investment in your wedding, including things like lost deposits if you are forced to cancel your wedding or postpone it. 

Let’s explore each in more detail.

Types of Wedding Insurance Coverage

Let’s look in more detail at what wedding insurance is available and what it covers.

1. Liability Insurance

Liability coverage protects you in case of accidents or injuries that occur during your wedding. It typically includes:

• Bodily Injury Coverage: If a guest is injured during the event.
  
  
• Property Damage Coverage: If the venue or other rented property is damaged.
  
  
• Alcohol-Related Incidents: Some policies may cover damages or injuries related to alcohol consumption, if you serve alcohol at the event.
  
  

Some venues require couples to carry liability insurance, especially if alcohol is served, but many already include this coverage. 

2. Cancellation or Postponement Insurance

This coverage helps reimburse you for non-refundable deposits and other costs if you must cancel or reschedule due to reasons beyond your control, such as:

• Extreme weather (e.g., hurricanes, blizzards) could prevent the couple, immediate family or the majority of guests from reaching the wedding. Insurance could cover the cost of rescheduling the wedding. Keep in mind, you may have a moratorium period on purchasing wedding insurance if it’s too close to the event or if extreme weather has already been forecast.
  
  
• Illness or injury to key participants (e.g., the couple, immediate family) can lead to wedding delay. A wedding insurance policy could cover the cost of cancelling or postponing the wedding for these reasons.
  
  
• Venue closure or vendor no-shows. This could come in handy if your venue is suddenly unavailable (such as because it burned down or experienced an electrical outage).
  
  
• Military deployment of a member of the couple or immediate family. If they are suddenly called to active duty in the military, insurance coverage can jump in to manage the postponement costs.
  
  

Some policies may also cover additional expenses incurred to make last-minute adjustments, such as renting a new venue or booking a new photographer.

Optional Add-On Coverage

Wedding insurance policies are often customizable. You may be able to add:

• Dress and Tuxedo Coverage: Protects against damage or loss of the bride’s dress, groom’s attire or wedding party clothing.
• Rings and Gifts Coverage: Insures valuable items like wedding rings and guest gifts up to a certain estimated value amount.
• Honeymoon Coverage: Offers trip insurance if your honeymoon is canceled due to a covered event.
• Photography and Videography Coverage: Helps if the photographer fails to deliver your photos or videos due to film damage, loss or equipment failure.

What Wedding Insurance Does Not Cover

Wedding insurance doesn’t cover everything. Common exclusions include:

• Cold feet or change of heart
  
  
• Pre-existing weather conditions (e.g., known hurricanes)
  
  
• Jewelry not associated with the ceremony (e.g., family heirlooms worn to the event)
  
  
• Intentional damage or reckless behavior
  
  

Always read the fine print to understand what is and isn’t covered.

How Much Does Wedding Insurance Cost?

The cost to purchase wedding insurance depends on a number of factors:

• The insurance provider
• The event location 
• The amount of coverage you want

However, the average cost for liability coverage is around $150. The cost for cancellation and postponement coverage varies anywhere from $75 to $550.^[4]

When you consider the cost of everything else associated with the wedding, adding a relatively small expense to protect your other expenses may be a smart move.

Key Considerations Before Buying Wedding Insurance

Here are some things to consider when deciding if you need a wedding insurnace policy and when choosing the policy that's right for you.

1. Venue Requirements

Some venues require liability insurance, so check your contract first. They may even specify minimum coverage limits.

2. Policy Limits

Understand how much coverage you're getting. Consider your total wedding budget when deciding on policy limits.

3. Deductibles

Check if there's a deductible for claims and how much you'll need to pay out of pocket.

4. Timing

Buy wedding insurance as early as possible—ideally before making any significant deposits. Some policies won’t cover expenses already incurred prior to purchase.

5. Compare Providers

Wedding insurance is offered by companies like Travelers, WedSafe, Markel, and EventHelper. Compare quotes, coverage, and customer reviews before choosing a provider.