By Barbara Waltz, an industry expert and one of the founders of a well known insurance blog.
While we are all familiar with common forms of insurance like auto or life and understand what they entail, many people are less familiar with wedding insurance. As you might expect, wedding insurance covers your wedding if something goes wrong. While that may sound a bit vague, it is somewhat intended to be that way. Wedding insurance is somewhat unique in the sense that you can adjust what is covered and to what amount of money. If you were looking to have the rings covered or the rental tuxedos that is entirely possible. It is also possible to cover the entire wedding being canceled due to natural disasters or a death/illness in the family.
The question many people have is “how much does this cost and what will it pay out?” , well again that is based on the level of coverage that you choose to take on. It is possible to get a policy that costs around $100 or it could run up to $500 and the payout would vary somewhere between $5,000 and $50,000 (which of course scales based on how much is paid). Most couples choose to only insure a few choice things but others may want to cover the whole ceremony and reception.
One thing that should be noted when dealing with wedding insurance is to make sure that you fully understand what you are signing off on. While many people assume it works the same way as other insurances, it does have some areas that are pretty specific and if you attempt to make a claim it may be turned down. For example, if it is windy with a slight drizzle and you had planned to have an outdoor reception or ceremony it would not be covered, but if there was a hurricane and people were forced to evacuate you would be.
Whether or not wedding insurance is for you is entirely up to you. While it is not uncommon to get it, it is not done by every couple and depends entirely on your personal situation.