Key Takeaways

• According to Cost Helper, wedding liability insurance pricing commonly typically spans from $165 to $200. For about one million dollars in coverage, a consumer would typically pay $185 for a policy. When it comes to wedding cancellation insurance, that can range from $95 to $1,000. 
•  Wedding cancellation and postponement policies can cover expenses like accommodations for both the policy holder and their guests, wedding clothes that sustain damage or are destroyed, transportation which can include shuttles for guests to and from the venue, the venue rental, and expenses such as the florist, entertainment or photographer fees.
•  Mother nature and her mercurial ways are not something that wedding insurance will cover. In other words, most insurance companies will not consider bad weather to be a good enough reason to cancel the entire wedding. There is a possible exception to this which is when weather-related problems are serious enough to stop the main players in the wedding or over 50% of the guests from getting to the wedding.

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Kinds of Wedding Insurance

• Typically, there are two key types of wedding insurance that can be purchased. What type of insurance is required is predicated on what the needs are and the accepted level of risk someone is willing to assume.
•  Event cancellation coverage takes care of the costs connected with canceling or postponing a wedding.
•  Liability coverage, which is guest oriented, covers bodily harm to wedding guests, but also to any other people attending the wedding ceremony and reception, which would include the minister/rabbi or even the caterer, if they are in attendance at the reception.

 

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Average Amount Paid for Wedding Insurance

• We have prepared a custom Google spreadsheet with data garnered from this source surrounding what a person's coverage could cost based on the various coverage limits by category.
• According to the source, as coverage is added, the percentage paid in premiums for that coverage goes down. "At the high end, consumers pay approximately 0.5% of the total cancellation/postponement coverage as a premium."
•  The Knot explains that a standard wedding insurance policy that "covers loss of photos, videos, attire, gifts, rings and deposits" can typically cost in the price range between $155 and $550. Ultimately, the price of the premium paid will be based on the amount of coverage that is desired. They note that "general liability insurance, which covers up to $1,000,000 for accidents, costs around $185."
• According to Cost Helper, wedding liability insurance pricing commonly typically spans from $165 to $200. For about one million dollars in coverage, a consumer would typically pay $185 for a policy. When it comes to wedding cancellation insurance, that can range from $95 to $1,000. 
• In this April 2021 Forbes source, four different insurance providers are highlighted along with the cost of their one million dollar wedding liability insurance, which includes the host liquor liability. For example, a one million dollar wedding liability insurance plan from WedSafe is $184.00.

 

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Typical Inclusions in Wedding Insurance

• There are well-founded and sound reasons for canceling or postponing a wedding that insurance will cover, and these are things that are typically covered when someone is forced to cancel a wedding.
• For example, if there was a fire or some other incident at a venue that had been booked for the reception or wedding event itself that rendered the location unusable or unsafe to enter in the days leading up to the event.
• Another example would be when a key person or persons involved in the wedding has an involuntary absence. This would not be the same as deciding not to go through with the wedding. This surrounds unavoidable situations such as a significant illness or incapacitating illness, any kind of change in military leave, and major weather-related issues that directly impact the ability to attend the wedding.
• Wedding insurance will also cover a situation where the caterer, vendor, or the person officiating the wedding does not show up at the last minute or cancels ahead of time, which would force a change in plans.
•  Wedding cancellation and postponement policies can cover expenses like accommodations for both the policy holder and their guests, wedding clothes that sustain damage or are destroyed, transportation which can include shuttles for guests to and from the venue, the venue rental, and expenses such as the florist, entertainment or photographer fees.

Typical Exclusions in Wedding Insurance

• It is important to think about the kinds of things that will not be covered with wedding insurance. Most insurance companies will not cover certain eventualities and will not consider them justifiable reasons for cancellation or postponement.
• For example, if someone changes their mind about moving forward with the wedding, which is typically called "change of heart", then the insurance policy would not be actionable. In other words, if either the groom or the bride decide not to proceed with the wedding, the insurance policy will not cover that. 
• If, for any reason, the ability to pay for the wedding proves to be impossible, wedding insurance will not cover that. There is one exception to that and that is if this lack of ability to pay or "lack of funds" is due to "involuntary unemployment."
•  Mother nature and her mercurial ways are not something that wedding insurance will cover. In other words, most insurance companies will not consider bad weather to be a good enough reason to cancel the entire wedding. There is a possible exception to this which is when weather-related problems are serious enough to stop the main players in the wedding or over 50% of the guests from getting to the wedding.

Importance of Wedding Insurance

• The importance of wedding insurance must be a discussion that is had by all interested parties, but most particularly by the people who are paying for the wedding. The ultimate decision when it comes to deciding whether to get wedding insurance or not comes down to personal finances and whether that could withstand a hit. As well, the circumstances of the wedding should also be considered when deciding if wedding insurance is important. For example, is the wedding a destination wedding where everyone will be flying in, or a small local affair with few attendees.
• The interested parties should carefully weigh what they can reasonably expect to absorb cost wise should the wedding need to be canceled or postponed. At the end of the day, the ability to pay for "unforeseen circumstances" needs to be weighed. If it is decided that there can be a contingency fund to cover unexpected out-of-pocket expenses that arise, then wedding insurance might not be considered essential. 
• An interesting statistic to consider is that with traditional wedding cancellation insurance, insurance carriers anticipate "a loss ratio of around 40%. The loss ratio is the percentage of total premiums paid toward claims." Simply put, that means that just "40% of all the premiums a carrier collects will be used to reimburse consumers. The rest is used to pay for administrative and acquisition expenses as well as profits to the company."

COVID-19 Impacts on Wedding Insurance: Now and Predicted

• According to Mike Groner, vice president of Front Row Insurance Brokers, and Matt Taylor, the general manager with PAL Insurance Brokers, "[p]ost-pandemic [...] people will continue to purchase first-party liability insurance. The pandemic [is] a lesson for those planning their nuptials. It has really opened up the eyes of those getting married that unforeseen circumstances may happen, [even] outside of COVID, that could trigger the policy coverage." 
•  Dave Evans, an industry expert who has worked in the insurance industry for 40 years asserts that "[n]ow, generally, everything I’ve seen is [insurance companies] have typed up policies to exclude COVID. While there might be policies out there that include coverage of cancellations related to the pandemic, I haven’t seen one and it won’t be cheap. In general, most insurance companies are excluding COVID because it’s happening too often. The premium is so small relative to the cost of canceling a wedding. Wedding insurance premiums that cost just a few hundred dollars expose insurance companies to high financial losses in the event that Covid-19 does interrupt a wedding."
• According to Shane McMurray, CEO of the market research firm, The Wedding Report, there will be an explosion of weddings in 2022. In fact, he predicts that there will be about 2.5 million weddings that will happen this year, which will represent the most the United States has seen since 1984. This can also be compared to 2020, where there were only 1.2 million wedding events. 
• With many couples spending, on average, almost $25,000 on their nuptials, many will be considering purchasing wedding insurance. As Ester Lee, the senior editor at The Knot explains, "[w]ith everything that transpired during COVID, couples should be especially vigilant about taking precautionary measures as they plan their weddings. This, in turn, involves wedding insurance. Insurance provides a peace of mind recommended for all couples when planning a wedding, especially since coverage is generally inexpensive: The average WedSafe wedding insurance policy, for example, is less than $200." 
•  Dave Evans has the last word, as he adds that "[e]ven though COVID-19 related cancellations or postponements may not be covered by [an insurance] policy, having wedding insurance is still worth it."

Research Strategy