Do I Need Wedding Insurance?

Insurance… not one of the most exciting details one discusses when planning a wedding, but I would argue, it is one of the most important components of protecting your investment and offering you peace of mind as you plan your special celebration. I know it’s a lot to read, but take some time to carefully read this post and then talk to your insurance broker about your options, you’ll be so glad you did.

Wedding Insurance comes in two forms

1. To protect the purchaser or related providers from exposure to general/liquor liability resulting from wedding activities.
2. To protect the purchaser or related parties from financial exposure resulting from contracted services engaged for the wedding event.

General Liability

First Exposure

Most venues, including French’s Point, require clients to obtain general liability insurance.  This liability insurance covers you (up to a limit) if something is damaged or someone gets injured as a result of the celebration or any activities related to it. In liability exposure, the provider of the related service that caused injury (the bartender, the caterer, band/DJ, or the fireworks provider) is the first in line for exposure.

Second Exposure

At French’s Point, we require all providers on your wedding team to provide proof of liability protection for this reason. As long as the provider has this insurance, you as the client of that service, are now second in line for exposure.  This is why it is critical that not only do your vendors have liability insurance but that you have liability insurance, too.

… it is critical that not only do your vendors have liability insurance but that you have liability insurance, too.

If the insurance claim exceeds the value of coverage in the provider’s liability policy, you are now exposed for the balance of the claim and your liability insurance will cover that exposure up to your chosen limit. This will protect you from personal exposure.

Third Exposure

After you, your venue is third in line for liability exposure resulting from a claim.  French’s Point has liability protection, but we want to limit our exposure as much as possible, as should you. You can obtain general and liquor liability protection from many sources.  You can often get it as a rider on an existing homeowners or renters policy or you can get it from Event Helper. You can also obtain this coverage from our insurance partner United Insurance.

Liquor Liability Insurance

As is the case with many venues, if you are serving alcohol at your French’s Point wedding, you must obtain Host Liquor Liability Insurance for $1,000,000 of coverage for each day of your reservation. This type of insurance covers you (again, up to a limit) if someone is injured or something gets damaged due to alcohol consumption or activities related to it. For your French’s Point celebration, you must provide proof of liability insurance coverage during the service periods selected for your events to the site manager no later than 14 days prior to the date of the event.

General Wedding Insurance

I strongly encourage all couples to purchase a general wedding insurance policy to cover the cost of contracts resulting from cancellation, postponement, or to provide relief from unanticipated costs should you need to replace a contracted vendor because they cannot perform.

Unfortunately, two couples called off their wedding celebrations just shy of a month prior to their reserved dates this year (fortunately a rare occurrence for us), and neither of them had purchased wedding insurance to protect the substantial financial investment they had made into their events in the case of cancellation.  It is heart-breaking to go through a break up when you are so close to getting married, but what is even more upsetting is the fact that all the money lost could be avoided with fairly inexpensive investment in wedding insurance.

All the money lost could be avoided with fairly inexpensive investment in wedding insurance.

Policies for wedding cancelation or lost deposits are priced according to the total wedding budget. They typically start at around $100, according to WedSafe.com. The total wedding investment – how much you spend on the gown, the ring, deposits for the venue and other services, etc. – is essentially your level of risk should something go wrong. The insurance is an affordable way to obtain much more fool-proof protection.

If your wedding investment is equal to or greater than the price of your car, a relatively pricey asset for which you presumably have insurance, I encourage you to explore wedding coverage. In the end, you will likely decide that the financial risk involved justifies the expense.

Jessika Brooks-Brewer
Owner, French’s Point
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