Don’t forget wedding insurance when planning the big day
If you're getting engaged this Valentine's Day, the last thing on your mind is going to be insurance. However, for those of you already planning a wedding this year it is important to think about arranging appropriate insurance to cover the big day. There's a lot involved in planning a wedding from catering to entertainment, and buying rings to arranging the venue and cars - and it is important to have wedding insurance in place from the moment you start committing money.
According to research by independent financial research company Defaqto, there is a huge amount of variation between different wedding insurance policies in terms of features and cover they offer:
37% of policies provide £25,000 or more of cover for wedding cancellation
Only 23% of policies will pay the full costs of rearranging the wedding
Only 18% of policies provide cover for the failure of wedding suppliers, such as caterers, to provide what has been paid for
Although price will always play a role in which product someone chooses, it is important that people place more emphasis on the features offered by different wedding insurance policies to ensure they arrange cover that meets their needs.
Defaqto's Star Ratings for wedding insurance aim to help people understand the overall level of features and benefits different policies offer. Taking a wide range of elements into account, Defaqto has given each wedding insurance policy on the market a rating from 1 to 5 depending on how comprehensive they are.
Star Ratings aim to help people identify the right level of product for them, whether this happens to be a 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 Star Rated product. After all, it makes little sense for someone to pay for a product with all the bells and whistles if all they require is basic level of insurance to cover their big day. And, vice versa, people run the risk being under-insured if they cut corners but are planning an all singing all dancing wedding.
Mike Powell, Defaqto's Insight Analyst for General Insurance, said: "We all know that weddings are expensive and there are many elements that involve cost early on, such as placing a deposit on a venue. Therefore, when planning the big day it is essential that people focus on purchasing appropriate insurance as soon as they commit money.
"Everyone's situations and plans are different so it is essential that consumers match the features and benefits they need from their wedding insurance with those provided by the policy they choose. Our Star Ratings help people understand what they're buying by providing an independent rating of the comprehensiveness of the different wedding insurance policies on the market. The key is for people to look for the right level of product for their particular circumstances."
Consumers can visit defaqto.com/star-ratings/wedding-insurance to access Defaqto's Star Ratings for wedding insurance.
Some key elements for couples to consider when reviewing wedding insurance options include:
What level of cancellation and rearrangement costs do they cover?
What level of cover do they provide if a wedding is cancelled because one or both of the couple are made redundant?
What cover does the policy provide if the wedding venue goes into administration and the booking is cancelled?
Similarly, what protection is offered if one of the suppliers, such as the caterer, entertainment or wedding car company, goes out of business?