Vendor-related issues, venue property damage, bad weather and illness/injuries were the top wedding claims in 2022. The best protection? Wedding insurance.
By Meagan Phillips
Wedding bells should be ringing, but instead, a hurricane is headed up the coast and the couple is scrambling to reschedule their impending nuptials and contending with all the vendors, property and equipment-related commitments and expenses. Perhaps they successfully lock everyone in for another date, but at what expense?
Unfortunately, wedding glitches are more common than most realize. In 2022, according to Travelers:
- 31% of paid wedding insurance claims were the result of vendor-related issues
- 19% were attributed to property damage to the venue
- 16% were associated with weather-related problems
- 15% were due to illness or injury
It’s possible to minimize potential wedding disruptions by proactively addressing the following:
- Vendor issues: 31% of paid wedding claims
There’s a lot of moving parts when it comes to planning a wedding, so it’s no surprise that for the fifth year in a row, vendor-related problems are the most commonly paid claim.
In today’s environment of economic uncertainties, wedding vendors could suddenly go bankrupt or not be able to hold up their end of the contract. Commercial bankruptcies are on the rise, increasing 23.3% through the first half of 2023, as compared to the previous year.[1]
The upshot is the wedding couple run the risk of vendor cancellations, losing their deposit and dealing with the expense of hiring new vendors to help execute the wedding of their dreams. While venues commonly require couples to purchase liability insurance, such a policy won’t cover vendor cancellations. Vendor cancellations can instead be covered by a wedding insurance policy.
By investing in a wedding insurance policy, those planning a wedding can insure their weddings up to $500,000, depending on their resident state. Wedding insurance can be purchased up to two years in advance of the big day and can cover losses during the planning and day of.
- Property damage to the venue: 19% of paid wedding claims
Surprisingly, your biggest liability may be your wedding guests.
From a reception that damaged the wedding hall carpet with red wine stains to a wedding guest that broke his leg on a slippery dance floor to unruly guests that damaged the fountain in the outdoor reception area, property damage during the wedding reception is more common than you think.
To protect both the owner of the venue and the wedding couple, many venues require liability insurance. Some venues also require a host liquor liability provision to cover alcohol-related incidents that happen at the event. Covering accidents or property damage that take place during the rehearsal, wedding ceremony or reception, including bodily injury to the guests, wedding insurance can cover the damages up to the limits of the policy.
- Severe weather: 16% of paid wedding claims
The frequency of severe weather-related events — hurricanes, droughts, tornados, heatwaves and wildfires — continues to increase nationwide.
Last year, 18 separate billion-dollar weather and climate disasters caused 474 deaths and $177.3 billion in damage.[2]
Essentially no one is immune, particularly weddings located in catastrophe-prone areas, like Florida and California. Some policies can help cover wedding-related expenses if a state of emergency is declared, forcing your venue to close because of the severe storm and/or if the roads are closed, for example. However, it’s important to know that exclusions apply if a policy is purchased less than 14 days ahead of the event date.
Destination weddings — expected to grow to a $28.31 billion dollar market[3] — can also be disrupted by catastrophic weather. Caribbean destination weddings, for example, are quite common during hurricane season (June through October), which increases the risk of your wedding being impacted.
While it is possible to purchase insurance for some destination weddings, there are a number of destinations that insurance companies won’t cover. It’s important to research this and make informed decisions regarding where and when to plan a wedding.
- Illness and injury: 15% of paid wedding claims
With an open bar, lots of activity on the dance floor and other excitement, people can be prone to injuries at a wedding.
While slips and falls are the most commonly claimed accidents on the wedding day, others pop up prior to the wedding. No one wants to think about it, but unfortunately, unexpected emergency surgeries, car accidents, sudden illness*, and unknown medical conditions* have caused weddings to be cancelled or postponed.
Here’s hoping your wedding day will go off without a hitch, but whatever happens, wedding insurance can offer peace of mind to make sure your event doesn’t end in one of these common claims.
Offered through Travelers, the Wedding Protector Plan® provides wedding insurance coverage for the ceremony, reception, rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, and a post-wedding brunch without a deductible. There’s also the option to add liability coverage for the many other things that could go wrong. With the Wedding Protector Plan®, you can ensure that nearly every risk is covered. Learn more about this valuable coverage and Get a Quote or Purchase a Policy when the wedding planning begins.
* As COVID-19 is a known infectious disease and presents circumstances that may reasonably give rise to cancellation and/or postponement of your event, coverage will not be afforded in any way for such circumstance.
The information in this post is general in nature. Any description of coverage is necessarily simplified. Whether a particular loss is covered depends on the specific facts and the provisions, exclusions, and limits of the actual policy. Nothing in this post alters the terms or conditions of any of our policies. Please read the policy for a complete description of coverage. Coverage options, limits, discounts, and deductibles are subject to individuals meeting our underwriting criteria and state availability.
[1] United States Courts “Bankruptcy Filings Rise 10 Percent,” July 31, 2023.
[2] National Centers for Environmental Information – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration “Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters,” Accessed July 17, 2023.
[3] The Business Research Company “Destination Wedding Global Market Report 2023,” January 2023.