Weddings are exciting celebrations of love between a couple, where they draw in their closest friends and family to celebrate with them – a special day that marks the start of a shared lifetime together. Weddings are also expensive events where emotions are running high and there are plenty of little things that can spoil what should be a magnificent day. There are ways to ensure a bit more peace of mind, though.
A Major Moment
The events industry has spent the last two years on the ropes due to COVID-19 related lockdowns – and those in the wedding industry have suffered immensely. Thousands of people have had to cancel their weddings as lockdown arrived, persisted and shifted between levels which affected the ability to hold gatherings. Many venues and suppliers have done their best to help ease the burden, but there are inevitably financial losses on both sides.
There are plenty of people who are integral to your day – and a problem with just one of them can put a serious dampener on proceedings. What if your officiant is suddenly unavailable? Your MC is stuck in a different city because he didn’t make his flight? Your Makeup Artist doesn’t arrive and their phone is off?
Never mind accidents like fires, floods or myriad mishaps which could put your day in jeopardy… Losing one of your key people has catastrophic consequences for your wedding – and the likelihood of getting your money back, along with the costs of changing things with all the other suppliers, can make for a major financial catastrophe.
A Party out of Hand
Sometimes people go a little overboard at reception celebrations and get a bit rowdy. A guest stumbles into a table, knocks over one of your beautiful candle holders and sets the curtains alight. The fire spreads quickly and while everyone gets out safely, the venue incurs serious damage. Some of the staff, in helping to get your guests to safety, suffer some injuries in the form of smoke inhalation.
Did you know that you’re contractually liable for the financial repercussions of an event like that? The venue has its own insurance, but since the damage was caused by negligence on the part of the couple and their guests, they’ll need to carry all the associated costs.
Slippery Suppliers
In the midst of planning menus, choosing cakes and picking your décor ahead of a wedding, the last thing on your mind is the reliability or liquidity of a supplier. What if your catering company goes out of business – or simply doesn’t arrive? What if your hair stylist has an accident on the way to the venue? The wedding can still go ahead – bridesmaids and groomsmen always make a plan – but it adds unnecessary stress to your special day and you’re also unlikely to get your deposit or payment back from a liquidated or injured supplier.
What if your photographer – chosen at great expense for their amazing portfolio – stops off on the way home to get a bite to eat and their camera equipment, along with your once-in-a-lifetime images, is stolen? You can’t recreate the special moments from your day – but you’d like to at least re-do the posed post-ceremony pics. Who pays for that?
A Higher Power
You’ve picked reliable suppliers, but something beyond their control (we’re looking at you, Eskom) happens and they’re not able to supply your guests with the array of delightful canapes you chose or the dinner you planned so carefully. They’ve spent the money on the food – they just can’t do anything with it. If they fail to appear, you need to make another plan to make sure people don’t pass out from hunger at the reception – and that can be costly.
Rain on your wedding day is supposed to signify good luck – but tell that to a couple who have to splash their way into the reception. You can take it in your stride – there’s little else you can do – but it could take the sheen off the day. You just have to look for a silver lining…
COVID Cover
We’re all well aware of how easily COVID-19 can spread and, even if you’re vaccinated, it can put you a little under the weather and potentially mean you can’t participate in your big day. That goes for the couple, the wedding party and immediate family – not having an important person there because they’re ill, or worse, can have a major effect on the day.
The venue and suppliers, though understanding, are unlikely to be able to help you shift everything without incurring significant expenses – and you’ll be liable for those if you can’t go ahead.
Solving for Special Scenarios
I Do Insure is a specialist wedding insurance policy provided by Genesis Insurance Brokers in partnership with iTOO Special Risks and underwritten by The Hollard Insurance Company Limited and designed with the benefit of Wedding & Floral Designer Zavion Kotze-Brereton’s extensive experience of arranging and facilitating high-end weddings across the country and around the world.
The four I Do Insure packages – based on the pillars of marriage: Patience, Integrity, Respect and Adoration – cover couples for a variety of wedding mishaps, safeguarding what, for many, is the most special - as well as most expensive - day of their lives. The packages cover 11 categories, including cancellation, curtailment and rescheduling, through attire & rings, cars & transport, supplier failure and photography & video. Indeed, they cover all of the scenarios we’ve outlined above, to varying degrees and in terms of the limits of each policy package.
While the wedding industry is geared toward providing people that one-off magical day that sends them off into their future together, accidents do happen – and the peace of mind that wedding insurance can provide can alleviate so much of that pressure, leaving couples to focus on the magic, not the minutiae.
