3 Things You Should Know About Event Insurance
Event insurance is a commonly mentioned phrase in the wedding industry that many couples may not understand when starting out the wedding planning process. Though insurance can be confusing, it is something we strongly recommend that all of our clients obtain and it’s also something that many venues require.
So what exactly is event insurance? And what do you need to do to obtain a policy? Here are the highlights:
1. It protects you against the unpredictable
Depending on the insurance company, most event insurance policies offer liability and cancellation coverage options, at a minimum.
Event liability coverage protects the policyholder if they are held liable for any injury or property damage. Because most venues hold couples accountable for the actions of their guests as well as themselves, an event liability insurance policy would also cover any damage that any of your guests may cause.
Insurance policies that cover cancellation or postponements are relatively self-explanatory. If, for some reason, you need to cancel or postpone your wedding, the insurance company may help you recover a portion of that financial investment. As with many insurance policies; however, there is a lot of fine print with regard to which scenarios are covered and which aren’t, so make sure that you read carefully and fully understand the coverage parameters.
Though liability and cancellation coverage are the most common, many insurance companies offer additional coverage options such as liquor liability that specifically covers incidents related to alcohol consumption associated with your wedding.
2. You can get it from many different sources!
With so many insurance companies, it can be overwhelming to find the right policy! However, we often find the easiest first step for couples is that they ask their existing homeowners insurance company if they offer an event insurance policy. Many couples find that this is as far as they need to look and end up simplifying the process a bit by working with a company that’s already familiar to them.
If your homeowners insurance company doesn’t offer event insurance policies, we often recommend couples look into wedding insurance-specific companies such as WedSafe or WedSure. These websites make the process as simple as possible. You can read through the policy options, select the coverage you’d like for your event and you’re good to go.
3. COVID-19 is not covered under all policies
Every policy is different; however, after the start of the pandemic, we have seen many event insurance policies with clauses specifically excluding COVID-19 from it’s coverage. To reiterate, it’s all about the fine print! For example, while a policy may not cover cancellation due to fear of rising COVID-19 case numbers, it very well may cover cancellation due to COVID-19 state-mandated restrictions. So make sure you read everything all the way through!
