Regardless of where you live in India, grand wedding celebrations are quite common. Weddings can be an expensive affair, and given the expenses involved, it’s a surprise that people don’t feel the need to protect such high-cost events from vulnerabilities such as calamities or cancellations. Wherever there are financial risks involved, it is always advisable to buy insurance.
Additional Reading: Go For A Cashless Wedding
Wedding Insurance: An Overview
Wedding insurance broadly covers the cost of the event in case of cancellation, damage to the venue, personal accident, theft etc. Wedding insurance plans can be customised according to your needs. With the right insurance plan you can recover all your lost money and postpone your wedding to a convenient date. However, cancellation of a wedding due to a last minute change of mind, negligence or criminal misconduct will not be covered by insurance.
Inclusions and Exclusions
Wedding insurance offers protection against the cancellation of a wedding due to man-made or natural perils. A cancellation or postponement caused by earthquake, fire, theft, burglary, or damage to the venue or property such as jewellery, can be covered. A personal accident cover can also be bought for key individuals during a wedding, thus providing compensation for death or disability.
An ideal plan would cover the expenses incurred on wedding card prints, advance payments made to caterers, wedding hall bookings, advance payments for decorations, hotel reservations, travel etc. However, the benefits vary from one insurance provider to another, so it’s important that you read the terms and conditions carefully before you choose the product.
Cancellation due to mishandling of essential equipment like lights or music is not covered by any plan. Self-inflicted injury and suicide are also typically excluded from the plan. Any change of mind, either by the groom or the bride to not go through with the wedding, is not covered by any wedding insurance. Terrorism, war, war-like situations, civil unrest and bandhs, which could lead to cancellation, are also typically not covered by wedding insurance.
Things to know before opting for a wedding insurance plan:
- Since weddings require a lot of planning, it is advisable to opt for a plan at least two years in advance.
- The premium rates for wedding insurance can generally vary from 0.5% – 3% of the total cover, depending on the various risk parameters.
- Along with your wedding day, you can also opt to insure all subsidiary marriage functions as part of the insurance policy.
- If you have planned to hold the wedding at an exotic destination, you can talk to the insurance providers and ask for tailor-made insurance packages that could cover such a high-cost event.
- Make sure you have all your property documents and valuation certificates for jewellery in place before you make any claims.
Although there’s limited awareness about wedding insurance in India, in no small part due to people thinking that nothing will go wrong on their wedding day, it’s certainly worth a thought.
(The writer is CEO, BankBazaar.com)