Does wedding insurance cover severe weather or natural disasters?  

As wedding insurers, we love the concept of ‘force majeure’. (Insurers love all things contract and contractual: it is our bread and butter.)

Force majeure is a French term that translates to “superior force”.

You’ll find this in so many contracts and legal documents to nullify the agreement in the event of force majeure.

And so, what does force majeure mean in practical terms?

Essentially, unforeseeable circumstances – beyond the control of the parties to the contract – that otherwise make the contract impossible to deliver on.

A plague of locusts or a flood.

A war or strikes.

Earthquakes, volcanos, hurricanes.

Essentially, a supplier is off the hook in supplying a product or service if a meteor strikes, and they cannot deliver the product or service.

Pretty deep stuff, right?

As wedding insurers, we’re all about the force majeure but for different reasons.

Because our wedding policies aren’t null and void in the event of severe weather or natural disasters.

Instead, they’re very much designed for severe weather and natural disasters.

Let’s try to stay positive and dive into the details.

Australian weddings, severe weather and natural disasters

Living in Australia, we know we are prone to severe weather and natural disasters.

It’s part of the territory and complements our wide range of snakes, spiders, sharks, and octopuses, and we wouldn’t live anywhere else!

Though let’s not make light of it.

Australia is a country that has its fair share of bushfires.

Few of us will forget the Black Summer of 2019 and 2020.

Sadly, countless acres, homes, animals, and lives were impacted.

It was an awful period.

If you had planned a wedding in the Kangaroo Valley in NSW, East Gippsland, or the Alpine Shire in Victoria.

There is a good chance you had to postpone or reschedule.

We had devastating floods only a year or so along the East Coast of Australia.

Enormous tracts of land submerged. Towns like Lismore were entirely underwater.

And yes, weddings were rescheduled or postponed.