Is wedding insurance worth it?
When answering the question of ‘Is wedding insurance worth it?’, let’s use the analogy of rental cars and reducing your excess.
Because we have all been there.
There are objective considerations: simply undeniable facts we can’t dispute.
If I scratch the wheel of this Lexus, Hertz WILL deduct $5,000 from my credit card. Fact.
There are also subjective considerations: our individual opinions, perspectives, and tolerances for risk, which can be debated but cannot be disputed.
I am unlikely to scratch the wheels, and I’ll take my chances.
Or $5,000 is not enough money that I would be concerned if Hertz took it from my card.
Like reducing your rental car excess – or really any insurance – the question of value and “worth it” is ultimately in the eye of the beholder.
So that fundamentally answers the question! Let’s examine the objective and subjective considerations of wedding insurance to help you better understand whether it is worth it for your wedding.
Some facts about weddings
According to ASIC’s Moneysmart website, the average wedding cost in Australia ranges from $36,000 to $51,000 in 2024.
This broad range reflects each couple’s diverse preferences, though let’s put in in new car terms.
At the lower end of the wedding cost range, you’re talking about a new Suzuki Vitara or a well-specified Mazda 3. If you’re into your SUVs, the 2024 GWM Haval Jolion is $36,268 drive away.
Nice cars, not small change. Fact.
At the upper end of the wedding cost range, you’re in a Isuza D-Max ute or dead on the money with a 2024 Hyundai Tucson at $51,000.
Nicer cars, bigger change.
Yes, weddings are a big, once-off investment.
Often, the cost of a wedding is unclear to couples because costs are often incremental and creep up.
To make an informed decision about whether wedding insurance is right for you, you must understand the statistically likely sticker price of your wedding and what is on the line.
Because it is primarily the costs contained in your wedding that you are protecting with wedding insurance. (Notwithstanding additional covers such as professional counselling in the event of wedding cancellation or postponement, though we digress!)
Wedding insurance covers a whole range of things that can go wrong, with the two most significant being:
- Cancellation, postponement and rescheduling.
- Supplier failure.
Cancelling, postponing or rescheduling a wedding does happen. Fact.
Venue cancellation, injury or sickness to the bride, groom or immediate family, severe weather, natural disasters, etc.
The cost of such events can vary widely.
Wedsure covers up to $75,000 in the event of cancellation and postponement.
In other words, you’re fully covered if you invest a 2024 Hyundai Tucson into your wedding.
Now, we did say “does happen,” and thankfully, we don’t see many claims for wedding cancellations, postponements, and rescheduling.
However, every time we do, every story is different, always out of the blue and sometimes heartbreaking.
On the other hand, unfortunately, supplier failure is unspoken in the wedding industry.
We have written about it previously, though wedding suppliers do have a failure rate that is noticeable and noted.
Venues close. Caterers close. Bands disband. Fact.
It is here that you walk a statistical tightrope.
The question is, should you have a safety net underneath?
This is where we get into the subjective considerations regarding wedding insurance.
Should you have a safety net for your wedding?
Adverse wedding events covered by wedding insurance are reasonably low in percentage of weddings.
So, too, is the percentage of acrobatic falls to acrobatic walks.
Not to be crass, though wedding dress damage or a lost wedding band won’t eventuate in a broken neck, though there is still an impact.
Similar to the excess on the rental car, the two subjective questions you need to ask are:
- Do I believe something adverse is a possibility in my wedding?
- If so, could I wear the cost, ranging from broken wine glasses to a complete wedding cancellation?
What is interesting about these two questions is that we essentially asked the same two questions about excess on a rental car; however, one aspect is different.
Yes, the likelihood of something adverse happening at your wedding is statistically low – similar to the odds of damaging a rental car.
But unlike the rental car, the cost of the adverse could be multiples of $5,000.
If you answered that $5,000 was not sufficiently impactful for you to take out rental car excess insurance, power to you.
However, if we told you we were debited $15,000 from your credit card because a failed wedding supplier took your deposits with them, would that be impactful?
How about $42,000 in losses due to the unforeseen – though still possible – need to cancel?
And there is the sting when it comes to weddings: when you rent a car, your excess is limited to $5,000 even if you write it off.
When you own the 2024 Hyundai Tucson and write it off, you are responsible for the entire vehicle cost.
It’s the same with a wedding.
We explain it in these terms: not to be the bearer of bad news but to mitigate bad news by helping couples understand the potential liabilities of adverse wedding events and giving them peace of mind through wedding insurance.
Come to think of it as we wrap up… at a certain point, wedding insurance isn’t a subjective decision for many of us, is it?
Because objectively, very few of us could wear a $25,000 hit. Fact.
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