Wedding Insurance: What If Your Parents Or Family Are Paying?  

Weddings can be expensive things.

Wining and dining 80 people at a remote distillery, especially after 10 pm when uncles are prone to start looking for top-shelf scotch.

The cost of the ceremony: celebrant, chairs, flowers, 80 flutes of Champagne whilst you sign your life away.

Dressing the bridal party: pro-tip: kilts are relatively inexpensive compared to tailored suits.

The band or the DJ. The transport there and back: convertible Roller for you, three buses for the party.

Accommodation. 80 servings of bacon and eggs the next morning.

And on and on it goes.

It is not uncommon for families to make commitments towards the cost of a wedding, given that the cost of a wedding in Australia in 2024 will be more than that of a sensible, new, four-door car.

And power to you if you have such commitments.

It shows how excited people are for you and your special day.

Do you still need wedding insurance?

Yes, you still need wedding insurance.

There are several reasons to opt for wedding insurance when your family or others are paying for the wedding.

Let’s find out why.

Your families are paying for your wedding: not wedding cancellation or supplier failure.

The Bank of Mum and Dad is a very real thing in Australia in 2024. Our parents often help with our university costs. A deposit on our first apartment. Most likely, your first car.

When families commit to paying for a wedding – in whole or in part – it is not only a sizable gift and commitment.

Though it is very much done in mind of paying for the wedding to an agreed budget.

Does the commitment also include covering the possibility and costs associated with needing to reschedule your wedding due to bad weather or Covid?

Does the commitment also stretch to paying for wedding supplier failure?

If equipment is damaged on the night, is your family also expected to cover the marquee or replace the turntables that hit the deck?

How far does the friendship stretch?

Possibly, it is a financial question of whether families can cover new cost commitments.

Certainly, the question is whether families should cover these costs, which are almost always out of their control.

If others are generously footing the bill for the big night, there is an onus to protect that footing.

And that is exactly what wedding insurance does.

Your costs

The costs of a wedding are a bit like an iceberg.

There is what you can see and predict – the venue and the catering – and there is what you cannot immediately see and predict.

The closer you get to the big day, the more and more these costs surface.

Our favourite was a couple we spoke to who had specifically booked a venue because of the enormous candelabras over each table: each candelabra holding 24 large candles.

On the day before the wedding, the couple enquired when the candles would be lit, only to be told that they had not ticked that box and that if they wanted candles, they needed to be special beeswax candles.

You don’t want to know the cost of a beeswax candle!

Hidden costs aside – costs you might not only have to cover yourself, though you would want insurance against – you will also have your own costs hidden in that iceberg of wedding costs.

Makeup. Rings. Gifts for the bridal party.

Things can go wrong, and this is your money on the line.

Take out wedding insurance and know you’re covered (to the extent of your policy).

Presents

Presents at weddings can sometimes meet one of two fates. They can be damaged. And more commonly, they go missing. Sometimes through error and sometimes – we are sad to say – through no error. This is especially true of envelopes.
Wedding insurance covers damaged, lost or stolen presents (to the extent of your policy).

Professional counselling

If your wedding is cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances, you will likely deal with some very unforeseen emotions. We include professional counselling in our policies to cover the costs of talking to a professional counsellor. And not to make light of it, though, talk about costs at the bottom of the iceberg nobody could have seen coming!

Is it expensive to take out wedding insurance if I am not paying for the wedding?

We have touched on the likelihood that you will likely be making some contribution to your wedding, though however much skin you have in the game, wedding insurance is relatively inexpensive in the grand scheme.

At Wedsure, our policies start from $235 (including GST, no excess), and you can add optional Covid cover to any policy for only $200. Remember, the investment in your big day will likely cover that new, four-door car. Insure your wedding like a new car and have the peace of mind that things are covered.

Oh, and whatever happens, take your parents out for a meal when you’re back from the honeymoon. It is the least they deserve!