Three Quarters of Weddings Uninsured

With the average wedding costing £20,000, why are only a quarter of this summer’s ceremonies insured?

If you invested £20,000 in a car, painting, camera or sports equipment, you’d insure it without a second thought.

But amazingly, although the average wedding costs that amount, only a quarter taking place this summer are covered by wedding insurance.

That’s the finding by business information firm Datamonitor, which estimates that 75,000 of 100,000 weddings this summer will be uninsured.

The figures are all the more shocking when you consider how many factors can ruin a wedding, or even see it cancelled.

Problems with the reception, failure of suppliers, smashed wedding cakes, lost rings, damaged marquees, limousine drivers falling ill – these are just some of the things that can make a special day memorable for all the wrong reasons.

And if you’re uninsured, it’s not just a financial hit you’ll end up taking, it’s an emotional one too – if the photographer doesn’t turn up and you can’t afford to pay another one, you won’t even be able to arrange a new photoshoot to make up for it. You’ll be losing precious memories as well as a professional service.

However, while the numbers of people taking out wedding insurance are low, they are growing. Datamoniter estimates that the 60,000 policies sold annually will grow to 90,000 by 2014 – despite a predicted 50% growth in wedding insurance costs over the same period.

Moneyhighstreet says: “If you’re getting married and you haven’t got wedding insurance in place, get hold of it now. With an average outlay of £20,000, a wedding is a big ticket item – and it can be very expensive to put things right if the unexpected strikes.

“Don’t let rising wedding insurance costs put you off either. Shop around and find good value insurance from insurers who specialise in weddings: John Lewis, Debenhams and Weddingplan are good places to start. They also cover civil partnership ceremonies as well.”