Your Wedding Budget and How to Protect It

Wedding season gets into full swing with the arrival of warmer weather, and many couples are busy selecting vendors and the venue, and putting down deposits to lock in their services. Regardless of the size or scope of your wedding, setting a wedding budget can help keep things in perspective and provide a framework for all of your spending.

Setting a wedding budget helps to keep many brides and grooms on task, so they can plan the perfect wedding with few (if any) financial issues. And often a lot of money is involved. Church and hall rentals, purchasing dresses, tuxes or suits, hiring photographers, DJs, cake decorators and wedding planners all cost money. If you're planning a destination wedding for a small crowd of people, you also have travel expenses to add to the list.

Wedding insurance is something all couples should look into as part of their wedding checklist and wedding budget planning, since even the best organized and simply planned wedding can run into complications that might send the nuptials into postponement or even forced cancellation.

Weather, illness, injury and even vendors going bankrupt or out of business could create a catastrophe for wedding planning. Wedding insurance can give couples financial protection if the entire event were forced to be canceled or postponed, or reimburse couples for less devastating situations such as the photographer or other vendor not showing up and a new vendor having to be hired to perform those services.

"Numerous reasons might cause a wedding to be postponed, canceled, or have last minute unexpected expenses arise," says Steve Lauro, vice president of Aon Affinity, which offers WedSafe Wedding Insurance. "Just review your entire wedding budget and total up what it might cost you if a forced cancellation happened. Also, many people are not aware of the other benefits that wedding insurance can offer, such as reimbursement for extra expenses that could include event photos and videos, special attire, jewelry, etc. The wedding might still go on and wedding insurance could still reimburse you many times more than the small amount paid for the protection.

"I have worked in the insurance field for over 20 years, but I am also a consumer who pays premiums just like everyone else. It is a matter of realizing what risk you are comfortable taking, and understanding how securing coverage, including wedding insurance, can play a role in reducing your exposure to that risk."

Wedding cancellation insurance protects the financial investment made by the couple or people paying for the wedding in the event extreme situations like severe weather, an accident or sudden illness force the wedding to be postponed. It also protects against financial losses if vendors don't show or deliver as promised, photographs are lost, the wedding gown is damaged, or even if the bride or groom is serving in the military and their leave is unexpectedly withdrawn. 

Planning a wedding is a big undertaking, and adding wedding insurance into your wedding budget can at least give you financial peace-of-mind. You will be able to direct all of your energy to enjoying the actual event itself, knowing you have the proper protection in place.