Wedding insurance

The majority of complaints we’re seeing currently relate to what cover exists where someone has had to cancel or rearrange their wedding due to government measures imposed in response to the pandemic. Most commonly, weddings were affected if the venue had been told to close, if a member of the wedding party had been advised to shield or by restrictions on travel.   

We’ll consider what’s fair and reasonable taking into account all of the circumstances – in particular the unprecedented situation created by the pandemic. We expect any insurer to remember its duties to deal with claims promptly and fairly, and not to reject a claim unreasonably.

Our starting point will be to look at the policy wording and any other relevant documentation, such as the policy summary.

Wedding insurance will often only cover the cancellation of a wedding if it arose from one of the events listed in the policy terms. Examples might include the venue being damaged by a fire, the death of a close relative or at least half of the guests not being able to reach the wedding due to adverse weather conditions.

Other policies will cover cancellation so long as it’s unforeseen, unavoidable and beyond your control (unless an exclusion applies).

If you think you have a claim, the first thing to do is contact your insurer. You’ll need to demonstrate that your loss is covered. To do this, they’ll usually ask you to provide evidence to show why the wedding was cancelled.

All policies will include a list of circumstances that are excluded from cover. One example might be if someone decides not to go through with the marriage. And limitations may be placed on the amount that will be paid out in the event a claim. We’d expect any significant or unusual exclusions to have been highlighted to you at the point of sale (in a policy summary, for example).

Once you have been able to show you have suffered a loss your policy covers, it’s up to your insurer to either pay the claim, demonstrate that an exclusion applies, or demonstrate that a condition of the policy has been breached (in a way that was material to the loss).

We’d also think about what’s fair and reasonable. In a Covid-19 related claim, for example, there might be many reasons a wedding was cancelled, some of which are covered, some of which aren’t and some of which are excluded. What’s fair will depend on the individual circumstances.

Sometimes, although the claim is accepted, a dispute might arise over the settlement of the claim.  Wedding insurance usually only covers costs that are irrecoverable. So, you will usually have to show you’ve tried to get your money back from the venue and your suppliers.

How we approach these complaints will depend on whether advice was given.

If it wasn’t, we’d still expect you to have been given enough clear information to have enabled you to make an informed decision about whether to buy the policy. Any significant or unusual features of the policy should have been drawn to your attention. If advice was given, we’d expect to see that consideration was given to your needs, and that any advice was suitable.

Sometimes, we see two complaints  brought to us simultaneously about a claim and the sale of a policy, and we generally investigate the claim first before considering the sale.

Insurers have an obligation to handle all claims promptly and fairly, to update you on a claim’s progress, and not to reject a claim unreasonably. In a complaint about customer service, we would consider your insurer’s handling of your claim against these obligations.