How To Protect Your Wedding Against Financial Disaster

Hurricanes happen. So do slips and falls, broken furniture and no-shows - even to the most organized brides-to-be. There's no denying the emotional toll that occurs when disaster casts a shadow over the happiest day of your life - but there is a way to ensure you don't suffer financially because of it.

For less than what you might have paid as a deposit on flowers, you can insure your wedding against disasters that force you to cancel your wedding and against accidents that occur during the ceremony or reception.

There are two basic types of insurance that can protect you on your wedding day: event cancellation and postponement insurance and event liability insurance.

The first will reimburse you for unexpected events that force you to cancel or postpone your wedding - like a hurricane, your fiance's military leave being canceled or a roof collapsing at the reception hall. Your wedding will be one of the biggest investments, both financial and emotional, you'll make in your life. The average wedding in America costs more than $26,000, according to the Association for Wedding Professionals International. Often non-refundable deposits and payments to vendors can cost you thousands of dollars if you're forced to cancel or postpone.

With cancellation or postponement insurance, you'll be able to get back the money you spent on deposits, even if you aren't able to reschedule your wedding in the same venue. It will also cover if, for example, the photographer fails to show up for the wedding, or your wedding pictures are lost in the mail; the insurance will pay to have your pictures retaken.

The second type of coverage, liability insurance, protects you against claims arising out of the wedding ceremony or reception, such as damage to property in the reception hall or injury to a guest during the ceremony or reception for which you are held liable. Many reception venues will require you to purchase liability insurance prior to the wedding.

Your wedding day should be a happy event you'll never forget. It may not be possible to ensure that nothing bad occurs on your special day, but it is possible to insure yourself and your future against the financial fallout of an unforeseen disaster. For less than you would spend on a deposit for flowers or the wedding photographs, you can purchase wedding insurance to protect you in the event of cancellation, postponement or an accident potentially leading to legal liability.