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We recently analysed the data from a sample of over 2,000 wedding insurance policies purchased between 1st June 2010 and 31st May 2011 through CompareWeddingInsurance.org.uk .
The study, one of the most comprehensive of its kind, gives a very interesting picture of not only the wedding insurance market but also the wedding market in general.
Highlights
The highlights were as follows:
- Average Wedding Cost (excluding honeymoon): £12,541
- Average Age of Policyholder: 31.5 years
- Average Wedding Insurance Premium: £51.55
- Policyholder Gender: 55% male, 45% female
- Average Purchase Date: 8 months before the wedding
Summary Video
This short 50 second video summarises the main findings of our study.
Infographic
We’ve also produced the following infographic which you are more than welcome to reproduce on your own website too. Linking details can be found here.
Average Wedding Cost
The average wedding cost figure of £12,541 is the average of the cancellation cover provided by the policies we studied. Whilst it’s possible that couples may be over or even under-insuring themselves (as we suspected last year), this year’s figure is actually extremely close to that quoted by other sources, such as the £12,544 quoted by Hitched W.I.F.E. Although their sample size was much smaller than that of this study, given the closeness of the two we feel that this truly is a very accurate indication of the cost of a wedding in 2010/2011.
Adding the cost of the honeymoon (on average around £3,000 according to specialist gift list service Buy Our Honeymoon), this makes the average wedding cost around £15,500, some five thousand pounds or so lower than that seen in recent years.
Male/Female Ratio
We felt that this was an incredibly interesting figure. Generally it tends to be the female that makes many of the purchasing decisions when it comes to a wedding and so it was certainly unexpected to discover that over half of all policyholders were male.
How Soon Do People Buy Wedding Insurance
It was certainly interesting to see how soon couples generally take out their wedding insurance policy. The average here was 8 months before the big day, but there were some couples taking out cover over two years before (peculiar as cover generally only starts 24 months prior to the big day) and quite a few who purchased just the day before!
What Do People Claim For?
According to a recent press release from Voyager Insurance Services (providers of Dreamsaver wedding insurance), the top ten claims on wedding insurance policies are as follows:
1. Bankruptcy/liquidation of dress supplier
2. Bankruptcy/liquidation of caterers
3. Bankruptcy/liquidation of venue
4. Bankruptcy/liquidation of other wedding suppliers
5. Loss of wedding photography
6. Damage to bridal attire
7. Adverse weather preventing majority of guests and couple reaching the venue
8. Death/injury of family member
9. Death/Injury of bride or groom
10. Marquee damage
We covered this in more detail in a recent blog post.
The Wedding Insurance Market In General
A recent report by Datamonitor suggested that the wedding insurance market is currently worth an estimated £4 million and is expected to grow a further 50% by 2014.
The same report also claimed that only 25% of couples currently take out insurance cover for their big day meaning that a staggering three quarters of all weddings have no financial protection.
Article written by Adam. See his Google+ profile.
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