Wedding Finance – BBC Money Box Live, 27/4/11

Airing just a couple of days before the Royal wedding, it was perhaps unsurprising that last week’s Money Box Live programme on BBC Radio 4 was on the subject of wedding budgets and wedding insurance.

The programme was hosted by Vincent Duggleby and he was joined by:
Bernadette Chapman, UK Alliance of Wedding Planners
Christine Ross, independent financial advisor, SG Hambros
Andrea Ventress, deputy editor, Wedding Magazine

Insurer	Cancellation Cover	Price	Excess	Link
Weddingplan Diamond +	£17,000	£57.84	£25	Visit Insurer »
Weddingplan Gold	£10,000	£36.79	£25	Visit Insurer »
Weddingplan Silver	£7,000	£26.29	£25	Visit Insurer »
Debenhams Gold	£10,000	£61.97	£50	Visit Insurer »
Debenhams Emerald	£15,000	£82.68	£50	Visit Insurer »
Dreamsaver Gold	£10,000	£40.00	£0	Visit Insurer »
John Lewis Level 1	£10,000	£60.00	£50	Visit Insurer »
John Lewis Level 2	£15,000	£80.00	£50	Visit Insurer »
Wedinsure Tier 2	£10,000	£37.00	£0	Visit Insurer »
Wedinsure Tier 1	£7,500	£29.00	£0	Visit Insurer »
Weddingplan Diamond	£12,500	£47.32	£25	Visit Insurer »
Dreamsaver Amber	£15,000	£60.00	£0	Visit Insurer »
Wedinsure Tier 3	£15,000	£53.00	£0	Visit Insurer »
WeddingInsuranceSolutions Gold	£10,000	£35.00	£25	Visit Insurer »
Emerald Life Diamond	£12,500	£44.10	£25	Visit Insurer »

Please see the full comparison table for all levels of cover available from these insurers.

There was a lot of good advice given and wedding budgeting and finance in general, but we were interested in what they had to say about wedding insurance.

For when the toilets break!

The first mention of wedding insurance was by a caller, Jenny in Gosport, who wanted to advise listeners to take out a policy. She spent £49 on wedding insurance to cover her son’s wedding and was certainly glad she’d spent the money. The toilets at their venue broke down and she was forced to spend £750 hiring deluxe portable toilets. It wasn’t clear from the programme whether or not this was covered by the policy, but it was implied that it was.

Consumer Credit Act

Christine Ross gave some very good advice regarding Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.

If you’ve paid for something by credit card and it is over £100 and there is a breach of contract, the credit card company will be jointly liable and you can often claim the money back from them. This means that many of the deposits paid to wedding suppliers could be covered.

However, Christine advised that this would only cover a breach of contract with this particular supplier. If there was a problem with your venue, for example, you wouldn’t be covered for wedding cars, your florist or your photographer etc.

Marquees and Public Liability

If you’re having a marquee in your own garden, you should seriously consider public liability cover too (usually available as additional cover with a wedding insurance policy) in case one of your guests trips and sues you!

Final Thoughts

There was certainly some great advice given in the programme and it was really good to hear wedding insurance mentioned in the mainstream media. This type of insurance policy is either unheard of or misunderstood and the more coverage it gets, the better. With the average cost of a wedding reported to be between £16,000 and £20,000, it’s often the third most expensive purchase a couple will make. It’s sensible then to make sure that purchase is properly covered.