JUST as each wedding creates potential business for divorce lawyers, so each engagement gives insurers a chance to drum up business.
High prices, and the fact that many venues require couples to take out liability insurance, feed demand for wedding insurance, which began in Britain: Cornhill, an insurer, wrote its first policy in 1988. But there were few takers. The idea only took off once transplanted to America. Today a fifth of American couples buy it, says the Wedding Report, a trade publication.
In the early days there were incidents of couples faking engagements to collect a payout. Since then, most policies have a clause that excludes “change of heart”. WEDSURE insures against cold feet, but its policy will pay out only if the wedding is cancelled more than 12 months before it is due to take place, thereby guarding against fiancés (or their parents) phoning the broker once the relationship is already on the rocks.
Common causes of payouts include the venue or caterers going bust after having taken a big deposit. Extreme weather, a spouse being deployed by the armed forces and an absent priest can all trigger payouts. Most policies will pay to re-stage the photos if the snapper fails to turn up or disappears with the pictures.
For some, even a small risk of something going wrong on a day that has been planned for months is worth paying to avoid. Who says romance is dead?
edited from The Economist
