Wedding: Insurance needed as £1000s spent
Wedding cancellations rise
Tuesday, 27 Nov 2007 14:07
More couples are cancelling their weddings, costing them thousands of pounds.
The rise in costs of weddings – to as much as £25,000 by some estimates – means many couples are losing out on cash when the big day goes wrong.
Figures from Debenhams Wedding Insurance show a 50 per cent rise in wedding cancellation claims – with almost half of couples making claims because of cancellation and rearrangement.
A fifth of claims were for damaged suits and wedding dresses, 15 per cent due to the failure of suppliers stopping ceremonies and eight per cent were for loss and damage to rings, flowers, cakes or gifts.
A year ago cancellation only accounted for 22 per cent of wedding insurance claims, with failure of suppliers leading claims.
Currently estimates for wedding costs range from £25,000 (Cahoot.co.uk) to £11,174 (F&C Investments).
The rise in the costs of weddings is due to rising food and venue costs – often felt by some to be artificially raised as couples are willing to pay more for a perfect day – as well as celebrity ceremonies encouraging people to have 'statement weddings'.
Demands for insurance protection over £30,000 suggest many couples are preparing to push out the boat.
"It is virtually impossible to accurately pinpoint how much a wedding is going to cost. But what we can say is that the fact that people are requesting higher cover suggests that many are spending anywhere up to £30,000 and beyond," said Debenhams head of personal finance, Diane Jackson.
"And the last thing they want is to pick up the huge expense of paying for a wedding that does not happen."
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