Wedding insurance covers you against various wedding-related disasters. Of course, it can’t prevent them from happening. Having wedding insurance will not prevent you or your partner from falling ill before the big day, or prevent your wedding photographer from accidentally double-booking you, or prevent your wedding cake from being dropped, or any of the other things we prefer not to think about.

What it can do is help with the financial burden of trying to put a disaster right. Let’s imagine your wedding photographer does not show up on the big day. You might be able to find another photographer at short notice, but possibly you’ll only have the photos of your friends and relatives. Most types of wedding insurance will cover the cost of having the photographs professionally re-staged later. It’s not a total solution, but it’s something.

Also, almost all types of wedding insurance cover deposits that have been paid to suppliers if the supplier becomes insolvent. In a troubled economy, this is worth thinking about. You may be able to obtain the same level of protection by paying deposits with a credit card, but for suppliers who do not accept credit card bookings, wedding insurance can provide valuable peace of mind. This is especially true when you are paying large deposits (think venue, caterer, and so on).

Wedding insurance will generally also cover loss of, or damage to, specific items such as your wedding gifts, your outfits and your rings. This cover may not be particularly valuable to you if you already have home insurance covering these items. Many home insurance policies will actually increase cover limits automatically in the days leading up to your wedding (to cover outfits etc) and following your wedding (to cover gifts).

However, the main benefit of wedding insurance policies is cancellation coverage. Weddings do sometimes have to be canceled. A wedding insurance policy won’t cover you for the cost of changing your mind, but if you or your partner become ill, or one of your close relatives is ill or passes away, then your policy should cover the cost of re-arranging the wedding. Without this cover, you will lose many of the deposits you have already paid, and you may still have to pay some suppliers their full costs. You will then have to pay all over again to stage the wedding on another date. In short, a good quality wedding insurance policy can protect you from a major financial headache.