Saturday, June 9, 2007

Event Insurance


Tropical storm Barry came to visit us in Charleston over last weekend. It ruined every out door wedding in the city. On the beaches power went out, the wind howled and it poured.
We had a beach wedding that day with a reception in a hotel. Now for those of you unfamiliar Charleston, SC we have some really nice beach hotel. Well this reception was not at one of those. This hotel was decorated in the uncool late 70's style.
Needless to say my bride was upset, she had no backup plan and was forced to make due. Her wedding was not the only one in the hotel that day, there was another one at the same time, with more people and a crew that was not as well adapt for any emergencies.
You may think that I am going to talk to you about back up plans...No.
I am going to talk to you about event insurance. Event Insurance you are now asking yourself what is it? You can purchase event insurance and in the event of bad weather, airplanes downed or some other major issue you can recoup most if not all of the money that you payed out for your event that didn't turn out like you had expected. I first heard about event insurance from a friend who was a promoter. We were doing a Rock the Beach event and she was praying for rain. Turns out it only had to rain a small percentage at the airport and she was going to recoup her money.
This bride was fortunate to have vendors that were able to make her day better, this comes from experience as well as a sense of caring from her vendors. Her wedding was intimate, many guests did not come due to the weather but everyone danced to music when all the power on the beach went out the music was still playing and they were still dancing. A few days after we took the couple to the beach and spent sometime photographing them on the beach-so they still got those beach pictures that they were thinking of.
Had the bride had event insurance she would have recouped the money that she spent. My suggestion is that if you are getting married in an area that is prone to bad weather that may ruin your wedding you should purchase event insurance. For the few hundred dollars that it will cost you are insuring that you recoup any losses that could occur.
Now I know that you are thinking...what about the other bride? She was having a catered wedding on the pier. Her caterer had to plate the food in a hotel room at the other side of the hotel from their make shift reception. The hotel would not allow them to use their kitchen because the caterer was not affiliated with the hotel.

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