Get pragmatic and buy a cover

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: While superstition prevents people from thinking of untoward events happening during auspicious events such as weddings, financial commonsense dictates that you buy insurance cover, especially if you are spending a lot of money on the event.

Even though the Vermas* initially frowned at the idea of getting a wedding insurance cover for their son’s wedding, later they thanked their wedding planners Genie Events and PR for persuading them to buy one. Caught unawares on the day of the reception party in the pink city of Jaipur, the family, instead of greeting their guests at the party venue, met a few of them in the hospital following the stampede at the Chamunda Devi temple.

The reception party was a gala affair with an approximate budget of Rs 75 lakh. But with some relatives wounded in the stampede, the Vermas decided to postpone the reception by a day. The postponement would have cost them a substantial monetary loss, but thanks to the insurance cover they incurred no loss. The reception party was held the next day without any mishaps. “We had to postpone the reception party for one day. This led to extra costs such as additional rent for the venue and extra payment to the caterers, the lightwalas and the flower decorators. But everything was taken care of because of the insurance cover. In the end we did not incur any loss,” says wedding planner Charu Kataria, spokesperson for Genie Events and PR.

Although a wedding insurance cover is the best solution to take care of any untoward event, it usually does not figure on the to-do list of most families. “Such plans are still in the nascent stage due to low awareness. And given the sacred nature of these events, nobody wants to discuss or even think negatively in their context. But as the spending on weddings becomes higher it makes sense to buy a cover. We feel that wherever financial risk is high, insurance is the best option for covering the loss,” says T.A. Ramalingam, head of underwriting, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance.

What’s available
The wedding insurance policy covers all events related to the wedding ceremony. Ideally, the policy should be bought 10 to 15 days before the event.

At present, only two insurers offer wedding insurance policies: Bajaj Allianz General Insurance and ICICI Lombard General Insurance. While Bajaj Allianz has a comprehensive wedding insurance policy, ICICI Lombard offers it under event insurance.