One deejay charges $500. The other deejay wants a few thousand for a wedding and reception.
One photographer costs a third of the sky-high rates that a more popular wedding photographer costs.
But what do you do when someone is paid for a wedding duty and doesn't show up or doesn't provide the promised product? What if a tornado ruins the venue? This is where wedding insurance comes in.
Rob Nuccio, the owner of WedSure.com and R.V. Nuccio & Associates, Inc., spokein a two-partinterview with Shamontiel on January 24, 2014, as the then-Chicago Relationships Examiner,about “Change of Heart” wedding insurance. The original post is located here.
Photo courtesy of Rob Nuccio
Nuccio talked to me about the pros and cons of purchasing wedding insurance, how it works and when it's necessary.
Shamontiel L. Vaughn: What is it about wedding insurance that's so different from a regular refund if the wedding is canceled?
Rob Nuccio: You wouldn't get a refund on anything. They quit doing that 10 years ago. "They" meaning the disc jockey, the photographer, the cake maker, the florist, the caterer, the bartender, the facility where you go to have the wedding.
Unfortunately, when brides are in their "getting married" mode, they no longer will allow swapped dates to get out of it and get your money back. The closer you get to the wedding date, the less likely it is that you're going to get any money back at all. The simple reason is the caterer has bought the food. The florist has bought the flowers. The limousine driver is already scheduled. The facility already has you in the schedule. If you were to try to cancel, maybe if you're six months out, you might get some money back. Most of the high-quality facilities are booked a year and a half to two years out.
SLV: What is the biggest mistake that you see couples make when planning a wedding that always conflicts with wedding insurance?
RN: The bride and the mother usually go shopping for the facility. They go to the Ritz-Carlton, or they go to the Four Seasons around the corner in Chicago. The event planner says, "Here are the dates that we have open in 2015 or 2016."
The event planner will hand them a contract, and that contract is called a Facility Use Agreement or a Facility Rental Agreement. They're all excited, and they don't read it. Inside that contract, there will be an insurance requirement clause. It requires you to show proof of liability insurance, and name the Ritz Carlton Hotel as an additional insured on a million-dollar liability policy.
And you're supposed to do that two months before the wedding date. About a week before the wedding, you'll get a call from the Ritz-Carlton corporate, and it'll say, "You have four hours to get your certificate of insurance in here, or you lose your date and forfeit your $15,000 deposit. Now you know where Bridezillas are born.
