What to Do When Your Venue is !%$&^#
If disaster strikes your location, what options do you have?
Despite all the attention to detail and stress that goes into wedding planning, certain things can go wrong on your big day that just won't matter in the end. Maybe the flowers are the wrong color. Oh well - no one knows but you. Maybe the cake falls over. No problem - it makes a great story and tastes just as good. Or maybe your DJ plays Top 40 when all you asked for was old-school rhythm and blues. Who cares? Your beloved said "I do."
But what if your beloved isn't able to say "I do" because there is no venue at which to say it? In February, Travelers Insurance announced that more than 40 percent of all their wedding insurance claims filed during the past two years involved unforeseen problems with vendors, including venues that went out of business or experienced some other financial setback in the worsening economy. And in Chicago, a fire at the wildly popular Holy Name Cathedral had a few late-winter-wedding couples scrambling for Plan B.
Whether it's due to an "Act of God" or because a business has gone bankrupt, when catastrophe strikes your ceremony or reception site, it most definitely matters.
Figuring out to handle it, logistically, is why it pays to hire a wedding planner. For Marina Alexandra Birch, owner and principal event designer for Birch Design Studio, Ltd. in Chicago, if a venue suddenly became "unavailable" for a wedding already booked there, the first step would obviously be to find a suitable alternative. "But the definition of 'suitable' changes drastically depending on the timing of this information," says Birch. If she finds out months in advance (i.e. before the invitations are sent out), it's simply a matter of finding an appropriate alternative. You might be a little disappointed if the initial space held personal meaning for you, but at least it will be easy for the rest of your vendors to adjust and your guests are none the wiser.
Things get a little tougher if the change happens last minute, such as the actual day of the wedding. If the issue is the ceremony site, Birch's first approach would be to host the ceremony at the reception site, as you know that venue is available. It's likely you would already have a lot of décor on hand, such as fabric and flowers, which you could easily manipulate to create an intimate ceremony space. To keep the event running smoothly, Birch would station several of her staff at the original venue, ready to direct guests to the new one, or even arrange for transportation. As an added precaution, Birch also is ordained, just in case an emergency with the venue or the officiant were to arise and the "show" needed to go on.
"But this sort of thing is totally unforeseeable and really happens so rarely," says Birch. "Except for in the case of outdoor weddings that necessitate an indoor or sheltered alternative for inclement weather, it isn't cost-effective to have a plan B for your wedding ceremony and reception venues."
That may be fine for a separate ceremony site, but what if your reception venue disappears day-of? Moving a 100-plus person event to another space, complete with catering, dancing and décor, is next to impossible. It's in these instances that wedding insurance sure comes in handy.
One prominent provider, WedSafe, a division of AON insurance, offers 10 different levels of Event Cancellation/ Postponement insurance. Customers select the level based on the expected cost of their wedding. According to Sharon Cohen, senior vice president, Level 3 ($25,000 of coverage) is the most popular selection and costs $235. This covers cancellation or postponement due to severe weather, unexpected illness, withdrawal of military leave or situations beyond your control, as well as provides reimbursement of non-refundable deposits due to bankrupt or no-show vendors. "We're finding that this coverage is particularly interesting to couples based on the current economy," says Cohen. In addition, Level 3 also covers lost or damaged photographs, jewelry, gifts or invitations.
Timeframes for processing claims are highly dependent on the type of claim and how quickly the insured provides the necessary information. A customer who has reported a claim is contacted within one business day. Once all necessary paperwork is received from the customer on a covered claim, payment is issued the following business day. If, for example, your venue disintegrates a week before your wedding, the circumstances would be reviewed and assuming it is a covered claim, WedSafe would reimburse your deposit so that you could reschedule with another venue or postpone your wedding. The insurance might also cover extra expenses associated with things like reprinting the invitations due to the change in venue or date change, up to the limits for the selected level.
"We recommend that couples buy the coverage as soon as they start putting down their deposits," says Cohen. "Once a couple knows of a potential disaster, it's too late to get the coverage. Being proactive is the best course of action."
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