Insuring against nature for wedding planners

When working with brides and grooms on their big day, wedding planners have to be prepared for anything. The same goes for insuring their business.

Spring is slowly coming to life and that means that summer is right around the corner. Summer weddings are the epitome of easy elegance – at least in photos.  Magazines and websites idealize them, as do your clients, but summer weddings have a way of throwing curveballs.  Weather that changes quickly, bug armies and blazing temperatures not in the forecast eight months ago are just three things that are out of your control.

As a professional event planner running your own small business, you know how popular summer weddings are – and probably have some know-how about the perils and pitfalls of middle-of-the-year nuptials. We were given a first-hand account of the industry from wedding planner Tanya Costigan of Bowties and Butterflies. Like Tanya, smart event planners anticipate potential wedding pitfalls and have a few tricks up their sleeves for dealing with the unexpected: back-up venues, industrial mister fans, alternate photo shoot spots and buckets of back-up ice just to name a few.

But what if your clients aren't happy about the heat wave or thunderstorm ruining their wedding, or the work-arounds you have planned, and decide to sue you for negligence?  If you have professional liability insurance (PL) your company will be able to weather this particular storm.  PL insurance pays your attorney’s fees and legal damages awarded to your client – whether the ruined wedding was your fault or not.

Event planners should also consider general liability insurance (GL) in case a wedding guest or fellow vendor is injured at the wedding.  If someone trips on a tablecloth and is injured or slips on a wet floor with disastrous results, your GL policy helps pay the person’s claim for bodily injury and related medical costs if you’re found to be legally liable for the injuries.

As the owner of a small professional services business that dwells in details, don’t let the need for small business insurance sneak up on you.  You can be certain that no wedding will end in disaster for your business with the right coverage, which you’ll want to get from an insurance provider who also dwells in details – in this case, details about risks specific to the event planning industry.

If you’re like most wedding planners you prepare for the worst and expect the best.  Do the same with your business insurance. Are you a wedding planner that’s experienced a disaster during a client’s nuptials? Leave a comment sharing how you overcame the obstacle and your company may be featuring in an upcoming post on the Hiscox small business blog.

The contents of this article and the linked materials do not offer legal, business, or insurance advice related to the needs of any specific individual business. Hiscox Small Business Insurance is underwritten by Chicago-based Hiscox Insurance Company Inc., which is rated ‘A’ (Excellent) by A.M. Best Company. Additional information can be found on the Why Choose Hiscox?