Many couples overlook wedding insurance or write it off as an unnecessary expense. However some recent cases of wedding venues going into liquidation have really brought home the importance of having wedding insurance in place and also making sure you have the right insurance for your needs.

Lauren Lane will finally have her dream wedding to her fiance Daniel Welch this Saturday, but only due to the kindness of local suppliers  after she lost £4500 when her first venue Chewton Place (shown below) went into administration.

Lauren did have wedding insurance but the insurance company have still not paid out and she is not sure if they will as she started the policy after already booking and paying for her venue. We will be featuring an interview with Lauren on Monday and images from her big day taken by photographer Sidney Diongzon.


                                           

           
It's important that you have wedding insurance in place before paying any deposits to ensure everything is fully protected. Here's some reasons why you should have insurance.

• Your venue could suddenly close (as Chewton Place and Hinton Grange)
• Your venue could flood or have a serious fire (as the River Cottage and Necker Island)
• A member of the bridal party could suddenly be taken ill or pass away
• Weather conditions cold mean travel or accessing your venue is impossible
• Your wedding gifts could be stolen
• A supplier could let you down meaning paying more for a replacement

Take a look at My Wedding Insurance for more information on protecting your special day

Image: Chewton Place from Wedding Venues.Com

Christmas is a time when lots of people get engaged, so many congratulations to anyone reading this who has recently given or acquired a gorgeous sparkler. Here's a few tips on where to start planning your dream Wedding.

The first step should be to draw up a rough guest list so you know if you have 50 people or 150 to invite. This will affect your venue choices and budget so it's a good place to begin. Next sit down and have some honest conversations about finance. The average Wedding costs around £15,000 but you can have a fantastic Wedding for a lot less, but you may need to incorporate a lot of DIY touches and avoid grand venues to make a smaller budget work.


                          

Talk to family to see if they want to contribute a set amount or pay for something like the dress or flowers. It's great to get financial help from family but sometimes it does come with certain conditions, such as input into the planning or inviting certain guests so there are pros and cons to paying for the day yourself.

Next begin to look at venues. Bristol and the surrounding areas are packed full of gorgeous Wedding and reception venues. You can choose from farms, barns, hotels, restaurants, boats, country estates and even the zoo so do lots of research online and then make some appointments to view venues.  You can get some great prices by choosing a week day or Sunday or marrying out of the traditional summer Wedding season so don't feel you need to stick to a Summer Saturday. The image below is from the Riverstation, which is ideal for a contemporary Wedding.


                                           

One final very important tip is to ensure that you have Wedding insurance in place before paying any deposits as sadly several local couples have lost thousands as local venues have gone into administration. Sadly this is becoming more common and any money you have paid will be used to pay creditors and not returned to you.

If you need some additional guidance, why not consult a Wedding Planner for a free consultation. They can help in lots of ways and often their fees will be absorbed by the savings they negotiate and they ways they can suggest to cut your budget without compromising on style.

Words by Stephanie Allison, Wedding Planner and owner of How 2 I Do Wedding Planning. Steph would be delighted to offer any guidance to newly engaged couples. Visit her website for more information.

Photo Credits How 2 I Do and Howard Wedding Photography

 www.riverstation.co.uk

One thing that many brides overlook is Wedding Insurance, seeing it as an extra cost when their budgets are already stretched. If you haven't arranged any Wedding Insurance yet here's some important reasons why you should protect your big day.

Wedding Insurance will protect you if you need to cancel your Wedding at short notice due to the illness of a key member of the wedding party. This could be crucial as you could avoid worry about the financial implications of calling everything off. However it won't cover pre-exisiting medical conditions and you will need to fill in information about the health of the wedding party and any medications they are on.

                          

It will also protect you if you have to relocate your wedding at extra costs, such as due to a fire, flood or closure of your venue or if a supplier goes bust taking your deposit with them due to poor economic conditions. What if all of your wedding gifts were stolen or damaged or your dress is ruined days before the ceremony. You would feel better knowing everything is protected.

Wedding insurance costs around £50 and is well worth it to protect the £15,000 to £20,000 most couples now spend on their Weddings. For more information on wedding insurance visit http://www.my-weddinginsurance.co.uk/



Image: Ghosts of Girlfriends Past New Line Cinema 2009