Predictions for the 2023 hurricane season have recently been published. With the devastation from Hurricane Ian still fresh in our minds, it is recommended that couples protect their wedding investment with wedding insurance.
Hurricane season runs June 1st through November 30th, which means that weddings taking place almost half of the year are at risk. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is forecasting 12 to 17 named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher), of which 5 to 9 could become hurricanes (category 3, 4 or 5; with winds of 111 mph or higher).
So, what happens if a tropical storm or hurricane hits, causing your wedding venue to shut down, what if your parents can’t catch a flight to Florida to see you get married, or what if your bridal shop is damaged from a storm before your wedding date and your dress gets ruined?
There’s wedding insurance for that.
What Hurricane Scenarios Could be Covered?
Cancellation or postponement of the wedding may be covered if a hurricane were on its way to ruin your special day*. If your vendors or your venue didn’t refund your contracted deposits due to the cancellation, our policy can potentially help reimburse the lost money to you so you can begin planning another date. While in some cases it is very easy to determine that the hurricane will hit your city on your wedding date, you never know when a storm might make a last-minute path change that could impact your day. Purchase your policy well in advance of your event date to ensure appropriate coverage is in place.
* Exclusions apply if the policy is purchased within 14 days of the event date.
If you lived in Tampa Bay in 2022 during Category 4 Hurricane Ian, you’ll remember how suddenly the storm changed its course. Initially predicted as a direct hit for Tampa, instead the historic storm made landfall in southwest Florida before continuing its devastation across the state. Everyone scrambled to acquire last-minute supplies and many areas underwent mandatory evacuations. Weddings were suddenly canceled as people began driving to cities not in Ian’s path.
Special Event insurance coverage can potentially help if this happens to you or if roads are suddenly closed due to: the extreme weather; a state of emergency is declared, or if your venue can’t open due to the storm.
Coverage for cancellation or postponement may also apply If the couple or their immediate family is unable to make it to the wedding due to travel impediments caused by the hurricane, due to flight cancellations.
If the hurricane isn’t as severe as expected, and you’re able to hold your wedding, but find out that a vendor is closed due to the storm or can’t deliver the contracted services, (such as a bakery that can’t make your cake due to no power), coverage may be available for lost deposits if they chose not to refund you.
Our policies may also protect you from loss if the hurricane strikes well before your wedding date but causes you financial loss. An example of this would be the extreme damage Texas experienced after Hurricane Harvey. This storm damaged homes and businesses alike, and bridal dress shops and alteration stores were left with ruined dresses when the hurricane subsided.
What Mistakes Do Couples Make When it Comes to Getting Hurricane Coverage?
In 2017, many people were trying to buy a wedding insurance policy after they had found out that Hurricane Harvey, Irma, or Maria was heading their way. Couples scrambled to prepare last minutes in 2018 for Hurricane Michael, and unfortunately, many weddings were impacted in 2022 when Hurricane Ian made its arrival. To have extreme weather coverage, policies need to be issued at least 14 days in advance of the event date, at a very minimum, catastrophic weather event coverage will not apply once they are known events.
Even if your wedding is not during hurricane season, it is possible your venue can become severely damaged or may not have power for weeks due to the storm. This can lead to cancellations for months to come while the venue undergoes repairs. Hurricanes Maria and Irma caused so much devastation in islands popular for destination weddings that plenty of weddings were canceled during and after hurricane season while the islands rebuilt their infrastructure.
A wedding is an investment and the start of a life-long journey; don’t wait until the last-minute to protect your investment. Purchasing wedding insurance sooner rather than later gives you peace of mind from the start of your wedding planning until the day itself.
How Much Does Wedding Insurance Cost?
Through the Wedding Protector Plan, cancellation/postponement coverage typically begins at $160, which will cover a wedding that costs up to $7,500. As the national average for weddings is closer to the $25,000-$35,000 range, policies that will adequately cover that amount will be typically $249 for $25,000 in coverage or $300 for $35,000 for Florida residents*. If your budget is higher or lower than this, we have very affordable coverage for weddings of all budgets.
While many of our claims arise from money lost to vendors or the venue due to uncontrollable circumstances, we offer optional liability and liquor liability that can be added to the policy. Some venues nowadays are even beginning to require that you carry liability coverage on the day of the wedding in case a guest has an accident or damages something on the property. If you need this coverage, liability begins at only $165 for a $1,000,0000 General Aggregate, and you can add this coverage to your cancellation/postponement coverage policy through us.
*Subject to change
What Can Be Covered?
Our policies offer protection for the contracted payments you have made to your venue and contracted vendors, such as your DJ, caterer, florist, photographer, bridal shop, etc. If these vendors happen to go out of business, not show up to the wedding, or don’t deliver the services you’ve paid for and outlined in your contract, our policy can help pay you back the deposits you’ve lost to them and can even help you pay for a replacement vendor.
Unfortunately, vendor-related issues topped Travelers’ 2022 list of wedding mishaps at almost one-third (31%) of paid claims. An example is when a national bridal dress shop, closed numerous stores nationwide, leaving many dress orders unfulfilled. With the unstable economy affecting the financial stability of a variety of businesses, it’s smart to insure your deposits.
The cost of the wedding is also protected if you had to cancel or postpone the wedding due to catastrophic weather events, such as hurricanes, or venue unavailability, such as your venue double-booking or getting damaged during a hurricane and closing for repairs. Our policies can cover the rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, ceremony, reception, and post-wedding day brunch. * The costs for all these events should be factored into the level of coverage you are purchasing.
The optional liability and liquor liability coverage can protect the couple if a guest has an injury on-premises and sues the newlyweds, or if someone breaks something at the venue and the couple has to pay for those damages.*
*Subject to policy terms, conditions, and exclusions.
When Do I Need to Purchase It?
We recommend purchasing a policy as soon as you begin putting deposits down for your wedding. Unfortunately, we have heard many stories about venues that continued booking weddings even though they were in the process of foreclosing or had begun the process of selling the venue to new owners that may not honor previous event bookings.
We have also heard plenty of tales of couples who paid a vendor a deposit and then were never able to get back in contact with that business. Once you have already found out that you have experienced a financial loss, it is too late to have coverage for that circumstance if you have not purchased a policy.
Insurance is designed to protect against unforeseen and uncontrollable losses that occur after you have purchased a policy. We can issue policies up to two years in advance of the wedding date, and we always recommend purchasing the policy sooner rather than later.
If you are not sure whether you need liability coverage for your venue, but you’ve already put a deposit down, you can purchase the cancellation/postponement coverage so your deposits are protected for potential losses like a venue or vendor bankruptcy, and you can add liability and liquor liability coverage onto our policy up until a few days prior to the wedding.
Offered through Travelers, the Wedding Protector Plan provides wedding insurance coverage for the ceremony, reception, rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, and a post-wedding brunch without a deductible. There’s also the option to add liability coverage for the many other things that could go wrong. With last year’s devastation from hurricanes, wildfires, and other storms fresh in everyone’s mind, and with venues increasingly requiring insurance, find out how wedding insurance can protect your special day. Get a Quote or Purchase A Policy when the wedding planning begins.
The information in this post is general in nature. Any description of coverage is necessarily simplified. Whether a particular loss is covered depends on the specific facts and the provisions, exclusions, and limits of the actual policy. Nothing in this post alters the terms or conditions of any of our policies. Please read the policy for a complete description of coverage. Coverage options, limits, discounts, and deductibles are subject to individuals meeting our underwriting criteria and state availability.
As COVID-19 is a known infectious disease and presents circumstances that may reasonably give rise to cancellation and/or postponement of your event, coverage will not be afforded in any way for such circumstance.
The Professional Protector Plan® for Dentists (PPP) announced today the launch of its newly designed brand and website at http://www.protectorplan.com. The PPP provides dental malpractice insurance, including professional liability, general liability, property coverage, employment practices and a comprehensive risk management program for dentists in all career stages.The new website is more accessible and modernized, making it easy for dentists to find the information they need.
Some new pages on the website include a “Who You Are” page where dentists can easily navigate product offerings by the type of practitioner, as well as a “Who We Are” page that introduces PPP’s program leader, Mike Wensel, and state and national advisory board members. The Risk Management page also provides a robust selection of resources for insureds to become a “Proactive Practice,” with information about continuing education courses, articles, and sample letters and forms.
The PPP’s new website will be regularly updated with news and insights, articles, new product offerings and risk management resources. Visitors are encouraged to explore the website, receive a quote and find an agent at protectorplan.com. They can also visit the PPP’s social media channels for more updates—PPP can be found on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.
About Professional Protector Plan for Dentists®
Through its network of specialized agents, the PPP has been serving dentists nationwide since 1969. This comprehensive insurance program was developed specifically for the dental practice. The plan is offered in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The Professional Protector Plan for Dentists® is a division of Protector Plans, a wholly owned subsidiary of Brown & Brown, Inc. For more information on the insurance products for dentists and risk management services the PPP has to offer, please visit protectorplan.com.
About Brown & Brown, Inc.
Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE: BRO) is a leading insurance brokerage firm, delivering risk management solutions to individuals and businesses since 1939. With 15,000+ teammates in 500+ locations worldwide, we are committed to providing innovative strategies to help protect what our customers value most. For more information or to find an office near you, please visit bbinsurance.com.
This information is intended for informational purposes only. Professional Protector Plan for Dentists is not liable for any loss or damage arising out of or in connection with the use of this information.
Wedding Protector Plan® has launched new travel protection coverage for honeymoons and destination weddings. The plan is now available through its partner, Travel Insured International (TII) – a leading travel insurance provider and a Crum & Forster Company.
Couples looking to help protect their honeymoon travel plans, and guests traveling to destination weddings now have a robust travel protection solution. The plan has a wide range of benefits including optional Cancel for Any Reason coverage which provides covered travelers reimbursement of up to 75 percent of their insured trip cost for cancelations.
The plan’s Travel Assistance non-insurance feature includes medical or legal referral, hospital admission guarantee, lost baggage retrieval, emergency cash advance, prescription drug/eyeglass replacement, and more. In addition, Identity Theft Resolution Services help restore an insured’s identity in case of identity theft during covered travel.
“With worldwide travel on the rise, couples are again planning honeymoons around the globe. Since honeymoon travel coverage is limited under wedding insurance policies, we believed additional options were needed to allow couples to more fully insure their travel plans,” states Meagan Phillips, vice president, program leader of Wedding Protector Plan®.
Travel Insured International has offered quality worldwide travel protection and an array of travel protection benefits for nearly three decades. Partnering with hundreds of travel agencies large and small, TII helps them to offer their travelers extensive travel protection plans, including Wedding Protector Plan’s® honeymoon and wedding destination coverage.
“Unexpected events can occur during a honeymoon or destination wedding, which is why the Worldwide Trip Protector Plan not only provides robust coverage for travelers, but also includes 24/7 non-insurance assistance services worldwide,” DeAnne Petritz, AVP, Account Management & Trade Relations at Travel Insured International. “With the Worldwide Trip Protector Plan, travelers can go away knowing that they have coverage and support when they need it most.”
Hotlines have been established in cases of an emergency for travelers covered under the Wedding Protector Plan. They can call toll-free 800-494-9907 (from the US) or call collect at 603-328-1707 (from all other locations) for assistance.
Worldwide Trip Protector Plan coverage is available to citizens or residents of the United States who have booked and paid for their trip. For more information on the Wedding Protector Plan®, visit https://www.protectmywedding.com/travel-protection/. To get a quote from Travel Insured International, call 1-855-752-8303 to speak with a licensed agent or get a quote online.
About Wedding Protector Plan®
Wedding Protector Plan® provides cancellation/postponement wedding insurance coverage for many problems, such as severe weather causing wedding cancellation or postponement, transportation shutdowns, lost deposits and other headaches that can ruin the anticipated celebration. Consumers also have the option to add private event liability with no deductible as an endorsement to their special event insurance policy.
Wedding Protector Plan® is a division of Protector Plans Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Brown & Brown, Inc.
Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE: BRO) is a leading insurance brokerage firm, delivering risk management solutions to individuals and businesses since 1939. With more than 14,500 teammates in 450+ locations worldwide, we are committed to providing innovative strategies to help protect what our customers value most. For more information or to find an office near you, please visit www.bbinsurance.com.
About Travel Insured International (TII) Founded in 1994, Travel Insured International (TII) is one of the leading travel insurance providers, offering quality worldwide travel protection for over 25 years. Located in Glastonbury, Connecticut USA, the company offers an array of travel protection benefits including Emergency Assistance and Evacuation, Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption Protection, Medical Expense Insurance, Baggage Insurance, Airline Ticket Protection, and more.
Travel Insured maintains relationships with specialty travel providers and tour operators, as well as provides 24/7 insurance assistance that allows you to travel relaxed, travel secure, and travel insured.
Lawyer’s Protector Plan, a division of Protector Plans, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Brown & Brown, Inc., announced today that they have expanded their lawyers’ professional liability insurance product offering to include an Excess & Surplus (E&S) lines product in addition to its longstanding admitted primary and excess coverage. Long recognized in the marketplace for exceptional service and long-standing commitment to small and mid-sized law firms, the LPP program is the preferred professional liability insurance choice for even more attorneys nationwide.Forward-looking vision, well-executed underwriting strategies and strong partner relationships have kept LPP a stable force in the legal insurance marketplace for over 40 years.
“Our enhanced product offerings help us deliver high quality lawyers’ professional liability products and services at exceptional levels of customer service and value to agent partners and policyholders,” said Christina Melia, vice president and program leader of LPP. “Our team understands that the practice of law continues to evolve and that we must evolve to provide new and innovative insurance solutions. We have demonstrated our commitment to small and mid-sized law firms and have successfully underwritten firms with as many as 50 attorneys across the country.”
Lawyer’s Protector Plan’s E&S program provides underwriting solutions for firms with specialized needs. Program highlights include:
Comprehensive E&S policy form available in most states
Ability to bind off most competitors’ lawyers’ professional liability applications
Opportunity for law firms to move to admitted product after rehabilitation
Reviewed by LPP underwriters with over 110 years of combined experience dedicated exclusively to lawyers’ professional liability coverage
In-house claims team established in 2000, led and operated by former practicing attorneys
Wedding Protector Plan was announced as a winner of the 2023 WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Award®, an accolade representing the top wedding professionals across the board in service, quality, responsiveness and professionalism reviewed by couples on WeddingWire, a leading national wedding vendor marketplace.
To determine these distinguished wedding professionals, WeddingWire analyzed reviews within its Vendor Directory across more than 20 service categories, including venues, caterers, florists, photographers, wedding planners and more. These distinguished vendors exhibit superior professionalism, responsiveness, service and quality when interacting with millions of couples who turn to WeddingWire to assist with their wedding planning each month.
Meagan Phillips, vice president, program leader of the Wedding Protector Plan, is overjoyed about the event insurance program winning the WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Award® for the eighth consecutive year. “This prestigious award represents our customers taking the time to review and provide honest feedback on wedding insurance purchased from the Wedding Protector Plan®. It’s an honor to be trusted to help protect weddings and provide quality service to every customer. 2022 was a year that the wedding industry began to bounce back, and it is wonderful to see many couples finally hosting the weddings of their dreams.”
“We are celebrating our 14th annual Couples’ Choice Awards, where we honor our vendors who help make millions of couples’ big day one to remember,” said Timothy Chi, CEO of WeddingWire. “Not only are these hardworking and distinguished wedding professionals, like Wedding Protector Plan, a fundamental part of the wedding planning process for engaged couples, but they help make WeddingWire a trusted source for wedding planning. We congratulate everyone on this well-deserved achievement.”
B&B Protector Plans,, Inc. (“Protector Plans”) a wholly owned subsidiary of Brown & Brown, Inc., and part of Brown & Brown’s National Programs segment, will enhance insurance distribution and in-house agency capabilities with the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Harold Diers & Company and Diers Insurance Corporation (collectively, “Diers”).
With roots dating back to 1941, Diers specializes in insurance for a variety of professionals, including dentists, lawyers, CPAs, podiatrists and optometrists. For over fifty years, the Diers Agency has been the exclusive representative for Protector Plans’ Professional Protector Plan® for Dentists’ (“PPP”) program in Nebraska and North Dakota.
Jeffrey S. Grange, president of Protector Plans’ Tampa Programs division stated, “The addition of the Diers’ team supports Protector Plans’ vision to be the leading preeminent full service delegated underwriting platform for specialty lines in the MGA/MGU channel. We provideproprietary insurance products and solutionstailored to the risk management needs of ourcustomers as a talent-led organization committed to specialization. For over eight decades, the Diers team has demonstrated the same commitment to its customers as specialists in solving the insurance needs of professionals. We are pleased by the capabilities of our combined teams and how this integration will enhance our sales and service delivery to dental, healthcare, legal, accountancy and other professionals.”
Marilyn Diers stated, “Our team looks forward to joining Protector Plans. Through our long-standing relationship with the PPP program, we have come to appreciate a shared culture that puts the customer first.”
Working with the Protector Plans brands provides customers access to custom insurance solutions for commercial and retail products, extensive underwriting knowledge and fast quote turnaround. We work to simplify the insurance experience, build trust and reduce uncertainty. Protector Plans’ website will be updated regularly with news, blogs, business activity, new product offerings and events. Visitors are encouraged to explore the website and sign up for direct emails from Protector Plans at bbprotectorplans.com.
About Protector Plans B&B Protector Plans, Inc. (“Protector Plans”) is a national administrator of property and casualty insurance solutions whose reputation for innovation and customer service is based on a 40+ year history of meeting the complex insurance needs of professionals. Protector Plans’ fundamental distinction is grounded in insurance product innovation. Protector Plans is a wholly owned subsidiary of Brown & Brown, Inc.
About Brown & Brown, Inc. Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE: BRO) is a leading insurance brokerage firm, delivering risk management solutions to individuals and businesses since 1939. With over 12,000 teammates in more than 300 locations across the U.S. and select global markets, we are committed to providing innovative strategies to help protect what our customers value most. For more information or to find an office near you, please visit bbinsurance.com.
This press release may contain certain statements relating to future results which are forward-looking statements, including those associated with this acquisition. These statements are not historical facts but instead represent only Brown & Brown’s current belief regarding future events, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of Brown & Brown’s control. It is possible that Brown & Brown’s actual results and financial condition may differ, possibly materially, from the anticipated results and financial condition indicated in these forward-looking statements. Further information concerning Brown & Brown and its business, including factors that potentially could materially affect Brown & Brown’s financial results and condition, as well as its other achievements, is contained in Brown & Brown’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Such factors include those factors relevant to Brown & Brown’s consummation and integration of the announced acquisition, including any matters analyzed in the due diligence process, and material adverse changes in the business and financial condition of the seller, the buyer, or both, and their respective customers. All forward-looking statements made herein are made only as of the date of this release, and Brown & Brown does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or correct any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that subsequently occur or of which Brown & Brown hereafter becomes aware.
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