Chit Chat

Insurance? ***Update***

pinkcow13pinkcow13 member
2500 Comments Fifth Anniversary 500 Love Its First Answer
edited May 2014 in Chit Chat
This was on the local news yesterday. For those that don't want to read the article, a bar/restaurant in Brooklyn, NY that is also a popular wedding venue suddenly shut down on Friday. The employees showed up to work and were greeted with closed doors and a sign that read "Rebar is Closed and Bankrupt. Do not Enter." The owner sent his employees a 2 line email that morning that basically read like the sign above. Friday was payday, and these employees are out of 2 weeks pay. On top of that, the venue is booked for the next year or so for weddings. Now, that is all over. The guy took off with $27K in cash and $150K in wedding deposits. FI and I actually met this guy. This was one of the venues we visited, and he bought us dinner and drinks that night at the restaurant! He very nice, and told us that he would be more than willing to work with us in terms of price, as he wanted us to be able to have a great wedding, etc. Luckily, we decided the venue wasn't for us.

This really got me thinking, though. I did thorough research on all the places we visited. This venue received 4 stars on Yelp, great reviews on all wedding platforms, and we really liked the people we met that day. I never would have thought something like this would happen. And obviously, neither did the unsuspecting couples who paid to have this place host their weddings. There was a segment on the news last night about this place, and they recommended wedding insurance. I never thought of it, and now I wonder if this is something to consider, especially with our wedding being a year away. Anything can happen within that time.

So, have any of you guys purchased insurance for your upcoming wedding? Or, those of you that are married, did you purchase insurance? Is this something that is worth considering? I feel that there has to be a way to protect ourselves. There's life insurance, homeowners insurance, car insurance, etc. A wedding is a big expense for the most part, so now I'm thinking maybe it would be smart to protect ourselves. What do you all think?

***The scumbag was arrested! Of course he had the money to post his $30K bail. I hope the couples get their money back. 
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Re: Insurance? ***Update***

  • We actually thought about it since we're having a DW and it's at the tail end of hurricane season, but we decided that this wedding was going to happen on that date regardless of weather (they have indoor backup locations).  Thankfully our venue has many venue locations on their property and I doubt will be going out of business within the next 5 months (or I think we'd hear the 'breaking news' that ).


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  • phiraphira member
    5000 Comments 500 Love Its Second Anniversary 5 Answers
    I brought this up with my partner for the same reason (ReBar abruptly closing), and he doesn't think we need wedding insurance. I guess I'm not sure if we'll need it either. To be perfectly honest, if something happened to our venue at the last minute like this (basically, looks like the owner absconded with the money), we'd likely get a lawyer, and then ask some family members if we could have our celebration at their house and just make it a really low-key, catered get-together.
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  • We did not get wedding insurance.  We were willing to eat the costs if the place had gone under.   Our venue was a private beach club that had been around for a very long time.     The caterer (also has a restaurant) has also been around for many, many years and is a staple in Cape May.   

    Sure anything can happen but we were willing to take the chance.


    The wedding I'm going to in the fall is in Brooklyn, my heart stopped for a minute, but then I remembered the name of her venue.






    What differentiates an average host and a great host is anticipating unexpressed needs and wants of their guests.  Just because the want/need is not expressed, doesn't mean it wouldn't be appreciated. 
  • We did not get insurance.  Our primary concern was weather-related so we were just careful to understand what the weather-related provisions of our contracts were; we knew what our liability was if weather cancelled our even and we understood what vendors would refund/rebate.

    I will say though that we only had four vendors that we used on the wedding day- hair stylist, reception hall, DJ and photographer.  If we had more parties involved, we might have thought differently but we were prepared to take an alternative course if the weather was so bad the hall cancelled on us.
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  • We didn't get insurance. We're getting married at a park district property which makes us feel safe. We hope to get married outside but, if the weather is a problem, we'll have the ceremony on the dance floor. It isn't ideal but is easily workable.
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  • We've debated wedding insurance because we had a similar thing happen with a venue in our state (not one we ever considered but still hit closer to home), but as of right now we don't have wedding insurance.

    We do use credit cards to put down deposits on everything as it's easier to have a paper trail and recoup losses, and omg the amount of paperwork and contracts we have. FI is in charge of it all, paperwork makes my head spinny.
  • FI and I definitely had a sit down talk about wedding insurance. A friend of mine lost her venue last year during the floods here in CO. (Like she literally lost her venue...it was destroyed). She didn't have insurance, but thankfully the venue refunded her. This was a concern of ours.

    In the end, though, we did not get the insurance. Here's hoping we don't regret it!

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  • Our venue requires an insurance policy, so we'll be getting one. Since we have to look into insurance anyway, we'll look into getting a policy to cover us in case of any vendor issues. It's unlikely we'll need it or even purchase it, but it won't hurt to just take a look. It would be a lot of money to lose if something were to happen.
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  • Our venue requires an insurance policy, so we'll be getting one. Since we have to look into insurance anyway, we'll look into getting a policy to cover us in case of any vendor issues. It's unlikely we'll need it or even purchase it, but it won't hurt to just take a look. It would be a lot of money to lose if something were to happen.
    They are different policies though.   We had a wedding liability policy.  We did not get one that paid out if a vendor closes down or runs off, etc.






    What differentiates an average host and a great host is anticipating unexpressed needs and wants of their guests.  Just because the want/need is not expressed, doesn't mean it wouldn't be appreciated. 
  • lyndausvi said:
    Our venue requires an insurance policy, so we'll be getting one. Since we have to look into insurance anyway, we'll look into getting a policy to cover us in case of any vendor issues. It's unlikely we'll need it or even purchase it, but it won't hurt to just take a look. It would be a lot of money to lose if something were to happen.
    They are different policies though.   We had a wedding liability policy.  We did not get one that paid out if a vendor closes down or runs off, etc.
    I know they are different. But if I have to drag my butt to my insurance agent anyway (doing the liability policy, trying to adjust the rate on my car insurance, and I need a rider for my watch), what will 2 extra minutes of looking into an additional policy hurt, right?
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  • I have been thinking about this.  Honestly I feel a bit bitter about insurance, because we have always been responsible and had renter's insurance, but the one time we needed it, they would not cover us because it was a flood.  I got so tired of people asking afterwards, "But you had insurance, right?" &^%$#$%*&)(*$%$%#!!

    But-- many venues around here were flooded in both recent hurricanes, and people with weather-related policies were able to recover their money.

    Weather is not a concern for us, but I hadn't really thought of what happens if the venue totally goes out of business.  Our wedding is going to be really expensive because of the location and number of people, plus it's all-inclusive, so we pretty much have 80% of our money paid to this one vendor.  So if they go under, we're fucked.

    Maybe I'll talk to Fi about this.  How expensive are wedding policies?
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    "I'm not a rude bitch.  I'm ten rude bitches in a large coat."

  • edited May 2014
    I've been following this story since it's local. Crazy!! 

    We don't have wedding insurance. 

  • phiraphira member
    5000 Comments 500 Love Its Second Anniversary 5 Answers

    FI and I definitely had a sit down talk about wedding insurance. A friend of mine lost her venue last year during the floods here in CO. (Like she literally lost her venue...it was destroyed). She didn't have insurance, but thankfully the venue refunded her. This was a concern of ours.

    In the end, though, we did not get the insurance. Here's hoping we don't regret it!

    My best friend's cousin got married during the floods last year, and fortunately, her venue was fine (and the weather was great on her wedding day). But the days leading up to the wedding were IMMENSELY stressful. Floods last year, fires before that ... CO needs a break!
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  • I have been thinking about this.  Honestly I feel a bit bitter about insurance, because we have always been responsible and had renter's insurance, but the one time we needed it, they would not cover us because it was a flood.  I got so tired of people asking afterwards, "But you had insurance, right?" &^%$#$%*&)(*$%$%#!!

    But-- many venues around here were flooded in both recent hurricanes, and people with weather-related policies were able to recover their money.

    Weather is not a concern for us, but I hadn't really thought of what happens if the venue totally goes out of business.  Our wedding is going to be really expensive because of the location and number of people, plus it's all-inclusive, so we pretty much have 80% of our money paid to this one vendor.  So if they go under, we're fucked.

    Maybe I'll talk to Fi about this.  How expensive are wedding policies?
    I briefly skimmed another article about wedding insurance, and it seems that it is not so bad, but I had to run to a meeting before getting more details. I think I'll look into it more tonight.

    I am not too nervous about our wedding since it will be in a park, at a classic location that has been around for years. Still, you never know what may happen. Ours is also all inclusive, and we are spending a significant amount, so it would be horrible if something happened. I told FI last night that if this happens to us (knock on wood), my plan would be to get married at the courthouse, and hit up a bar after with family and friends that would want to celebrate. There is no way I would want to save up for another year to go through the same crap. 

    I really, really hope they find this scumbag.
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  • phira said:

    FI and I definitely had a sit down talk about wedding insurance. A friend of mine lost her venue last year during the floods here in CO. (Like she literally lost her venue...it was destroyed). She didn't have insurance, but thankfully the venue refunded her. This was a concern of ours.

    In the end, though, we did not get the insurance. Here's hoping we don't regret it!

    My best friend's cousin got married during the floods last year, and fortunately, her venue was fine (and the weather was great on her wedding day). But the days leading up to the wedding were IMMENSELY stressful. Floods last year, fires before that ... CO needs a break!


    You're telling me! Some counties are already on watch for flooding because of the snow we got on Monday...so much water! (But we need the moisture to help with th fires...it's a lose lose).

    Ok...I'm done hijaking the thread!

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  • I'm a worst case scenario thinker, so I'm pretty convinced that if our venue doesn't shut down, then my dress might catch on fire, or all of the photog's equipment will break, or the DJ will cancel at the last minute, or one of our VIPs will be sick and unable to attend. Because that would be just my luck. But we can't afford to add one more thing our budget, so I don't have to make that decision.
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  • MagicInk said:
    We've debated wedding insurance because we had a similar thing happen with a venue in our state (not one we ever considered but still hit closer to home), but as of right now we don't have wedding insurance.

    We do use credit cards to put down deposits on everything as it's easier to have a paper trail and recoup losses, and omg the amount of paperwork and contracts we have. FI is in charge of it all, paperwork makes my head spinny.

    You also have a lawyer on hand if anything does happen to go south. :)

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  • pinkcow13 said:
    This was on the local news yesterday. For those that don't want to read the article, a bar/restaurant in Brooklyn, NY that is also a popular wedding venue suddenly shut down on Friday. The employees showed up to work and were greeted with closed doors and a sign that read "Rebar is Closed and Bankrupt. Do not Enter." The owner sent his employees a 2 line email that morning that basically read like the sign above. Friday was payday, and these employees are out of 2 weeks pay. On top of that, the venue is booked for the next year or so for weddings. Now, that is all over. The guy took off with $27K in cash and $150K in wedding deposits. FI and I actually met this guy. This was one of the venues we visited, and he bought us dinner and drinks that night at the restaurant! He very nice, and told us that he would be more than willing to work with us in terms of price, as he wanted us to be able to have a great wedding, etc. Luckily, we decided the venue wasn't for us.

    This really got me thinking, though. I did thorough research on all the places we visited. This venue received 4 stars on Yelp, great reviews on all wedding platforms, and we really liked the people we met that day. I never would have thought something like this would happen. And obviously, neither did the unsuspecting couples who paid to have this place host their weddings. There was a segment on the news last night about this place, and they recommended wedding insurance. I never thought of it, and now I wonder if this is something to consider, especially with our wedding being a year away. Anything can happen within that time.

    So, have any of you guys purchased insurance for your upcoming wedding? Or, those of you that are married, did you purchase insurance? Is this something that is worth considering? I feel that there has to be a way to protect ourselves. There's life insurance, homeowners insurance, car insurance, etc. A wedding is a big expense for the most part, so now I'm thinking maybe it would be smart to protect ourselves. What do you all think?
    My DH and I never had insurance, though we did consider it. We did start planing and booking things 18 months out, but found that no one expected a large sum of cash from us (the exception being a few hundred here or there for various deposits) until a few months before to the wedding date so we were comfortable with that risk. We kept tabs on all of our vendors throughout and they all came through for us.
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  • My mom was panicked that there would be a blizzard on our wedding day, so my dad bought insurance to ease her mind. It ended up being 45 degrees and sunny, which is gorgeous for a February day in New England.
  • I am getting married on an island via cruise ship...not doing it through the cruise line tho.  My on island vendor suggested wedding insurance in case boat misses port.  Any one recommend any wedding insurance companies??  I want to look into this.
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