Wedding Insurance

Sooo.... after an interesting Facebook post from a Wedding Coordinator, it looks like more and more people are advising that Brides and Grooms consider taking about Wedding Insurance for their weddings...

It may seem like just another unnecessary cost added to the bundles of costs that you have to contend with for your wedding but here is some information about wedding insurance that might help:

         

Before you buy wedding insurance, check with your each of your 

vendors to see how well they're covered.

What Is Wedding Insurance?

Basically, wedding insurance protects a couple's investment from circumstances beyond  their control, and reimburses expenses incurred. For example, what if your limo driver doesn't show up and you have to book another one the morning of the wedding -- for three times the price? Or what if the groom's custom-made tuxedo is lost in airport baggage, and he has to buy a new one the day before the wedding? What if your reception space goes out of business a month before the wedding, and you lose your deposit and have to book another space? These are the types of big-day financial losses that wedding insurance can help to protect.

Why Get Wedding Insurance?

Consider these scenarios:

• Janet and Dan spend months planning their winter wedding. But on wedding day, their reception site is made inaccessible by an ice storm. With the right wedding insurance policy, the couple can postpone their wedding and receive every penny they lost (less the deductible) -- including money for the invites, cake, catering, attire, and non-refundable deposits for ceremony musicians, floral designer, and other vendors.
• The bride's father is injured in a car accident just before the wedding and cannot travel. If the couple has to postpone their wedding, with wedding insurance they could be paid back their expenses to enable them to have the wedding when the father recovers.
• Right before the ceremony, Brittany's gown catches a gust of wind. Unfortunately, the tulle dances right over to the end of Uncle Howard's cigar and the dress instantly goes up in flames. Fortunately, the right insurance policy covers the replacement of the veil and gown.

Do You Really Need Wedding Insurance?

Before you buy wedding insurance, check with your each of your vendors to see how well they're covered -- your reception site or your caterer may already have their own insurance, so you wouldn't want to pay for overlapping coverage out of your own pocket. Ask your vendors for a copy of their policy, and then figure out where you aren't fully covered.

What Does Wedding Insurance Cover?

Problems with the site, weather, vendors, key people, sickness, or injury are the top concerns come wedding day. There is usually a specified maximum amount, which can be claimed under each section, and a deductible also applies. Be sure to find out the details of your insurance plan.

• Site: Check to see if your ceremony and reception site is already insured. If it's not, wedding insurance can cover the cost arising out of unavoidable cancellation (such as damage or inaccessibility to the ceremony site), if your reception hall is unable to honor your reservation because it has burned in a fire, experienced an electrical outage, or just plain closed down. Sometimes this policy covers the rehearsal dinner site, too.
• Weather: Any weather conditions which prevent the bride, groom, any relative whose presence at the wedding is essential, or the majority of the guests from reaching the premises where the wedding is to take place. Insurance covers rescheduling the wedding and all the details involved -- such as ceremony flowers, tent rental, and reception food.
• Vendor No-show: What if essential wedding people -- the caterer or the officiant, for example -- fail to show up? A wedding insurance policy usually covers cancellation or postponement of the wedding for these reasons.
• Sickness or Injury: Wedding insurance may also include sickness or injury to the bride, groom, or anyone essential to the wedding.
• Military or Job: It's true, military personnel may be shipped out at a moment's notice. Wedding insurance can cover postponement of the wedding due to the bride or groom suddenly getting called to military duty. This can also apply to a last-minute corporate move -- i.e. the bride's company suddenly relocates her to another city.

Things to Consider                                 

Every insurance policy and every wedding scenario is different. Be sure to talk to your insurance agent -- and have him or her explain the nuts and bolts to you. You want to make sure you and your sweetie understand every detail of your policy.

Read more: Wedding Planning: Wedding Insurance 101 - Wedding Planning - Wedding Problems http://wedding.theknot.com/wedding-planning/wedding-problems/articles/wedding-insurance-101.aspx#ixzz24x6AbOeW

Autumn Wedding Inspiration

Wedding Hangers

I absolutely love this idea!

Why not get your hands on these gorgeous wedding hangers for your wedding dress and his wedding suit, the best part, you can keep and reuse in your marital home after the wedding. Awesome :)

Elegant Hair on your Wedding Day

I absolutely love this do for an elegant wedding day look, the flowers and jagged french plait work beautifully! :)

Inspiration ~ Realisation

For a bit of fun and to prove that with a little bit of Vision - all of your dreams can come true. I have posted some of my "Inspiration" and "Realisation" photos for you to browse through.

Hope these inspire you to find those elements that would make your event perfect, put them on a photo board, computer desk top, notebook, or anywhere really where you will look at them everyday and be inspired to turn your dreams into a reality - a little bit of Personal Mastery for events really :)

Happy planning!

THE WEDDING DRESS

 

THE BRIDESMAIDS DRESSES

THE GROOMSMEN

Flower Girls and Tutus... made with love ;)

Having had the desire from... lets say day one, to become a world famous fashion designer, I thought that my wedding would be the best opportunity to put my sewing and design skills to the test! (I had a trial run for my sister's wedding last year when I took three plain dresses and dolled them up with red rose detail on the skirts and a cute red band around the waist).

Not wanting to "bite off more than I could chew" I decided on ready made white dresses from Woolworths and then I would add cute button details to the flowers, change the plain buttons on the dresses and, oh yes, construct a tutu from scratch!

It took some time and vast amounts of research but I finally managed to put together four cute tutu's that added that touch of "fairy, princess-like glamour" that my flower girls needed. The process, though tiresome, was in the end rewarding! The moral of this post - add a touch of you to your event. For me it was fashion, my family and friends understood that there was no way any member of my bridal party would wear a thing without my say, input and of course, designer touch!

In the City of Love - Bruno Gila Photography

Having done a ton of research and being inspired by the New York wedding setting, Shalin and I chose to do our photos in Newtown, Johannesburg. These photos displayed the beauty and culture of South Africa's oldest city and gave Shalin and I a new found love for "downtown Johannesburg". We then followed up the downtown shoot with an uptown shoot in the streets of Sandton. Sandton provided the modern edge to the shoot which we loved!

Bruno was a fantastic photographer who worked to the plan we set out ensuring we got exactly what we wanted, my sister's affectionalty refer to him as the "perfect bridesmaid"

Here are just a couple of the awesome photos Bruno Gila took on our wedding day...

www.italianalbums.co.za

Enjoy :)

Get in to the Mood

So you are now ready to get into gear, the budget has been thought out and now the fun starts. 

There are many elements that make an event amazing - flowers, decor, entertainment, dresses, favours, and so much more. The confusing bit is trying to figure out how to tie everything together to work cohesively. The event must have flow and all elements need to come together to to create an overall ambiance that leaves that lasting memory for your guests.

The bests place to start is a Mood Board. Once you have decided on colour get on to the internet and start researching images on all those fun elements that need to come together to make the perfect event. I suggest referring to a colour wheel as a starting point - what is the colour you want to carry through your event and what is the complimentary colour on the wheel that you can bring in to the elements to add that extra punch.

Have a look at the mood boards I created for my weddings. I selected Purple as the primary colour for my Greek Wedding and Cerise for my Indian Wedding. When I referred to the colour wheel, Green fell into the comfortable complimentary colour on the wheel for Purple and Yellow for the Cerise. I hit the ground running from there and created a mood board that would guide my decisions on all decor elements from there on.

 

Happy planning!

G

Event Kick Off

The most difficult task with planning an event, especially if it is not something you do all the time, is the starting point. Where is the best pace to start putting all your ideas, wants and needs so that it makes sense, is workable and can be carried through the entire event planning process...? 

Well let me tell you, the best place to start is a Budget. Not only will this document provide you with an idea of all you will need to have available for any event, but it will also act as your To Do List that you can check off as you go. For my wedding, the budget was the worst part because really how does one keep track of something you want everything of? It wasn't easy and I didn't have the answers as to how much I should keep aside for weird things like "Wild Hibiscus Flowers for the champagne glasses" or "A Quartet to play music while I walk down the isle" or really all those finer points that make the difference between a Year-end function and My Wedding...

So I did some research and got a hold of some event planners that were kind enough to email me a budget... one that I nearly fell off my chair over but needless to say it was a start. So with Kate Middleton's budget in hand ;) I added extra columns and proceeded to just "discount" the figures until I reached a final amount that suited my... well ego really. Items on the budget that seemed too over the top I deleted figures, but not description, in case there was some money left over. 

Over the months I got more into things and eventually ended up with a personalized budget/to do list with actual figures from suppliers and an actual amount that I needed to have available to throw the perfect event.

If you need a hand, drop me a mail and lets see if I can get you started!

Happy planning...

G