While event insurance is most commonly thought of for weddings, any big event can benefit from having a one-day event policy in place. Event insurance will protect your investment in case you need to cancel the event.
The pandemic had a big impact on event cancellation insurance. Before Covid-19, when people pictured something that could cancel an event, they pictured snowstorms or hurricanes. Covid-19 had a huge impact on the industry, with some saying event cancellation insurance will sacrifice all the profits from the last 25 years to cover all the cancellations due to Covid.
Going forward, you can expect event insurance premiums to be higher than they used to be. Claims take longer to process. And finally, communicable disease coverage will probably never be available again (you needed either all-risk coverage or to have added communicable disease coverage on as a rider to file a claim due to cancellation because of Covid).
- The 7 Best Event Insurance Companies
- What is Event Insurance and what Types of Event Insurance Are There?
- Who Needs Event Insurance?
- Does General Liability Insurance Cover Special Events?
- What Event Insurance do I need as a Professional Event Planner?
- How Much does Event Insurance Cost?
- How to Get Cheap Event Insurance?
- Does Homeowner’s Insurance Cover an Event You Host at Home?
The 7 Best Event Insurance Companies
After weighing the pros and cons, and looking into customer service, pricing, and claims service, we recommend the following companies.
- Simply Business: Best for Comparing Online Quotes
- Allianz Event Insurance: Best for Big-Ticket Events like the SuperBowl or the World Series
- Eventhelper.com – Best for Unique Events
- Thimble – Best for Part-Time Event Planners
- RVNA – Best for Comprehensive Coverage
- Markel – Best for Customizable Specialty Insurance
- WedSafe – Best for Wedding Insurance
Simply Business: Best for Comparing Online Quotes
Simply Business is digital commercial insurance broker. They work with several leading business insurance companies. Once you provide your personal and event information, they are able to get several quotes from these companies for you to compare and select the best one for you.
Their quote form is relatively simpler than others in the industry. Within 7-10 minutes, you will have several quotes to compare. If you are new to buying insurance for your event and your event is a bit more complicated than a usual one, for example a wedding or an engagement party, you might want to speak to one of their agents who is very knowledgeable to understand the nuances of event insurance. With Covid-19 situation, event insurance has become more complicated with a lot of exclusions and new terms, so you might want to understand exactly what the policy covers and what it doesn’t before buying.
Allianz Event Insurance: Best for Big-Ticket Events like the SuperBowl or the World Series
Allianz is a global insurance company with significant operations in many insurance sub-verticals from life insurance to travel insurance. Travel insurance could be considered a type of event. Like every other travel insurance company, the only way you could collect on a Covid claim was if you personally had Covid. You could also collect if you had “Cancel for any reason” insurance, but Allianz doesn’t offer that.
Regarding event insurance, they offer two different types of protection: Event Ticket Protector and Event Registration Protector. Event Ticket protector covers big-ticket events like the Superbowl or the World Series: events people pay a lot of money for tickets. It could make sense to get ticket protection in these cases.
Event Registration Protector offers reimbursement if a participant is not able to engage in their event. For example, people who plan to travel for a marathon often get injured before the race. Event Registration Protection would reimburse you for race fees, up to $10,000. It can also cover the event organizer; in case something happens to derail the whole event.
Eventhelper.com – Best for Unique Events
Not only does event helper insure every special event you can think of, from a 10k run to a wedding, rates are very reasonable. You can purchase insurance for an event lasting anywhere from one day to ten days, and they insure all fifty states.
For a wedding in California with 200 guests, Event helper gave us this quote:
Thimble – Best for Part-Time Event Planners
If you’re a party planner or entertainer, Thimble might be perfect for you. They can sell you a policy as little as an hour long, starting at $5.
For an event starting and ending today, Thimble gave us this quote:
You can get access to your certificate of insurance immediately. Thimble might be perfect for you if you occasionally work as an event planner but don’t do it on a regular basis.
Keep in mind Thimble insures event planners, not the actual event.
RVNA – Best for Comprehensive Coverage
RVNA offers event insurance starting at $50 and insures events large and small. They’ve been insuring special events for over 25 years, so they know what’s involved and the type of insurance you need.
For an Anniversary party in California, we said we were holding the event for 200 people and were planning to serve alcohol. They quoted us:
Markel – Best for Customizable Specialty Insurance
Markel was founded in 1930 and they specialize in specialty insurance. They insure everything from horses to weddings. You can add or change the limits on your policy, change deductibles, or customize your policy in whatever way works for you.
For an anniversary party in CA, Markel gave us a detailed quote:
WedSafe – Best for Wedding Insurance
WedSafe specializes in wedding insurance. They can offer you wedding liability insurance and cancellation insurance. If you buy both, you get a 15% discount.
When we entered our information, WedSafe gave us a variety of options and coverage limits to choose from. The one-time premium range for event liability insurance is $150-260; and $130-$275 for cancellation insurance.
Nationwide Event Insurance: Partner with WedSafe and K&K
Nationwide offers wedding cancellation insurance through both WedSafe and K&K insurance group. If you want a quote for your wedding, Nationwide brings you to the WedSafe website to get a quote. If you’re planning an event other than a wedding, Nationwide will bring you over to K&K. They can provide you with coverage for:
- Lost deposits due to vendor bankruptcy
- Reimbursement of non-refundable deposits if you cancel for any covered reason
- The rehearsal dinner
- Loss to your dress, gifts, photos, rings, and videos
Progressive Event Insurance: Partner with EventHelper
Progressive can also offer you event insurance, including things like charity runs. They provide this through The Event Helper. They offer both Event Cancellation insurance and Event Liability insurance. More details on EventHelper event insurance are above.
What is Event Insurance and What Types of Event Insurance Are There?
Event insurance protects you from all sorts of mishaps when you’re planning a huge event, such as a wedding. There are several policies you’ll want to look into when you’re planning such an event. They are:
Event cancellation coverage insurance:
Event cancellation can return non-refundable deposits to you if you cancel an event due to a named peril. Now that Covid-19 wreaked havoc on the event insurance industry, insurance companies are very careful in what they list as a named peril, and just in case of another lockdown situation, communicable disease is no longer offered. Many companies have stopped offering event cancellation insurance altogether. You can still get event liability coverage and liquor liability coverage.
Event liability coverage insurance:
Let’s say your wedding turns into an impromptu dance competition. Your great Aunt Edna is eager to show off her dance moves, but while she’s twirling across the dance floor, she stumbles into a waiter and breaks an ankle. Event liability coverage will pay for her medical care costs. If she also damages the venue’s sound system, event liability coverage will cover that, too.
Liquor liability insurance:
If one of your party guests drinks too much and then gets into an accident on the way home, you could be held liable for the damages. Some event insurance includes liquor liability insurance, and some don’t. Be sure to read your policy carefully and ask about adding it on if you need it.
Keep in mind your venue will probably have their own coverage, but if your state has “social host laws” you could still be held liable. Even if your state doesn’t have such laws, liquor liability insurance is a good idea. You can read more about the ins and outs of liquor liability insurance here.
Who Needs Event Insurance?
Special event insurance is most commonly associated with weddings, but can also be for:
- Anniversary parties
- Baby showers
- Birthday parties
- Housewarmings
- Retirement parties
It’s possible your venue has its own liability coverage, so you need to check with them to find out if you need your own event insurance. They may not cover everything, though, so your own event insurance may still be a good idea. Be sure to ask what is and is not covered under the policy.
It’s also possible your vendors have insurance, too. Be sure to check with them to see what sort of insurance they have and what is covered.
If you’re hosting an event in your home, your homeowners insurance offers some protection, you can also check your credit cards to see what, if anything, they cover in the case of cancellation.
Wedding Event Insurance
Weddings are huge, emotionally charged events. It’s no wonder engaged couples want to protect their investment by purchasing wedding insurance. Although the average cost of a wedding in 2020 dropped to $19,000 (from $28,000 the year before, according to The Knot) that’s still a lot of money.
Wedding insurance can be purchased from many top insurance companies. Here are our choices for the best wedding event insurance companies. The 7 Best Wedding Insurance Companies
Other Special One-Day Event Insurance
You may be planning a big event that is not a wedding. You can get event insurance for your one-day event as well. It works much the same way as wedding insurance, and you can read about it here.
Rates for one-day event insurance are pretty reasonable.
What Types of Events Are Not Covered by Special Event Insurance?
Special event insurance doesn’t cover everything. Things like:
- Dance recitals
- Sporting events and exhibitions
- Bachelor/bachelorette parties
- Corporate fundraisers
- Haunted houses
Event insurance won’t cover you if there’s a lockdown due to another pandemic. If the groom falls ill or drops dead before the wedding, wedding insurance will cover that. However, if either the bride or the groom gets cold feet and decides to cancel, wedding insurance won’t cover that.
Does General Liability Insurance Cover Special Events?
Essentially, special event liability insurance is a type of general liability insurance that’s good for just one day. It protects you against lawsuits stemming from bodily injury and property damage. If you already have general liability insurance for your business, make sure to read the policy because many of them will exclude special events. If you try to file a claim under your general liability policy and the insurance company discovers the event stems from a huge party you didn’t tell them about, they could cancel your policy.
What Event Insurance do I need as a Professional Event Planner?
If you are an event planner, either full-time or part-time, you should consider event planner insurance, which usually includes general liability policy. This will ensure that all parties involved in your event—you, the caterer, the dj—will be protected against losses like bodily injury or property damage. As an event planner, you’re a kind of general contractor. A general liability policy will protect you in case someone has an accident and sues the event and tries to sue you personally.
According to insureon, a general liability policy for event planners costs about $650 a year.
How Much does Event Insurance Cost?
The cost of event insurance has increased in the past year due to covid pandemic, and many insurance companies have stopped offering event cancellation insurance altogether. If they do offer it at all, there’s often a communicable disease exclusion.
Prior to Covid-19, depending on how expensive your event is, the cost of event insurance can be in the range of $150-$600. However, according to EventsCase, an event management software company, policies are about 100% more expensive than they were before Covid-19. Read about the cost of event insurance here.
How to Get Cheap Event Insurance?
Finding cheap event insurance is a priority for most party planners. Read about the cheapest event insurance companies, but keep in mind costs are likely to be somewhat higher I this post-pandemic world.
The only effective way to get cheap event insurance is to compare quotes from a couple of companies. Working with a digital broker like Simply Business or CoverWallet helps you compare quotes from several companies in one place, conveniently.
Does homeowner’s insurance cover an event you host at home?
Your homeowners’ insurance does provide some protection, but you might want to purchase event liability coverage as well. Liability limits on a homeowners policy start at about $100,000. So, if one of your party guests breaks an ankle, homeowner’s insurance will cover that.
If you’re hosting a party that serves alcohol and one of your guests drinks too much and then drives home, you could be held responsible for the injuries he/she causes in the accident. According to the iii, 43 states have social host liquor liability laws, meaning someone could sue the hosts of a party for damages that drunk guests cause. Homeowners insurance usually provides between $100,000 to $300,000 in liquor liability coverage. However, if you’re hosting a huge Superbowl party and a drunken guest hits three cars on the way home, that might not be enough.
Learn more about liquor liability insurance and host liquor insurance Liquor Liability Insurance: Costs and 4 Best Providers
When do I need to buy event insurance?
You can purchase event liability insurance no later than two weeks before the event, but no sooner than two years.
Last Thoughts
Costs associated with events such as weddings or other special events put a strain on your wallet. Noone likes to consider the worst-case scenario, but unfortunate circumstances can and do happen. Getting a one-day event policy will give you peace of mind, and let you enjoy the event when it hopefully goes off without a hitch.
>>MORE: Explore our other articles about different types of event insurance:
