Wedding Insurance Or a Wetsuit? It's Your Choice!

"Who needs wedding insurance? It probably won't rain."

Welcome to the land of clouds, rain, sunshine, rain, winds, rain, heat waves and rain. If there's one thing to be said for the UK climate, it is at least variable. Unpredictable is another way of putting it, and it may well be the reason why we British are renowned across the world for starting a disproportionate number of conversations by commenting on what the weather's doing, what it might do next, what it did this morning and what we hope it doesn't do a week on Tuesday.

Wedding cancellation insurance is one of those aspects of your wedding which feels completely wrong, as though you're making some sort of statement that suggests you have doubts, concerns and worries about the success of your marriage.

The trouble is, it's not the marriage that might be upset by a spot of rain - but your wedding day could easily be ruined.

With the average UK wedding now costing around £23,000, gambling on what the weather might do several months from now is hardly wise, especially in a country where gambling on what the weather might do five minutes from now could be every bit as risky.

Although it's easy to categorise the British weather as being relatively harmless, and for much of the time it may well be. But increasingly we hear reports from the Met Office claiming that this month was the wettest on record, the windiest on record, the hottest on record.

As an example, this autumn saw exactly twice the expected rainfall, which will come as no surprise to those people still paddling from one end of their kitchen to the other or finding out what the view is like from their roof.

Although the idea of swimming up the aisle in your wedding dress is hardly appealing, it's easy to dismiss extreme weather as very unlikely, and carry on making your wedding plans. However, 'extremely unlikely' is a long way from 'completely impossible', in the same way that £23 is a long way from £23,000 - yet the first figure is what wedding insurance might cost you, and the second is what it could cost you if you don't take out wedding insurance.

The more people you involve in your wedding plans, the greater the chance that someone may be affected by extreme weather. Perhaps the roof of the florists has been blown off in a freak gale, and she is unable to provide the flowers, or the caterers have not received their deliveries because their suppliers have been flooded.

Unless you've chosen to have your wedding at the top of a lighthouse, then you may run the risk of your venue being flooded, or of strong winds blowing trees over that block the roads. Even a fallen tree on the limousine booked for the bride is not unheard of.

If you were planning a wedding at an overall cost of about £100, then not only would you probably have a story worth selling to the papers, but you may well consider the risk fairly negligible.

However, if, like many people, you're considering gambling the value of a brand new family car on the chance that one day months from now enjoys perfect weather, then you might consider taking a few small precautions. Either book wetsuits and canoes for the bridal party, or have a think about taking out a suitable wedding insurance policy.