You may have purchased wedding insurance, but you are by no means out of risky territory just yet. There is another type of coverage called general liability coverage that goes hand-in-hand with wedding insurance.

General Liability Insurance offers protection against claims involving bodily injury or property damage related to your wedding. If you currently have homeowners or renters insurance, you can obtain a one-day umbrella policy under your home-owners/renters insurance policy that will cover the day of your wedding. Depending on your insurance carrier there may or may not be an additional fee for this umbrella one-day policy. If you do not already have insurance you can obtain a one-day special event insurance policy through Fireman's Fund or WedSafe. The premiums range from $150 to $300 and like wedding insurance it is a one-time payment.

How important is this type of coverage? Joyce Scardina Becker, certified wedding planner, owner of Events of Distinction (www.eventsofdistinction.com), and Director of the Wedding Consultant Certificate Program California State University East Bay, thinks that it is extremely important to protect yourself, "Weddings today have the potential for negligent activity that unfortunately can lead to long and costly litigation due to the increase of our litigious society. As the number of professionally managed weddings has increased, so has the concern for risk management. Gone are the days of doing business with a handshake. The importance of legal compliance such as signing written contracts and securing proper permits, insurance and licenses are a must.

The "hosts" of the wedding, the bride, groom and parents, those names that appear on the invitation have both a legal responsibility to the guests to plan and maintain a safe and secure wedding environment. Also the more assets you own, home, car, business, investments, the greater the risk when hosting an event."

Joyce recommends that within the general liability coverage, you should consider "Broad Form Comprehensive General Liability Endorsement". This is an amendment to your general liability policy that provides extensions or varies the terms of coverage provided. It also expands your general liability policy to cover other areas you think you'll need protection in like fire legal liability, which protects against claims for fire damage to the facility caused by your negligence.

However, Joyce added that if your wedding reception is at a venue that requires a "Certificate of Insurance", this is different from general liability and may be required in your venue contract. Often venue contracts will detail the type and limits of insurance that must be in force by both parties. Most venue contracts will require copies of "Certificate of Insurance" naming the reception site as an additional insured up to $2 million per occurrence. They require this "Certificate of Insurance" be presented 30 days before the wedding otherwise, the wedding will not take place on the property.

Continuing on the subject of what to look for in vendor contracts, Joyce noted that your caterer and cake baker must have "Products Liability" insurance and health certificates for commercial kitchens, which protects against claims such as food poisoning. Your caterer or beverage company must have an ABC liquor license to serve alcohol and "Host Liquor Liability", which protects against claims resulting from the serving of alcoholic beverages.

You also need to look for a "hold harmless" clause in vendor contracts. In the event of negligence by either party the negligent party agrees to hold the other party (non-negligent party) as harmless and to defend them against harm. Joyce recommends that you always try to get mutual indemnification clauses in your all your contracts.