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.