A wedding insurance cover for L N Mittal! You might wonder, but it is true indeed. The steel baron's daughter Vanisha, in June last year, got married to a London-based banker, Amit Bhatia, in a style, fun-filled with songs and drama, which is typical of Bollywood. The wedding was insured.

With Indian couples increasingly longing to make their wedding celebrations memorable and cherishable, the domestic wedding market is booming. It is currently estimated at Rs 70,000 crore (Rs 700 billion) and growing every day.

Insurance covers offered by public sector companies for wedding are largely taken for postponement or cancellation of wedding, as they cover accidental death of a close relative or bride or bridegroom, burglary of jewellery, valuables of the insured gifts (wedding suits, sarees, silver articles, etc) and so on, and damage to marriage halls by forces such as fire, lightning, domestic (in-house) explosion and terrorism attacks.

The covers will also include the impossibility of a bride or bridegroom to reach the wedding hall on time owing to stranding of train and/or unavoidablity of road conveyance or local law and order problem, police action of arrest or search of marriage party for reasons other than child marriage or criminal acts by any of the member of the household of the bride or the bridegroom.

United India Insurance's maximum amount of sum assured under this policy is Rs 500,000 and premiums vary from 0.50 per cent to 3.25 per cent depending on the segments of cover taken.

A typical wedding insurance offered by private insurance companies comes at a premium for postponement or cancellation of wedding from Rs 3,770 to 14,276 for sum assured of Rs 200,000 to Rs 800,000.

But, this segment will not be exclusively available, and it has be taken along with damage to property, personal accident, burglary and public liability.

The good news, however, is that all these segments are available for sum assured from Rs 20 lakh (Rs 2 million) to 70 lakh (Rs 7 million), and it is not expensive as you might be thinking. The insurance cover comes at a premium in the range of Rs 3,770 to Rs 14,276.

There is catch that under each of the category such as postponement and cancellation of a wedding, damage to property and personal accident, the maximum sum assured is Rs 800,000 and the minimum sum assured Rs 200,000.

Kamesh Goyal, chief executive officer, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, says, "These days, weddings have become quite an expensive and elaborate affair. People do take care to make this once-in-a-lifetime event a memorable one. In case of any postponement or cancellation, there is a certain risk of monetary loss. The wedding insurance package can compensate for the monetary loss. This unique product covers the specific risks related to weddings."

It is interesting to note that public sector general insurance companies have had insurance to cover loss of cost of material and expenses incurred due to postponement or cancellation of marriage causes by one or more factors and loss of damage to property for the last 10 years but has not caught on well.

However, things are looking brighter for the latest entrants -- the private insurers -- as they have also started providing this cover. Naturally, says a senior general manager of a public insurance company, as the wedding costs have increased dramatically in the last five years, and people, with increased purchasing power, are also willing to spend more on weddings.

The period of insurance will be 24 hours prior to the start of the customary functions or rituals or programmes of events mentioned in the printed invitations till the end of the function or five days from the beginning whichever occurs earlier.

Cover provides. . .

• Expenses actually and already incurred or advances paid in connection with marriage hall, cooks, catering, purohits, priests, pandits, beauticians, decorators, accommodation reserved for the bride, bridegroom, guests, music parties, photos and videography and entertainment programs
• Cost of consumables which can neither be returned not used after lapse of time
• Loss on cancellation of travel tickets, forfeiture of caution or security or deposits. Liability is restricted only when such cancellation arises out of cancellation or postponement of marriage itself due to any of the causes mentioned above
• Burglary of jewellery, silver articles costly items like wedding suits, wedding sarees, bridal sets etc
• Third party liability of insured arising out of functions at the marriage

. . .and does not provide:

• Dispute between marriage parties
• Criminal acts
• Willful negligence
• Criminal misconduct of the bride, bridegroom or their parents