How much wedding planning insurance costs, policy by policy

What to take away

Wedding planning insurance costs depend on the policy line, your revenue and your state. The figures below are typical annual premiums, not quotes.

The four policies a planning business actually carries

Most wedding planners end up with four lines. Each answers a different kind of loss. General liability covers bodily injury and property damage you cause to someone else. Professional liability covers claims that you made a mistake. Business property covers your own gear. Workers compensation covers injured employees.

A fifth line, commercial auto, matters if you drive for the business or haul decor in a company-titled vehicle. A sixth, cyber, is worth pricing once you store client payment details.

Carriers such as Hiscox, NEXT Insurance and Thimble sell small-business liability and professional liability online. The Hartford, Travelers and CNA sell through agents, often as a business owner's policy that combines general liability and property.

Brokers such as Insureon and TechInsurance quote several carriers at once. Publicly filed rates differ by state, revenue and classification, so treat any online starting price as a starting point, not your premium.

Here is what each costs, and what moves the number.

Those are ranges, not quotes. Your broker prices your business, and two planners with the same revenue in different states can be $1,000 apart.

General liability: the policy every venue asks about

General liability answers the guest who trips on a cable your team taped down. It also answers the cart that marks a historic floor during load-in. It does not answer a claim that you booked the wrong date.

For a solo coordinator working out of a home office, $400 to $900 a year buys a $1M per-occurrence, $2M aggregate limit. Add a crew, a storage unit and $30,000 of decor inventory. Then the same limit runs $1,200 to $3,500. Hiscox, NEXT Insurance and Thimble quote this line online. The Hartford and Travelers write it through agents.

The occupational description at U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Meeting, Convention, and Event Planners is a fair inventory of where that exposure comes from. You coordinate services, inspect sites and monitor delivery, which puts you on site, giving directions, handling other people's property and money.

Professional liability: the policy that answers your mistakes

A double-booked date, a vendor who was never confirmed, a timeline that collapsed because you missed a handoff. These are professional liability claims, and general liability will not touch them.

Expect $500 to $1,500 a year. Hiscox and NEXT Insurance quote this line for small firms, and brokers such as TechInsurance compare several carriers. The retroactive date matters more than the premium: if your policy starts in March, a mistake you made in January is not covered. Ask for prior-acts coverage if you are switching carriers mid-season.

Property, auto and cyber: the lines planners forget

Your radios, laptop, steamer and emergency kit are business property. A homeowner's policy usually excludes them once they leave the house. Inland marine covers gear in transit and at the venue, and runs $250 to $800 a year for a typical kit. The Hartford, Travelers and CNA write this coverage, often inside a business owner's policy.

If you haul a trailer or drive clients, commercial auto is a separate policy at $1,200 to $2,800 per vehicle. Progressive Commercial, The Hartford and Travelers write commercial auto. Personal auto policies exclude business use.

Cyber liability, $300 to $1,200, answers a data incident. Hiscox, Chubb and CNA write cyber policies for small businesses. It is worth pricing once you hold client payment details or vendor contracts with bank information. The inventory decision that changes your property premium is covered in the equipment and setup overview.

Workers compensation: the line your broker does not set

The moment you pay an assistant, your state may require workers compensation. The rate is set by the state and by your classification code, not by your broker.

It is commonly $1.50 to $6.00 per $100 of payroll for clerical and event classifications. NEXT Insurance writes workers compensation in some states. The Hartford writes it in many others. Your state fund is often the market of last resort.

Ask your state labor department and your broker the same question, because their answers cover different things. Whether that assistant is an employee or a contractor is a separate question with tax consequences, and the hiring decisions behind it are covered in how reliable day-of staff are found.

What the venue is actually asking for

Venues rarely ask "are you insured." They ask for a certificate with their entity named exactly as their contract writes it, sometimes as an additional insured, with specific coverage described. Markel and USLI write special event liability for couples and hosts, but that policy is not your planning policy.

Copy the wording verbatim from the contract into your broker request. A certificate with the venue's name slightly wrong gets rejected, usually the Thursday before the wedding. Each venue is a separate request, and twenty weddings across twelve venues means many certificates a season.

Your certificate is not your vendors' certificates. The venue wants theirs too, and chasing those is your job even though the coverage is not yours. That collection sits in the per-wedding compliance file described in the licensing and compliance overview.

Where the premiums sit in your opening costs

Budget insurance before your first booking, alongside registration. A solo planner starting out should plan on $900 to $2,400 for the first year across general liability, professional liability and property. Add workers compensation once you hire.

Get two or three quotes on identical specifications, then compare the wordings rather than the prices. A cheaper policy that excludes the incident you actually face is not cheaper. The registrations it sits beside are set out in which registrations a planning business actually needs.

Two exposures that are not insurance questions

Accessibility obligations are law, not coverage. What federal requirements look like for a small business is set out plainly in U.S. Department of Justice: ADA Guide for Small Businesses, and how they apply to a private event at a specific venue is for the venue and a qualified adviser.

Employment obligations begin with your first assistant, and your state sets what it requires of an employer. Ask before the first payment, not after.

One claim about coverage you should never make

Do not write "fully insured" or "covered for anything" on your website. Those are advertising claims and they need support, under the standard in Federal Trade Commission: Advertising FAQs: A Guide for Small Business. Say what you carry, and let the certificate do the talking when a venue asks.

Common questions

Should the couple buy their own event insurance?

Many venues require it, and it answers different things than yours does: their liability as hosts, and sometimes cancellation. Tell couples it exists and that the venue may require it, then let them buy it from their own broker. Recommending a specific product is not your role.

Do I need coverage before my first paid wedding?

Ask a broker and ask the venue before you sign anything. The venue's answer is usually the binding one, and it usually arrives as a contract requirement rather than as advice.

Does my policy cover an assistant I pay for one day?

That depends on whether that person is treated as an employee or a contractor and on your policy's wording, which is two questions for two different people. Get both answered in writing before the season starts.