I got married last October in Gibraltar. Nearly everything went to plan apart from the guy who was suppossed to film the ceremony & reception never turned up. I took out Wedding Insurancewith E&L. E&L's policy detailed the following:

SECTION 5 - PHOTOGRAPHS AND VIDEO/DVD

Cover

We cover you up to the amount stated in the schedule for all expenses incurred in the

necessary retaking of the official wedding photographs or video/DVD following:

(a) The non-appearance of the professional photographer or video/DVD operator booked

for the wedding.

(b) Loss of or damage to the original film, negatives or video tape/DVD before copies are

made or the film developed.

© Faulty materials causing non-development of the original film or negatives (except

under- or over-exposure)

Exclusions

(a) Any loss under (b) above if occurring more than 28 days after the end of your wedding

reception.

E & L's customer services is largley made up of idiot's who don't know the meaning of customer service. I put in a claim in the hope of getting some or all of the £2500 I was insured for in case the Photographer/Videographer didn't turn up.

I sent them a schedule of costs for the retaking of the video which basically entailed staging my wedding again costing nearly £14,000. This included flying all my guests back out there & putting them up etc. Obviously there is no way in the world I would ever do this, so i was hoping for some sort of compensation payment.

Eventually E&L emailed me stating that I should go ahead with restaging my wedding but they can only pay £2500 towards it. I cannot see now how I can get any money out of them as restaging my wedding is a non starter. Nothing can ever replace what I lost when the guy didn't turn up to film my wedding but I thought £2500 would go someway to making me feel a bit better about it.

Should insurance compaines be offering this type of cover when in practice, certainly in my case, there is no way you could ever restage your wedding for the purpose of filming it.

I think it would be your responsibility to ensure that the level of cover you are taking out is appropriate to your needs, same with car, building, contents and travel insurance. The terms are quite clear that they will pay for the;

necessary retaking of the official wedding photographs or video/DVD following:

(a) The non-appearance of the professional photographer or video/DVD operator booked.

Not to "reward" you with a cash lump sum of £2500 for nothing. They do also add "Necessary Retaking". I think you would be hard pressed to argue that flying all your guests back to Gibraltar is "necessary" for the retaking of your wedding pictures when they could be done in the UK.]

Its a shame that this put a dampner on your special day.

We cover you up to the amount stated in the schedule

What was the amount in the schedule of the agreement?

I agree with what planner has said too.

If the schedule you agreed to was £2500 that is all they will pay unfortunatley.

I would suggest that you arrange for all your guests to attend a portrait studio and get professional shots done - not sure how much this would cost though.

I know its not the same and you will never have official pics, but hopefully friends and family will have taken plenty for you to get copies of.

Paul

Thanks for your replies, maybe I wasn't clear enough in my post. It was the videographer who never turned up to film the event, not the photographer.

He was supposed to film my ceremony & reception, so in order to achieve this I would need to restage my wedding again. What I have lost out on I could never, realistically, hope to replace.

So back to my original question, should they be offering cover of this type when moments like my bestman bottling his speech are lost forever?!

Sorry,

Are you complaining because the Insurer has offered too much cover in offering the peril in the first place??

Or because the Sum Insured is too low?

Thanks for your replies, maybe I wasn't clear enough in my post. It was the videographer who never turned up to film the event, not the photographer.

 

He was supposed to film my ceremony & reception, so in order to achieve this I would need to restage my wedding again. What I have lost out on I could never, realistically, hope to replace.

 

So back to my original question, should they be offering cover of this type when moments like my bestman bottling his speech are lost forever?!

Of course they should be offering this type of cover! BUT, its your responsibility to ensure the level of cover you have taken is suitable for your needs. You obviously needed to pay a much higher premium in order to recieve £14,000 worth of cover that you required. If my house burnt down and cost £200,000 to rebuild and I only had it insured for £100,000 should I be asking if its right for insurance companies to offer this type of cover? of course not.

How about retaking your vows and having another party in a nice hotel/venue somewhere in the UK with the £2500 (sure you could have a very nice do for that)?.