Weddings are back and it’s boom time for photographers

Happy couples the length and breadth of the UK are breathing a sigh of relief that weddings are back on track – and that means wedding photographers, too.

With business set to boom for those in the trade, insurance broker PolicyBee, which specialises in providing cover for freelance professionals and small businesses, is urging photographers to check their insurance policy to ensure they have up-to-date cover.

Why? Because, last year, 20 per cent of all claims made on policies issued by PolicyBee were from photographers. Overall, 36 per cent of claims it received were for portable equipment, including cameras and laptops.

These creative professionals are a crucial part of a bridal party’s big day but accidents will happen to expensive kit that can ruin not just the photographer’s day but a happy couple’s too.

Claims that PolicyBee sees include cameras and camera equipment being knocked over and damaged; drinks accidentally spilled over kit; equipment suffering damage while photographers are en route from one wedding to another; and items being stolen.

According to the UK Weddings Taskforce[1], our wedding industry is worth £14.7billion; includes sole-traders to multi-million-pound enterprises and sees 279,000 couples marry in the UK each year.

From Monday 12 April, 15 guests can be present at a wedding, from 17 May it’s 30 and by 21 June, at the earliest, the government aims to remove all limits on social contact in England, including wedding restrictions.

Jane Aldous, photographers’ insurance expert at PolicyBee, said: “After spending so long waiting for the government regulations to allow weddings to resume, business is set to boom again for the wedding trade.

“Photographers need to ensure their insurance is ready to go and they have the right level of cover, especially if they invested in new equipment during lockdown.

“Equipment insurance will also cover you for the hire of camera kit while yours is being repaired, or if it takes some time to get hold of the right replacement kit.

“So, should your tripod and camera get knocked over and damaged by the best man, you won’t risk loss of trade.”

And what if it’s you who trips over and knocks the expensive wedding cake off the table as you back into it while setting up a shot?

“Weddings can be stressful situations and a rollercoaster ride of high emotions mixed with copious amounts of bubbly, so sometimes things don’t go to plan. Having the right insurance insulates you from a great deal of stress and financial fallout”, added Jane.

Cover for photographers ranges from photographic kit, equipment breakdown, public liability (for any damage you cause yourself) to professional indemnity for jobs that go wrong.

Visit https://www.policybee.co.uk/photographer-insurance for more information on photographers’ cover or https://www.policybee.co.uk/business-insurance-claims-in-close-up to read wedding photographers’ claims stories.

[1] https://ukweddings.org/about