Wedding Officiants Insurance – Cost and Types Of Policies

Whenever you budget the expenses of your business, wedding officiants insurance must be high on the list because you can’t always know exactly what can happen in the future.

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With the protection provided by liability insurance and all the other sorts of insurance we will tell you about, you can protect your business and yourself in case something unexpected happens.

Like any business owner, for your wedding officiants enterprise, you must consider how much financial risk you are taking on.

Business Insurance for wedding officiants

If your wedding officiants business runs without proper insurance, you are taking a giant chance not just of losing some money but of a final wipe-out.

This is because the laws in every state are very strict in enforcing liability on the owners of businesses for the upshots of their actions. 

In this article, we are giving very general guidelines for startup businesses to outline what the main kinds of insurance that you need are, and where available, a rough guide to how much you can expect to pay.

The question is, can you afford to NOT have insurance for your wedding officiants business?

What this means, for any wedding officiants business owner, is that if some company claims that your business caused them some physical or economic damage, a court can award damages far beyond the total size of your business.

Your wedding officiants business is not protected by laws in the same way as states are, where edicts can place a “cap” on the maximum level of liability.

In some states, like Texas, there are specific monetary levels that limit the amount a judge can award in any case against the state.

In a court case, it’s purely the privilege of the jury to award whatever amount they deem appropriate, even sometimes giving a person more than they have sort.

When you are running your wedding officiants operations, you can’t avoid responsibility for the results of your actions.

Even more importantly, unless you have spent beforehand the money necessary to have your business running as a limited liability company, all of that liability belongs to you as a person.

What does wedding officiants insurance protect you from?

For your wedding officiants business, the most important types of insurance are meant to cover the risks to your business from accidents, from unexpected events, and from mistakes.

Also there are some official kinds of insurance that various states require.

In the next few paragraphs, we will explain the most important points any wedding officiants business owner should remember when negotiating the insurance needed.

The main headings of insurance for your wedding officiants businesses are liability insurance, commercial insurance, asset insurance and workers compensation insurance.

Liability insurance

General liability insurance

Any wedding officiants business is dealing directly with customers, and that means you always have the danger that some accident can happen to them bodily or else something of theirs can be damaged.

In such a case, they can sue you for compensation.

General liability insurance policy for your wedding officiants business covers you against claims coming from injury to visitors or damage to their property.

It protects your wedding officiants business from the claims themselves and in addition to any follow-on court costs and legal fees of the lawsuits.

In many cases, it will even help you to qualify for extra business from city and state organizations, where contracts require proper liability insurance.

The usual level of general liability insurance for your wedding officiants business would be with a upper limit of $1 million for a single submission and a total of $2 million for the whole year.

See the table in the costing section below for average prices of general liability insurance for your wedding officiants insurance operations.

Professional liability insurance for your wedding officiants business

In the event where a customer alleges some negligence, errors, or omissions in how you conducted your wedding officiants business for them, you can quickly face a monetary claim.

Even if the case against you is judged in your favor, the cost of defense can be large, and the impact on your reputation can be damaging.

Most small wedding officiants business should have enough professional liability insurance to cover an individual claim of $25,000, with annual cover of $50,000.

See the table in the cost of wedding officiants insurance section below for average prices of professional liability insurance for your wedding officiants operations.

Product liability insurance

Whatever goods you sell or advice you give about the goods, you are running a risk that customers may claim that what you delivered didn’t meet your description of function, or that your advice was basically incorrect.

You need to be aware of the specific laws of product liability in your own state.

For example, in California, all businesses in the supply chain can be held responsible for damages caused by products claimed to be defective.

To cover yourself against any possible lawsuit, you need Product liability insurance for wedding officiants

Only you can determine exactly how much insurance you must have.

Best advice is to contact experienced insurance agents, brokers or company representatives for help.

Commercial insurance

Commercial vehicle insurance for your wedding officiants business

Be careful! – practically all policies for private vehicle insurance do not cover any occurrence like theft or accidental damage when the van is being used for business purposes.

The proper way to make sure that your vehicle is insured for both its own value, and the valuable contents, is by taking out a direct commercial vehicle insurance package.

Commercial van policies guarantee the value of any vehicle in case of accident, malicious damage, fire, or theft.

Also, in case of any accident, the van itself, the content and any legal bills, medical expenses, and property damage is covered if your van is involved in a collision.

Most states, other than Virginia and New Hampshire, require this type of insurance.

The required value of the insurance is calculated on the depreciated value of the vehicle, and your requested level of cover of contents. 

Tools and Equipment insurance

Since your wedding officiants business needs unique and costly equipment, you know how much it can cost to replace it in case of any damage, loss, or theft.

The gear may be subject to malicious damage, deliberate fire, theft, other such unexpected acts.

As well, acts of nature like lightning strikes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other highly damaging natural events can wipe-out your whole business in one stroke.

Unless you can afford to immediately replace such specific gear quickly out of your own pocket, you need full-level equipment insurance so that you can immediately buy everything needed to keep your wedding officiants business running.

It is hard to advise how much equipment insurance you need – it’s really dependent on how much you have invested in your wedding officiants business’ equipment.

Commercial Property insurance

Any wedding officiants business that owns or rents space in a building needs a commercial property insurance policy.

If you own the space, you probably have a substantial capital investment, in addition to a big liability if there’s a mortgage.

Any physical building location should carry insurance coverage for the value of the premises and contents against accidental occurrences like fire and storms, and against man-made damages like theft and vandalism.

If your wedding officiants business works in areas of high risk, like Texas or South Carolina, additional coverage may be needed for earthquakes and hurricanes or tornadoes.

In other states like Illinois, where unlimited cold snaps can cause damage to outer coverings of wedding officiants business premises, there is a need for more extra cover than in warmer climes.

Whereas the level of cover depends mainly on the value of the property, it’s not possible to say what cover your need, but we have been able in the table in the cost of wedding officiants insurance section below to give some estimate of the average prices per million dollars of property insurance for your wedding officiants business.

Temporary insurance by month, week or day for your wedding officiants business

Is your wedding officiants business working part-time or casually, or is the level of business fluctuating?

Using short-term insurance makes good sense. Business insurance by the month, day, or week – temporary insurance for wedding officiants – are special policies where you can cover a nominated period when you want to be covered.

By only paying for that period of cover, you will save by having less premiums but still having adequate risk cover.

The key feature of short-term insurance is that you buy the cover for a defined period – a designated date, or a week or month starting on a specific date, for example for 30 days beginning on the specified date.

When you are expecting periods of better business activity, get the existing cover increased.

Talk to your insurance agent, broker or the company’s representatives to see what options you have.

Business Owners Policy BOP for your wedding officiants business

You have the option to combine several of the important kinds of small business insurance in one policy that is known as the business owner’s policy – BOP.

A BOP combines commercial property and public liability insurance by amalgamating these coverages into one insurance policy, which can save you money.

BOP insurance will protect you if any claims of injury or property damage are made.

It is frequently the right choice for small and medium-sized wedding officiants businesses, such as yours.

There are two limits that will determine whether BOP is suitable for your own business.

BOPs will not cover your professional liability or commercial vehicle cover.

Also, the size of your business will rule whether you are allowed to take out BOP cover.

The usual business that can take out a BOP policy must have no more than one hundred employees, and maximum five million dollars in annual turnover.

In addition, you must separately take out the mandated worker’s compensation, health and disability insurance as determined for your state.

Workers Compensation insurance for your wedding officiants business employees

In almost all states, it is mandatory to have workers compensation insurance when your wedding officiants business has one or more employees.

Workers compensation insurance covers the operation against any costs that arise if any hired hand experiences an injury or becomes sick as a result of work.

The benefits cover medical expenses, death benefits, lost wages, and vocational rehabilitation.

Failure to meet a state’s laws in this regard can leave you as the employer having to pay penalties levied by the states.

Some states, such as North Dakota, Ohio, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming only authorize coverage from the government-run monopoly state funds.

In these states, you cannot get your workers compensation obligations from private insurance providers.

Workers compensation premiums are worked out based on the employee’s pay, and usually come out at around $1.00 per $100 per month.

However, you must consult the relevant authorities in your state.

Average costs of these types of insurance

Although every wedding officiants insurance requirement is unique, there are enough examples of usual quotes from insurance companies for us to give rough guidelines, including what are the cheapest rates offered.

Of course, you should always check with a broker what’s relevant for your business.

The list below is of annual premiums we have researched for the main types of insurance your wedding officiants businesses needs.

Types of insurance Price range
General liability insurance $700 – $1270
Product liability insurance $305 – $895
Public liability insurance $370 – $555
Commercial vehicle insurance $1720 – $2780
Equipment insurance $475 – $1110
Commercial insurance $830 – $2375

Cost of insurance for your wedding officiants operations depends on many different factors.

We have estimated these figures for small freelance wedding officiants businesses.

In larger states like California, premiums are generally about 20%-30% higher than national averages, but in smaller states like Oregon, they usually are about 20%-30% cheaper.

The location and size and type of your wedding officiants business can have a big effect on the cost of different policies.

You should discuss with professional insurance agents and brokers, or insurance company representatives.

As well you can let the internet do the work for you by looking for insurance companies near where your business is located.

Another useful source of information is the local Better Business Bureau in your town.

FAQ

What is small business insurance for wedding officiants operations?

This is a general term used to describe standard insurance policies designed to protect wedding officiants business owners from risks like bodily injury, property damage, claims of negligence.

Does my wedding officiants business have to have insurance?

Some of the types of insurance are not mandatory for you to open your business, but they can protect you from risks in your business operations.

Certain other forms are required by state law, such as workers compensation and vehicle insurance.

What does a small wedding officiants business insurance policy cover?

Liability insurance provides protection against lawsuits or claims filed by a client for bodily injury, property damage, or negligence.

The precise cover will vary based on your own operations.

See the table in the costing section above for average prices of the best policies for wedding officiants insurance.

How much will wedding officiants business insurance cost?

On top of the size of the business, several other factors, such as location and claims history, are used to determine your policy’s cost.

You should consult with professional insurance agents and brokers, or insurance company representatives.

You can search for more information insurance for wedding officiants, in the search box below, and follow the relevant links.

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