Safeguard your South Asian Destination Wedding: You’ve painstakingly planned your South Asian destination wedding and have booked your resort, airline tickets and 300 of your closest friends and family. So what happens if your sunny destination turns into hurricane central or worse, there is a government coup during your planned nuptials? (And yes, that did happen to one of our close friends at a destination wedding in Turkey.)
When planning a South Asian destination wedding, these realities are bound to happen at one point or another. Take Puerto Rico as a recent example. There are however, certain measures you can take to make sure that you and your guests don’t lose your nuptials and their reservations.
Getting Insured
Lisa Sheldon, Executive Director of the Destination Wedding & Honeymoon Specialists Association insists to ask your guests to get travelers insurance. For about $20-60 per person, travelers insurance protects you against lost baggage, missed or canceled flights and most importantly, protects you against force majeure such as natural disasters, terrorism and the like. It’s a small price to pay for a major investment of attending a South Asian destination wedding. There are many companies that offer this insurance, so do your research for the best rates and coverage.
You can also get your entire South Asian destination wedding insured. Services like The Wedding Protector Plan®, with a no deductible policy starting at $160, can be booked directly though their website for all US residents except Hawaii, Louisiana and Alaska. Policies can protect you with situations such as cancellation/postponement due to catastrophic weather, sudden illness or death, vendor or special attire problems, lost gifts or jewelry and more. For maximum benefit, book this insurance as soon as you start planning your wedding.
Choose the Right Venue Partner
However, beyond travel and wedding insurance, many resort chains will work with you to reschedule your dates or book you through to another property if the one you choose becomes uninhabitable for reasons of force majeure. One such luxury all-inclusive chain is the Sandos group of resort properties located in Cancun, Los Cabos, Playa del Carmen and four cities in Spain including Ibiza. Head of Business Development, Heidi Verschaeve, says “Yes absolutely, in the case of force majeure, we will work with the bride and groom to either book them at another of our properties or reschedule their dates, whatever works best for the couple.”
Gina Johnson, Wedding and Romance Sales Manger of the Playa Hotel & Resorts brand which manages luxury, all-inclusive resorts in Mexico, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic including Hyatt Ziva and Hyatt Zilara properties, adds, “We know that the Caribbean does have some catastrophic hurricanes from time to time and so we have a policy to work with the couple to either book them at another property or give them another date. We would never leave any bride and groom stranded like that.”
