We all know that policy wordings can be difficult to understand at times, especially for someone who is not used to legal documents. But they are incredibly important, as they form the whole foundation of the policy you are buying.

Therefore, it is vital that you read through the policy wording, and question anything you don’t understand, specifically on sections that are extra important to you.

In this post we will be helping you to decode the wording of our wedding insurance in relation to medical conditions and pregnancy. We will be tackling it from a few angles;

• Important definitions and what they actually mean
• Medical conditions of close relatives
• Pre-existing conditions – are they ever covered?
• Pregnancy – can I postpone my wedding if I become pregnant?

Definitions

In most wording documents you will find a list of definitions. These are words or phrases that will always have the same meaning within the policy wording when they appear in bold. Sometimes one definition will require you to read another to fully understand the meaning of the first one. Let’s look at an example:

Consequential Loss Any other costs that are directly or indirectly caused by the event which led to your claim unless specifically stated in this policy. An example of such loss would be the loss of earnings following Bodily Injury or illness.

In the above definition of Consequential Loss, we need to also check what Bodily Injury and Your mean to fully understand what is covered.

Bodily Injury Injury caused by external, violent and visible means:

• You, Your(s), Insured Person The bride, groom or civil partners named in the schedule or, for the purposes of certain Sections, and where appropriate, the person upon whom the cost of the wedding or wedding services depends.

It is only after reading the definition of Bodily Injury and You, Your(s), Insured Person that we fully understand what the definition of Consequential Loss fully entail. As you can see, you can then go on to check what Civil Partners, Schedule and Wedding/Wedding Services mean in this context.

Whenever you find a word in bold in the cover section of the wording, you should always refer back to the list of definitions to understand what that word or phrase means in this specific context. It may not always mean the same thing it does to you in ordinary speech or writing. There are a couple of definitions which refer to injury, that are also worth noting when it comes to the subject of medical conditions and injuries.

Bodily Injury Injury caused by external, violent and visible means.

• Loss of Limb Means loss by physical severance at or above the wrist or ankle or the total and permanent loss of an entire hand, arm, foot or leg.

Permanent Total Disablement Total disablement from engaging in or attending to any occupation whatsoever for at least 12 months from the date of injury, and at the end of that time being beyond hope of improvement.

Medical conditions of You or Your close relatives

Under some sections of your policy, you will see that in the event of death, injury or sickness of You or Your close relative, you can decide to cancel or rearrange your wedding, if such an event made the continuance of the wedding inappropriate. To know who in particular this would include, we will need to check the definition of Close Relative.

• Close Relative: Your spouse, partner, fiancé, parent, parent-in-law, step-parent, son, son-in-law, step-son, daughter, daughter-in-law, step-daughter, grandparent, grandson, granddaughter, brother, brother-in-law, stepbrother, sister, sister-in-law or step-sister.

This means that if anyone from the above list passed away, got injured or fell ill shortly before, or during your wedding, you could cancel or rearrange your wedding if it was deemed inappropriate to go ahead with it as planned.

This would normally have to be confirmed by a Medical Practitioner (A registered practising member of the medical profession who is not related to you or any person under this insurance).

Pre-existing Conditions

We have probably all heard the expression “pre-existing medical conditions” at some point when buying a wedding insurance policy. But it is not always clear what this means, so to help you understand the exclusions applicable to this policy, this would include:

• Anyone acting against medical advice
• Anyone awaiting results of tests or medical investigations
• Anyone being on a hospital waiting list for treatment
• Anyone having received a terminal prognosis

To clarify, someone may be on a waiting list for treatment for a certain condition. If this condition flared up and as a result the wedding could not go ahead, this would not be covered under your policy. However, if a completely different medical issue arose, unrelated to the pre-existing condition, this would be covered under your policy.

There are a few other important conditions to be aware of where claims would be excluded:

• Any claim relating directly or indirectly to anxiety, stress or depression

• Claims arising directly or indirectly from failure to obtain the recommended vaccinations (for example if your wedding is abroad, you would need to make sure you and anyone whom the wedding depends upon, have the recommended vaccinations before travelling)

• Circumstances of which you are aware at the time of taking out the policy. (This may be a medical issue you are waiting to see the doctor about, but you have not had any appointment or diagnosis yet)

• Any claim arising directly or indirectly from injury, illness, death, loss, expense or other liability attributable to sexually transmitted disease, HIV and/or any HIV related illness including AIDS and/or any mutant derivative or variations of those

In summary, if you, a close relative, or anyone else upon whom the wedding depends has a pre-existing medical condition which is well controlled, not terminal, and is not awaiting any further test results at time of purchase, and there is no significant reason or likelihood at the time of purchase to suspect that this person might suffer an attack, flare-up, or worsening of the condition prior to the wedding which might lead to you wishing to call off the big day, then you would be eligible to claim for cancellation of the wedding if something unexpected did happen.

Pregnancy

So, how does this all apply to pregnancy?

The first thing to note is that you cannot rearrange your wedding and claim under your policy simply for being or becoming pregnant. However, if there were unexpected complications during your pregnancy, this would be dealt with just like any other medical condition.

For the policy to respond, you would need a medical practitioner to deem it inadvisable to go ahead with the wedding. You can then decide to cancel or rearrange your wedding and claim under the applicable sections.

If you decide to act against this advice then it is important to note that you may be excluded from cover, as per the exclusion “anyone acting against medical advice”.

In short, anything that you are aware of or can reasonably expect at the time of taking out your wedding insurance policy, would not be covered under the policy.
If you are still in doubt about any sections of the wording, or need advice on specific scenarios, contact our customer service team who will be happy to assist you.

If you haven’t already taken out a wedding insurance policy, you should do so as early as possible once your wedding is confirmed or you have started booking suppliers, to make sure you get cover instantly for any unforeseen circumstances.