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Get protected!

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1) Make sure you have wedding insurance
If anything does go wrong on your big day, you want to make sure you are adequately compensated, so wedding insurance is a must. For an outlay of £50-100, you have real peace of mind, whether the church burns down, the reception venue goes out of business, the suits disappear in transit or the wedding car breaks down.

2) Sort out your life insurance
It’s important to make sure the person you love is adequately provided for, whatever happens to you. This means taking out life insurance - and also considering critical illness cover and income protection.

Have a read of our Guide To Life Insurance and Why It's Vital To Protect Your Income for more on these different types of cover.

3) Cover your rings!
Your wedding rings are not only significant emotionally – chances are they cost a bit as well. So it’s daft to ignore insuring them. Ask your home insurance policy provider whether your engagement and wedding rings would be covered for accident, loss and theft within the home. Each ring may need to be declared separately on your policy, if it's worth over £1,500.

And if you have personal possessions cover which includes wedding and engagement rings as part of your home insurance policy, this should also cover you outside of the home. Personal possessions cover should actually prove far better value than any insurance offered by a ring retailer, because not only will you be protecting your rings, but all the other possessions you regularly carry.

4) Make sure your home insurance covers gifts
Expensive gifts will increase your need for cover, though you may not have to pay for this. Some home contents insurance providers, such as Norwich Union Direct and Asda, automatically increase your cover by 10% for a month before and after a wedding.

Other insurers, such as Halifax, offer unlimited cover as standard. Make sure you have a chat with your provider to ascertain where you stand.

5) Do all your spending on a credit card
The best way to pay for anything that costs more than £100 is by credit card. This ensures you have the protection of Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.

Under this Act, if the goods or services you buy are misdescribed or fail to live up to expectations (or if the seller goes bankrupt before you receive what you bought) you'll have the right to full compensation from your credit card issuer.