KEY POINTS:
Brides-to-be are adding signing up for insurance to their long lists of things to do before their big day.
New Zealand's first wedding insurer, WedSure, offers cover if the bride or groom is too sick to attend.
If the mother of the bride is stranded by bad weather or the booked function centre burns down, the insurer will also pay out.
But office manager Lesley Rainbow said policies didn't cover a "change of heart" - the nightmare of being left alone at the altar.
Cover for weddings started at $15,000. The value of the average policy taken out to date was $32,000, said Ms Rainbow, and the highest was $50,000.
Weddings are the bride and groom's big day but they also come with a hefty pricetag.
Wedding planners told the Weekend Herald getting married costs around $15,000 on average.
And increasingly the couple themselves are footing the bill for the flowers, dresses and reception, making the occasion one of the biggest financial outlays of their lives.
Figures from British wedding insurers, released this week, suggest New Zealanders may be getting off lightly. Weddingplan put the average cost of a wedding in Britain at £18,490 ($52,838), a 6.8 per cent rise on a year earlier.
Donna Dohi of New Zealand Dream Weddings co-ordinates around 25 weddings for New Zealand couples annually and around 45 for international guests.
She said the cost varied depending on the size of the wedding.
The reception was one of the biggest expenses and $15,000 could easily be spent on the big day even before the wedding dress, rings and honeymoon were taken into account.
Traditional expenses such as the flowers, cake and cars were boosted by emerging costs such as recording the day on DVD and hiring a wedding planner.
Wonderful Weddings wedding planner Amy Davidson said the tradition of the father of the bride paying for the wedding was on the way out.
"I have seen that tradition change," she said. "The cost depends on the size of the wedding."
How to keep wedding costs down was a popular topic on online bridal discussion forums.
One soon-to-be bride confessed she was having a second - cheaper - bouquet made, so she didn't have to throw hers away.
Online contributors were divided over who should pay for bridesmaid's dresses, shoes, jewellery, makeup, hairdresser and beauty treatments.
"With all the cost in a wedding, sometimes it's not a viable option for us to pay for everything," wrote kayseyM.
Users shared tips on making invitations, arranging flowers and decorating the veil themselves, saving hundreds of dollars.
One wrote that hiring a dress instead of buying one was half the price.
Said another: "Don't be afraid to speak to suppliers, discuss what you're needing and don't get sucked in by them trying to upsell you ... Things can still look really nice though without having to break the bank to get them."
