婚禮保險
Prenuptial protection
婚前的保護
Underwriters are becoming as much a part of the big day as cake and flowers
在婚禮那天，承銷商變得和蛋糕和鮮花一樣重要
Sorry, your policy doesn't cover cold feet
對不起，您的保險不包含臨陣脫逃
JUST as each wedding creates potential business for divorce lawyers, so each engagement gives insurers a chance to drum up business. Future spouses, says Alan Tuvin of Travelers, an insurer, may wish to protect themselves against something going wrong on the wedding day. It is unlikely that your betrothed will scarper on horseback, as Julia Roberts did in “Runaway Bride”, and most insurers wouldn't cover that anyway. But you never know what might happen. Mr Tuvin launched the firm's wedding-insurance business; he and his wife were its first clients.
正如每一場婚禮會為離婚律師創造潛在的業務一樣，每一場訂婚也會給保險公司招攬生意的機會。保險公司Travelers的承保人艾倫·圖瓦表示，未來的夫妻可能更希望在婚禮上保護自己，免出差錯。雖然你的未婚妻不太可能像《落跑新娘》中的茱莉亞·羅伯茨那樣騎馬跑掉—當然，大多數保險公司不會涵蓋這項業務，但是你也不可能知道會發生什么。圖瓦先生發起了這家公司的婚禮保險業務，他和他的妻子是的一個客戶。
A typical American wedding costs 25,000 or so. This has fallen a bit over the past quarter-century but still seems lavish given how tight American belts are these days (see chart). Weddings are pricey because the rich are more likely to marry than the poor, and the average age of newlyweds has gone up, so couples are more prosperous when they eventually tie the knot. High prices, and the fact that many venues require couples to take out liability insurance, feed demand for wedding insurance. A fifth of couples buy it, says the Wedding Report, a trade publication. “If some fat lady slips on a canapé and breaks her hip, she doesn't give a rat's ass that this is her boyfriend's cousin's wedding,” hypothesises Robert Nuccio of Wedsure, an insurer. “She just wants to get paid.”
一個傳統的美式婚禮大概花費在25000美元左右。在過去的25年里，這項花費略有下降，但是鑒于美國近年來勒緊的褲腰帶，這已經很奢華了。婚禮是昂貴的，因為富人比窮人更有可能結婚，并且現在新婚夫婦的平均年齡正在變大，所以當他們最終結婚時，他們的經濟相對而言比較寬裕。昂貴的價格以及許多場館要求夫妻承擔責任保險的事實使得人們對婚禮保險的需求越來越大。貿易出版物Wedding Report 指出有五分之一的夫婦購買婚禮保險。保險公司Robert Nuccio of Wedsure 提出假設：“如果有一個胖太太從沙發上滑下來并且摔疼了屁股，她并不會完全不在意，由于這是她男朋友表哥的婚禮，她只是想要獲得賠償。”
Wedding insurance began inBritain: Cornhill, an insurer, wrote its first policy in 1988. But there were few takers. The idea only took off once transplanted toAmerica. In the early days, says Mr Nuccio, there were incidents of couples faking engagements to collect a payout. Since then, most policies have a clause that excludes “change of heart”. Wedsure does insure against cold feet, but its policy will pay out only if the wedding is cancelled more than 12 months before it is due to take place, thereby guarding against fiancés (or their parents) phoning the broker once the relationship is already on the rocks.
婚禮保險這項業務最早是由英國的一家保險公司康希尓于1988年提出來的。但是那個時候少有問津。直到它傳到了美國，這個想法才得以落實。Nuccio先生說，在早期，會有情侶假裝約會來收集費用。從那時候開始，大部分保險條款就不包括“變心”這一項了。婚禮保險包含婚禮前臨陣退縮這一項，但是只有在原定婚禮日期前12個月取消婚禮才有效，這是為了防止未婚夫婦（或他們的父母）臨時打電話給介紹人說新人的關系已經瀕于破裂。
This does not mean policies are useless. Common causes of payouts include the venue or caterers going bust after having taken a big deposit. Extreme weather, a spouse being deployed by the armed forces and an absent priest can all trigger payouts. Most policies will pay to re-stage the photos if the snapper fails to turn up or disappears with the pictures. “DJs are flaky. Florists? Flaky. Cakemakers? Flaky. They are all flaky as hell,” warns Mr Nuccio.
這并不意味著這些保險就是無用的。保險支出的常見原因包括場地或供應商在拿到了一筆巨額押金后宣告破產。極端的天氣，一方新人被部隊征召或牧師的缺席都會導致保險的支出。
For some, even a small risk of something going wrong on a day that has been planned for months is worth paying to avoid. Who says romance is dead?
對于有些人來說，在一個期盼了數月的重要日子里，即使是一個很小的失誤，也是值得花錢去避免的。誰說浪漫已經消失了呢？譯者：王素瑤
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