Metropolitan Weddings Podcast
Metropolitan Weddings Podcast
Meet The Wedding Pro - Dustin with BriteCo Insurance
Planning a wedding? You've probably color-coordinated your decor, booked your dream venue, and chosen the perfect cake – but have you thought about protecting your investment? In this eye-opening episode, we chat with Dustin, founder of BriteCo Insurance, who reveals why wedding insurance might be the most important wedding decision you're not thinking about.
Dustin takes us through the surprisingly affordable world of engagement ring insurance, which covers not just theft and damage, but also what he calls "mysterious disappearance" – when your precious ring simply vanishes without explanation. At just 0.5-1.5% of your ring's value annually, this protection is particularly crucial during honeymoons when water-related activities make rings especially vulnerable to loss. The claims process? Refreshingly simple with no deductibles and white-glove service to help replace your treasured piece.
We also dive deep into wedding event coverage, exploring how liability insurance (starting at just $100) can protect couples from disasters like dance floor injuries, property damage from overzealous groomsmen, and even pet-related incidents. But what truly sets BriteCo apart is their comprehensive cancellation coverage, which uniquely includes COVID-related cancellations, vendor no-shows, severe weather events, and even their exclusive "cancel for any reason" option. From rehearsal dinners to post-wedding brunches, their policies cover the entire celebration weekend.
The technology-driven approach BriteCo brings to insurance transforms what's typically a tedious process into a two-minute transaction, delivering peace of mind without the paperwork headaches. As wedding professionals ourselves, we were genuinely surprised by how affordable and comprehensive these protections are – making insurance not just a safety net, but a smart wedding planning investment.
Whether you're newly engaged or weeks away from your wedding day, this conversation will help you understand how to protect both your precious jewelry and your once-in-a-lifetime celebration from unexpected disasters. Because while no one plans for things to go wrong, the wisest couples plan for how to make it right.
Welcome to Metropolitan Weddings. I'm Meg, I'm Dawn, and we are here to educate couples with information from wedding professionals in the industry.
Speaker 2:Our goal is to make the wedding planning process as seamless as possible by providing you with insight from industry professionals.
Speaker 1:Okay, couples, let's get this party started. Well, good morning listeners. We are here with a special guest. Today. We are hanging out with someone from one of the industry categories that we don't usually get to talk to, so I'm really excited to get to ask some questions about the subject of insurance. Would you like to introduce yourself and your company for us?
Speaker 3:Yes, of course, my name is Dustin Lemick. My company is called Brightco. Brightco is a insurance, a modern day insurance company, and we cover a few different lines of business. We cover jewelry and watch insurance so think of engagement ring insurance and then we also cover weddings, so we cover wedding liability and wedding cancellation insurance. And we consider ourselves an insurance technology company. So we leverage technology really heavily in order to delight our customers.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I have to ask what do you mean? Leverage technology Okay, so I have to ask what do you mean?
Speaker 3:leverage technology. So, as most folks have the impression of insurance, it is very much not sexy and very boring and it's also an old school. I mean it is and it's an old school industry. So you know, you don't typically have these like very modern tech experiences when you're purchasing the product or interacting with customer service or anything like that that we're used to in other areas, and so we really saw an opportunity to revolutionize and modernize the insurance purchasing experience. And what I mean if I give you something more specific is when you go to our website, if you're looking, let's just say, for jewelry engagement insurance, um, you can buy the product and like do the policy in two minutes. Like you just go on our website, it takes two minutes to get it. You get a quote in 15 seconds and it's like no hassle, very easy. That's all available through the technology that we built, and so that's just a small example, but we use technology across our whole life cycle.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you mentioned that you, um, you guys kind of specialize in like an event insurance as well as like property for an engagement ring, um, so which? Which one should we start with?
Speaker 3:Um, doesn't matter, whatever you want. I mean, I guess we could start with actually with jewelry insurance, because that was the first product we brought to market and we started that in 2019.
Speaker 1:Okay, that sounds good to me. Every girl wants to make sure she's got her, her her ring is is not like a worry for her, and she knows that it's covered if something happens. So I think that's a great place to start.
Speaker 3:Perfect.
Speaker 1:So what does the jewelry insurance cover?
Speaker 3:So jewelry insurance it covers, it's very comprehensive coverage and it's actually there's a lot of confusion or like just kind of lack of education around jewelry insurance insurance in general, actually but it covers, it's a wide, wide range in coverage. So it covers loss, theft, damage, and then the big one is something called mysterious disappearance, which is essentially like it wasn't stolen, but I had it yesterday and it's gone and I don't really know what happened to it. So those are some of the examples that we cover.
Speaker 1:I mean Dawn couldn't identify with that like mysterious, mysterious disappearance. I would say that's like 85% of her life Mysterious disappearance. Her keys, her phone, her watch her, watch her.
Speaker 2:It could be her ring you never know, it can be pretty much anything if it doesn't have an air tag on it, it's very possibly going to get lost it is hard to air tag an engagement ring that is not sexy. It's not sexy. It's not sexy at all, it's not.
Speaker 1:All right, well, I mean that's. I mean can't ask for more than that. So that sounds like a pretty comprehensive, like list of things that you guys will cover.
Speaker 3:So like, what kinds of things should they insure? So it's engagement rings, wedding rings, other jewelry, you know, diamond, studs, bracelets and watches as well, like high-end watches. I mean, we recommend all of it. And also the other thing too that folks don't know is like actually really reasonably priced. It's not expensive. So it's like for the example I always give, it can vary a little bit, but it's usually about a half a percent to one and a half percent of the total value of the item. So something that's like $10,000, like you could be paying like 50 to $100 annually. Um, that's really reasonable.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2:And you know, on the watch thing, that's actually something that gets given out a lot to grooms at weddings. Now is high-end watches too, so it's great to know you guys do that too.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and they're targeted items. I mean it isn't always the most fun things to talk about, but it's actually true. It's like a Rolex, for example. Rolexes are so heavily targeted Like people are looking to steal them or like they get lost. A lot People take them off at the gym, whatever things like that. So, um, it's pretty, pretty good to have this type of insurance.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:I mean if anybody's seen the show, friends and neighbors, not yet am I the only one he steals a lot of watches.
Speaker 2:Watch that, john Hamm.
Speaker 1:He's after your watch.
Speaker 3:I'm going to put it on the list.
Speaker 1:You should, because this is directly. This is your market.
Speaker 2:But not as many watches.
Speaker 1:He's always after the watches.
Speaker 3:Anyway, I love it. I'm a watch, I'm a watch junkie myself, so that's, that's a hundred percent going to go on my list.
Speaker 1:You're welcome. Um so, so we know, like I'm impressed that you guys cover like different things I wasn't really thinking about, like their diamond studs and you know all their other jewelry and things like that. So when? When did do they do this? Just like as soon as they get it right before they go on honeymoon, like when's a good time to insure?
Speaker 3:yeah, yeah, we always recommend doing it as soon as possible, like like ideally right when you get the item, because usually in the first period, like in that first, definitely the first couple weeks, but in the first few months, like in that first, definitely the first couple of weeks, but in the first few months, um is when you're actually most exposed to loss. It's like when folks have an engagement ring but they're not used to wearing it or a lot of times it doesn't fit properly. It's like that size. It's hard to for you know the significant other, to like nail the size and an engagement ring when you don't really know, you don't have the finger there and you're sort of guessing a little bit. So we always recommend you know right away, as soon as you can, because it's, like I mentioned before, it's easy to purchase. So it's like you should.
Speaker 1:But of course if, like, you haven't done it right away, then I mean you just do it as soon as you can yeah, I can imagine, like because they leave for the wedding room right after what the wedding, they leave for the honeymoon right after, uh, the wedding. They've just gotten their wedding bands right. So this isn't something they've worn a lot, yet they don't know how it fits or how easily it's gonna come off in the sand at the beach or, you know, washing their hands at a whatever that soap makes it. So, yeah, I could see why that immediate like loss is.
Speaker 2:They need to get Wi-Fi on the airplane on their way to their honeymoon, and in two minutes they're going to have insurance yeah.
Speaker 3:You bring up a great point. Also, something else that, like I think that's the largest driver of loss is on vacation and typically around water related events. So you bring up an amazing point where which, like yeah, you're going on your honeymoon, You're a lot of people go somewhere tropical Hawaii, wherever and that is literally like kind of the highest exposure. So that's a great point and so, like that, you generally want to be covered at that point.
Speaker 1:It's for sure, yeah, absolutely, and it makes sense. So let's say, worst case scenario, something bad does happen and they need to make a claim. Is there like how does it work? Is there a deductible? Do they? You give them money that you, they buy a new one. How does it work?
Speaker 3:It's super simple. There is no deductible. It's a very simple policy, very easy to understand. We built it that way because we also kind of a part of our original core thesis is like insurance should not be super confusing, like you should understand what you're buying and when. There's all these deductibles and all these caveats. We didn't want any of that. So there's no deductibles. You literally just go to our website. There's a little claim form. You fill that out.
Speaker 3:You get a call from one of our like like a white glove claims um advisor from Brightco calls you within usually within a couple hours, certainly within the first 24 hours um to talk through the process. I mean, sometimes there's different scenarios, you know, like a robbery is different than mysterious disappearance kind of type of thing, but and then also a claims adjuster will contact you. So you'll have two points of contact Um. So it's very like bespoke white glove experience. We kind of handhold through the process and sometimes it's really really needed where it can be very emotional for folks when some something happens.
Speaker 3:Um, and then we work with you. You tell us what jeweler you want to use, we work with any. We have a net, our own network of like 3 000 stores across the country so we can always advise in that way. But but usually most folks are like well, no, this is my family jeweler, this is the jeweler I like to use and we will work directly with that jeweler to replace the item for you. If it's not replaceable, then we would potentially, you know, just compensate what needs to be compensated or whatever the value of that item was.
Speaker 2:Nice. Yeah that is easy Perfect.
Speaker 1:I mean, if nothing else, they're buying the peace of mind so that if something does end up missing for even just half a day, like they've misplaced it, they're going to find it later. They don't know that, but it can you know, just knowing that, okay, we can deal with that later because it is covered, instead of letting it like just ruin your day.
Speaker 2:You know you're on exactly peace of mind. Yep, that's. That's the best part, you don't have to fight about it.
Speaker 3:You'll just talk about it later, especially on your honeymoon or vacation, agree, and like, let's be real, like a lot of people don't, whatever cost, people spend a lot of money on engagement rings, like the cost of coming out of pocket, like, let's say, it's 10, 15 grand, whatever, five grand, doesn't? There's a lot of money and just it's really kind of a hit, especially to younger folks, if it's like hey, I saved up to purchase this and we lost it and now I have to replace it for whatever that dollar amount. I mean it's a lot of money and so to have, like you said, the peace of mind, it's very, very helpful.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 4:So does it cover the stones as well?
Speaker 3:Good question. Yes, it covers the stones. It will cover damage. So like if a stone pops out or if you get it caught in a door, things like that, which we get quite a few claims like that. Also, we have like a bit of like. There's this preventative maintenance coverage that we include for free in the policy, coverage that we include for free in the policy. So think of, like on a necklace, if the class is broken, you know we would that would fall under our preventative maintenance plan because we are trying to help you prevent loss and so things like that will also cover. So it is really broad.
Speaker 4:Okay, cause that's an interesting thought, cause my wife and I, whenever we got married, we went in like probably a year or so later, to get her ring cleaned and she was missing a stone. And so that's covered and it was not cheap to replace that one little stone.
Speaker 2:Yep, it's kind of a bummer, no.
Speaker 3:I know I mean that by itself like pays for the policy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely yeah. Happens one time and you're going to wish you had the policy Interesting.
Speaker 4:Yeah, totally.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 4:Okay, good to know we had no idea, because her ring's made up of a bunch of little small ones around the edges in different spots, so we couldn't see it.
Speaker 1:Sure, and then when they went to clean it, they were like by the way, you're missing a diamond like okay, awesome, how much is that going to cost? Like we didn't notice it was gone, it's fine, it's my bad eyesight I never, even noticed it and then it was like oh, then you.
Speaker 4:Then you noticed then you notice it, yep, when you whip out the credit card I love.
Speaker 1:It all right, dustin. What have we not talked about? About jewelry? Before we move on to events, is there anything that I need to ask?
Speaker 3:what I mean. You don't know about it Like it's really approachable, it's not a lot of money, it's very worth it. And you know I'm you know I'm in the insurance business and I can say that there are certain insurance lines of business that are, frankly, not worth it. You just don't get value out of it. This is not one of those, and so you know, I think that's sort of one of my takeaways and it's like it's very easy to even just look into and see how much it is. So I I think that and it's broad coverage, so I know those things we covered. I think that's kind of the key points.
Speaker 1:Okay, Awesome. So we're going to ask some quick fire questions. Uh, just to get to know you a little bit before we get into our next subject. Are you ready?
Speaker 3:I'm ready All right.
Speaker 2:On a road trip would
Speaker 1:you choose the Skittles, the M&M's or the beef jerky. I'm ready. M&m do you if your form of exercise on vacation would it be like to swim, to bike or take a run?
Speaker 3:a thousand percent run. I'm a huge runner. I run probably at least 25 or 30 miles a week oh my gosh, we're over here bowing down to you right now, that's a lot of running I love running. It's my one escape. We all have something whatever. Thankfully, it's an extremely healthy escape, but that's the thing where I need to clear my mind or whatever De-stress. That's my go-to. So running 100%.
Speaker 1:Love it. I mean, he can eat a lot of M&Ms at that rate.
Speaker 2:He could eat a lot of M&Ms and he's definitely getting his 10,000 steps in.
Speaker 1:Oh, my gosh, all right. And do you know your love language? Have you ever?
Speaker 3:taken like a love language test before. No, I have not no.
Speaker 1:All right, okay, do you prefer? I probably could guess.
Speaker 3:oh, go ahead I could guess what it is, though I could probably guess um, I think actually part of the de-stress, like the running, like de-stress, it's I. That's part 1a. Part 1b is also so I can eat a lot of food and I love food and eating and like going to restaurants. It doesn't always have to be nice restaurants, I just like the experience of dining. So I think that would be high up on the list for love language.
Speaker 1:Like just food and being comforted and fed.
Speaker 3:I'm sort of a foodie a bit, like I like dive places, but I like nice restaurants, like one of my favorite things to do is to go to dinner with my wife and my family and my kids I don't know, I just think like getting around a table, you know, with friends and family and over a meal, I think is just like one of the most enjoyable things to do Quality time.
Speaker 2:He's a quality time guy.
Speaker 1:All right. So in talking about the event business. You guys cover both liability and cancellation, correct? Yes, yes, both Okay. So break that down for us a little bit. What does liability include? So break, break that down for us a little bit.
Speaker 3:What does liability include? So you can think of liability as like general liability and some broad property coverage. So think about like liability. The example I use would be somebody a guest at the wedding has too much to drink and they're on the dance floor and there's a slip and fall situation. And it's somebody maybe you didn't know very well and it's a you know associate of a family member or something, and they're blaming you and saying, well, the floor was wet. Nobody you know I am, I have all these medical bills. You need to pay for it, otherwise I'm going to sue you or whatever. Something like that. That's liability. Um, potentially like food poisoning type situations could be, could be liability. Um, the property part of the liability coverage is like a groomsman is in the bathroom and destroys the something in the bathroom, or like spills red wine on a really expensive piece of art or carpet, things like property damage like that, and these are all things that are just like unforeseen circumstances that happen. It actually happens quite a bit.
Speaker 1:that's the liability part okay, I think we're pretty familiar with the liability part, so question this is fresh.
Speaker 4:So we own a wedding venue and we happen to have a groomsman. Just break a sink and a door.
Speaker 3:So the couple would be covered with that. So I've heard that, which I never like before starting this line of business, like never like I've heard the breaking the sink or sitting on a sink pedestal. I've heard this like five or six times now. Yes, it would be covered One of the times. It was really bad. Actually, Somebody and this was a complete accident, I think it was a bridesmaid was sitting on a sink pedestal. I don't think the sink pedestal was like some huge thing, but sitting on it and Ial I don't think the sink pedestal was like some huge thing, but sitting on it and I think she was doing her makeup and the pedestal like broke and it flooded.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, because the water wasn't turned off. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and so the honorees, the wedding couple, got hit with like a huge bill after the wedding. So that would be covered.
Speaker 4:Yeah, okay, yeah because at our venue got hit with like a huge bill after the wedding. So that would be covered. Yeah, okay, yeah, cause at our venue we, your guys' insurance, is who we send a link for. Um, so that these are just questions that I I had yeah, okay, yeah, and venues like to your point.
Speaker 3:venues really like their clients to have this, because it potentially avoids that really difficult conversation where you're like, sorry, I have to send you a bill for $10,000 because they're flooded in this and that, whatever, that's not fun for anybody, it's not fun for them. So that's where we come in.
Speaker 2:That is good to know. Yeah, groomsmen can be if they've had too much they're not always fun Totally. It's very fresh. It's very fresh, Like you know, a weekend or two ago, Like it just recently happened.
Speaker 1:I mean, I love the idea of like the plus one too, though you know, it's not someone that you have like an actual relationship with on a daily basis. It's not someone that you have like an actual relationship with on a daily basis. It's not someone that you've specifically invited. You don't really have a relationship with someone that you can be like. Are you really hurt though? Come on, it's gonna cost me a lot of money and just got back from my honeymoon like. This is definitely the type of you know friendship relationship where just having your ducks in a row would be really one of those moments where peace of mind absolutely yeah yeah, and also I mean, look, people put a lot of effort, you guys know people put a lot of effort, a lot of money into these events.
Speaker 3:And then also, on top of that there's drinking. You know, usually, and whenever there's drinking involved, you know there's uh potential, there's strong potential. I'll leave, we all know, but we'll leave it at that. There's strong potential for things to happen. So, um, it's something we recommend having for both the liability and the cancellation.
Speaker 1:So just, and this are there deductibles on those too, on either of those.
Speaker 3:No, no deductibles for you, no.
Speaker 1:Dang. That's pretty awesome. That sink just got cheaper.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it did.
Speaker 1:So that I mean that in itself. So does the policy cover both liability and cancellation, or are they purchasing kind of two separate thoughts there?
Speaker 3:So when you go to our website, we have the same philosophy from what I mentioned before, with like kind of the simple, straightforward technology assisted approach. So it's we make it much, we make it very easy to buy it so you can buy both in the sort of the same flow. We offer it, um, it's not like you have to go to a different place to buy one or the other. It's sort of we, we offer it within the same kind of application, um, but it is technically two different products, so you would get two different policies. Okay.
Speaker 1:So is there anything else as far as liability that I'm not thinking about, Like uh, what happens if? I bring my dog and my dog.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's, that's what I was going mention.
Speaker 3:It's because that that's a good one, that's because that's a really strong like modern trend is like including your, your furry loved ones dogs, cats, um, in the typically in the ceremony. Um, nobody, I don't believe anybody but us. But Brico covers pets. So we heard a few different stories. None of these ended up being huge claims but they were definitely claims. I mean, we didn't. We, thank God, we haven't heard of like the big disaster that could happen with like a pet injuring somebody or hurting somebody or something like that, which is possible. I mean, it's possible. But we see more of like pets having accidents on the floor and ruining a carpet or you know things like that or chewing we saw one where they chewed up a chair, like somewhat expensive chair. So we cover that too.
Speaker 1:Yes, I hadn't even thought about a dog like chewing up something, but yeah, that definitely could happen.
Speaker 2:That makes sense, because sometimes they get left in, like the bride's room or the groom's room or whatever, while the rest of the party is going on. I'm sure you know the noise in a different place can cause anxiety.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh man yeah, I hadn't thought about that either. All the yeah, oh man, yeah, I hadn't thought about that All the things to think about. So how do they know, like, how how much coverage do you get on that Cause? Like with the jewelry, it's a percentage of. You know they're paying a percentage of what the value is Right, but here how do you decide that as a couple?
Speaker 3:So so two other things I want to mention about the coverage and I and then I'll answer that, because that's a very good question Um, we also cover, and I just felt like these were important things to mention. We also cover COVID. We're the only ones, I believe, that cover COVID, and we all know, during the pandemic, like it was a disaster, um, all of these events were being canceled, no coverage for anybody, lots of money being lost. So when we built this product, we're like we need to cover COVID. We like somebody has to be able to cover this. So we figured out a way to cover COVID.
Speaker 3:So if, um, that's for the cancellation piece, which, which I'll get to but, um, the other thing too that I wanted to mention is it does not just cover, so it actually covers multiple events. So it will cover the um rehearsal dinner, it will cover the ceremony, the reception, the next day brunch, if there is one. So it covered. So if somebody gets hurt, you know, I gave you two examples of like, basically at the uh, at the reception, something happening, but same thing goes for something happened at the rehearsal dinner. So it's really, really broad coverage.
Speaker 2:That is broad. Yeah, it's usually like from the hours that the wedding starts till the wedding ends.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and so we consider like it's starting basically, like it's essentially like five days of coverage. It's essentially what you're getting.
Speaker 2:That's amazing.
Speaker 1:That is amazing. Yeah, I'm going to go break hell.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no kidding, we try.
Speaker 4:You guys are doing good.
Speaker 3:We're trying. We try and then sorry to answer your question in terms of the price. So liability it's about $120. You choose your limits. So I mean it depends on what limits you choose and different venues have different requirements. Most you know the general is like $1 million, $2 million, so like per occurrence and in aggregate. So $1 million per occurrence and then $2 million in total aggregate um coverage. So that's kind of how it's priced. I mean it starts at like technically, starts at like a hundred dollars, a hundred and two dollars Um, and then goes up there depending on like. If you're having a $5 million wedding, it's going to be more money, um, but you can sort of and that's really clear. When you go through our flow to get a quote, you'll see exactly like the option and how much it is.
Speaker 1:Okay, gotcha, you making it easy over there.
Speaker 3:We are. That is part of our. Our ethos is like it's gotta be simple, like there's too much complication and all this stuff out there. It's like can we just have something simple? Like I want to buy what I need and just what I need, and I don't want to get brain damage doing this.
Speaker 1:So let's do that oh my gosh, all right. So now let's talk about event cancellation.
Speaker 3:Sometimes that happens right venue owners it does so it's actually cancellation and we also cover postponement too. So if you have to postpone, yeah, yeah. So it's not just like, hey, wedding shut down, we're done, it's also like, hey, something happened, we need to change the date. You know we're four weeks out and there's a bunch of costs associated with changing the date. Um, you know it covers that as well. And, um, lost deposits. You know losing deposits if, for whatever reason, or if a vendor like doesn't show up. You know, like a florist goes out of business, um, and all of a sudden it's like a week before the wedding, sorry, like we're, we're out of business. You know you're going to have to. The wedding couple's going to have to incur a bunch of costs associated with finding a new florist. They probably lost money, deposits, whatever it might be. So we would step in to help cover the lost deposits there and things like that. And then, like I said before, covid as well.
Speaker 1:So are you saying you would cut like? So let's say I like this scenario somebody goes out of business. You would cover the monies that have been spent to hire that person and the monies they would have to spend to hire a new, whatever.
Speaker 3:So we would, we would cover lost deposits and then we would also cover additional expenses as well. So, like we would if there was, let's just say I'll give you an example let's say that you found another florist it was the same exact price. You lost the deposits, so we cover those deposits. Let's say there's like a 20% upcharge or they're 20% more expensive than you were paying before just, or 20% upcharge because it's a week away. Say, there's like a 20% upcharge or they're 20% more expensive than you were paying before just, or 20% upcharge because it's a week away and there's a you know it's a rush fee or whatever we would, we would step in and help cover that as well. So the idea is to make sure that the couple doesn't end up losing money there, that they end up coming out exactly as they should. They should have before. Um, that's kind of the idea. And same thing with, like a venue.
Speaker 3:You know, we've seen a bunch of situations like this, unfortunately, where venues have shut down and like been like hey, we have something, you know, like these private venues, something happened with a lease or or something like that. Um, I saw an article a couple of ago where this happened in New York, this kind of countryside-looking estate. It looked really beautiful. They abruptly went out of business and announced to everybody that they are no longer operational. You can't have your wedding here, and I think the earliest and that was for the whole year 2025, the earliest folks were a couple was for the whole year 2025. The earliest folks were like a couple weeks away from the event and so they were, yeah, big trouble, like had to scramble, had to buy, so there was a lot of compensation on and something like that. Um, but those are the types of things that that caused the cancellation and or or or postponement, travel, weather and illness, Like those are kind of the things that arise.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So even those couples that are like we're so in love that we're not canceling, this isn't something that we need to worry about or think about. Sometimes those things are not your things you're controlling.
Speaker 2:they are things that are, are done to you or happened, and you're caught in the middle of hurricanes I know, as a venue owner, that one of the things that scares me the most is we have so many tornadoes here, you know.
Speaker 2:So we have a hundred percent, and so that's always a fear for me, a little bit like during tornado season, of what if we have a huge storm that takes the roof off the building. Yeah, you know, or something like that, and you know we've got weddings every single weekend and multiple weddings, so that is something that you guys would help out with and to help cover for the couple.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly that's what this is built for. That's a huge piece of this is weather-related events. Yeah, totally.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:So, as a venue owner, we had an interesting scenario happen recently where we had a groom that was epileptic and he had a really bad episode of seizures the night before his wedding and they had to cancel the wedding. Is that something that you? Guys have any coverage for Amazing, is that something that you guys have any coverage for.
Speaker 3:Amazing. That particular scenario would depend. The one thing we do not cover is previously known events. So let's just say know you're canceling your wedding or postponing it for some particular reason, and then you're like you know what? We're just going to go buy this. We wouldn't cover in that scenario, and so that is a tricky one that you bring up. It depends. There would potentially be coverage there, though you know that's kind of a unique situation, depending on when they purchase.
Speaker 3:I think some of it depends on like the severity. Like severity and like sort of kind of that would end up going back to like the dot, like if it was very much unknown, like I'll give you an example if the groom didn't have an episode like was not, like this, wasn't like a, this was a very surprised thing that happened. It would be covered. But if it was something, it was like this wasn't like a, this was a very surprised thing that happened. It would be covered. But if it was something, it was like look we, it was a known thing, the doctors have known about this and the couple's known about this for a long time.
Speaker 3:It was sort of a, it was already um, a risk. There was a pre-existing risk that existed, um, there would potentially not be coverage there, um, but for other like illnesses or like let's just say that that was the first time that ever happened, or it happened very rarely, like it hasn't happened in five years and it was just a very unknown thing that happened kind of out of the blue, due to stress or whatever it was, and it would be covered. Like all these other types of illnesses are generally covered. So yeah, so that particular scenario would depend.
Speaker 2:That one's a little bit hard. Yeah, they actually got a hold of us from the hospital. He was admitted into the hospital, so I think it was something that was definitely not expected. I think it was a stress-related event.
Speaker 3:Oh man, that's horrible. We were shocked.
Speaker 2:We got up in the morning to get ready and there was a text message where she had messaged us in the middle of the night.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so um they're rescheduling, though, so it's all good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're rescheduling it's, I'm sure they'll get the stress down yeah, um.
Speaker 4:So this is a fun conversation for us to have as venue owners. I would literally did a tour yesterday where they facetime with the dad, who's in a different state, and his biggest concern was do we get any money back if something happens? That was literally his biggest concern. So I had a conversation with him about. You know, there are insurance policies out there if that is something you're concerned about. So when we do tours, like a really common question is what's your cancellation policy? What if something happens? I think COVID is so fresh in everybody's mind still that they get a little hesitant. So these insurance policies, man, they are huge and I mean I don't know if you mentioned it or not, but is there a range of costs for these?
Speaker 3:So, for the cancellation, it depends on the cost of the wedding. Um, obviously, like, the more expensive the wedding, the more expensive the cancellation would be. But, like, typically, it's like around $200 typically for for most folks, um, um, in that range, you know know, called $200 to $300, that is worth it in my opinion, especially in the situations you're saying where there's father or father-in-law that's worried. We also offer something this is super novel. We're the only ones, I believe, that offer this. We offer something called hold your breath for it, cancel for any reason.
Speaker 3:I don't like my vinyls, that's good. So it's basically like cold feet type coverage. I mean, it's literally canceled for any reason. The only thing that we wouldn't cover in that scenario is sort of what I was saying before is a known reason. Like you already know, you're canceling. You can't say, oh, we've already canceled and we're going to buy it now, um, but basically anything else, including cold feet, um, I mean that's pretty strong. Um, but also to the point that was just made, like you know, it's a lot of money people are putting down. It's like what happens if you know, everyone's heard all these crazy stories and it's what happens if it's a very legitimate concern, I think.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:I mean that does free up the anxiety about what it covers.
Speaker 3:And it's good for venues it's really good for venues, too, to know that that's in place.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Okay, so we talked about it a little bit, but when should they be buying this and talk us through? You've talked a little bit about the process, but tell us again how easy it is.
Speaker 3:Sure, yeah, of course. So we usually recommend buying it. When you're like locking down your venue, you know, when you're starting to sign that first contract is generally when we say, hey, this is when you should be, you know, purchasing it, definitely having it on like a line item, as you know, putting together your checklists and all those things we always recommend this should be on there. Um, it's worth it. But usually we say when you start signing contracts, usually the venue is the first contract. Um, and then, in terms of purchasing it, you can go directly to our website. We, we, we partner with venues. So we actually would would give venues like kind of custom landing pages and pages and give them a custom link where they can send, and that will actually also put in some of the specific requirements for the venue. So let's just say we're working with a venue that's partnered with BriteCo and every event that they require $1 million, $2 million in terms of the liability coverage, we will actually solidify that, lock that in. So in the custom URL that they send their customers, it will already be in there, so the customer doesn't have to go back and say, hey, how much is this, or whatever. It'll kind of have all those kind of locked in for them.
Speaker 3:So that's one option. And the second is literally just going to Brightco and you can get a quote right there. There's a little button for you know get your quote. You select wedding or event and you can walk through the flow and it's the same kind of thing. It's like a couple minute process, very easy. We sort of walk you through step-by-step and you put in a couple selections and that's kind of it. And then we, you know, once you you pay for the policy, you know we send you the policy documents that you need and, um, it's, it's.
Speaker 1:it's basically that simple. So can it be like does it matter whose name it's in? Like what if the parents want to do this for the couple or something, do they need to have the couple do it and pay them back, or can it be in their name? How does can they do it?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that happens all the time. The couple, like parents, buy it all the time. There's a place in the application where it asks for the honoree's names for like the couple's names, and it gives you two fields where you can put both the names in. So it really doesn't matter who's buying it, both the names, and so it really doesn't matter who's buying it, you can. And then you can add other you know other folks to the to the policy too, if you need to, if a venue requires to be added, you can do that. Um, so yeah, in the process it will actually prompt whoever the purchaser is for for the honoree's name. So we'll. So they'll be on the policy.
Speaker 1:But then the couple can make the claims they don't need the parent to be a part of it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah, cool yeah. And also the coverage extends to without having them be named. It will extend to, like the wedding party as well for coverage. So something happens to, let's just say, the mother of the bride. I'm making this up right now but like the mother of the bride gets ill and can't um, can't attend the wedding, but it was critical that she was there and they do not want to have the wedding without her there and they need to postpone it for four weeks or six weeks or whatever that would be covered.
Speaker 2:Wow, okay, wow, there's covers a lot more than I even knew about, okay.
Speaker 1:Wow, that covers a lot more than I even knew about. Is there a place to ask questions on the website?
Speaker 3:if people have more questions that we couldn't answer today A hundred percent. So there's a little. We've got that little chat bubble in the bottom right that you can ask questions to. We have like FAQs in there and things where you can kind of self-serve some questions. But if you want to talk to one of our customer service reps, you can talk to them right there. You can also call us if you wanted to. We do have phones. We believe sometimes technology is very, very useful in a lot of situations, but sometimes you just need to talk to somebody so you can chat with us, email us or call us.
Speaker 1:Cool, awesome.
Speaker 2:That makes it easy.
Speaker 1:All with us, email us or call us. Cool, awesome, that makes it easy, all right. So what should they do right now? If they're like, well, my wedding's coming up in a couple of months, I, you know where do they go. What's your website?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we've got a ton of resources on our website. There's information and things like that, and of course, you can go on there and get a quote and purchase a policy. The URL is brightco, it's just B-R-I-T-E dot C-O and then you'll see everything there. It's pretty, should be pretty straightforward.
Speaker 1:And if they go to B-R-I-T-E dot co backslash met weddings, does that get them anything special?
Speaker 3:Or is it just tell them or tell you they will? It will tell us that they heard us through this, and I think there'll be some more like kind of personalized content on there too, so they can definitely go there as well, yeah.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, love it. Thank you for answering all these questions. I know these are all the questions that, like couples have going through their head. Insurance and coverage and peace of mind is very important, but it's not the most sexy thing. It's not, you know, picking out flowers and dresses and all of these things, so it's not like their very favorite thing to do, but it's like such a nice thing to just know like it's okay. If something happens, it's just okay and things are going to happen. So having that peace of mind and knowing that you've taken care of it on the front end and just get through whatever it is and everything will be fine, I think it's good.
Speaker 2:We all need that. They have your back. Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 3:Totally and thank you. You know we're on a mission to sort of educate and just at least help people know what's available to them, so we really appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Thanks for hanging out with us today.
Speaker 4:Thank you guys. It was nice talking to you, justin.
Speaker 3:You too, all right.
Speaker 2:Have fun on your run. Bye, bye-bye.
Speaker 3:Bye-bye.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us for Metropolitan Weddings Engaged podcast.
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