Here comes the bride -- and with her, a bouquet of potentialproblems.

Wedding insurance typically is purchased to guard against theseoutside forces wreaking havoc on a happy couple's nuptials. Withwedding season just around the corner, it's apt that Travelersrecently opened up the loss history on its wedding insurance claimsand noted a few not-so-blissful trends.

According to Travelers, more than 40 percent of its weddinginsurance claims filed during the past two years involvedunforeseen problems with vendors and venues, some of which wentbankrupt in the worsening economy. Most often, these problemsstemmed from caterers, photographers, wedding planners, and othervendors. In some cases, vendors failed to show up on day of thewedding, went out of business suddenly, or experienced some otherfinancial setback.

Travelers also said that 22 percent of its claims were theresult of a key family members (parent or grandparent) not beingable to attend at the last minute for reasons such as sickness,untimely death, and travel delays. Nineteen percent resulted frombroken, torn, or lost items such as dresses or rings. Lastly, theinsurer said that 15 percent of wedding insurance claims stemmedfrom weather events such as hurricanes and tropical storms as wellas water-damaged property.

"What this indicates is that some wedding vendors and venues arefacing many of the same financial challenges as other businesses,"said Alan Tuvin, vice president of product management forTravelers. "The reality is that no one entity is immune to theissues with today's economy."

More information is available at www.travelers.com.

Interested in more risk management news andin-depth articles? Head over to Claims' riskmanagement channel for more information.