Wedding insurance cover and Covid-19

stansmum

Hi there, 
Me and my partner are due to get married in Italy in August.  We have paid a sizeable deposit (and some additional payments) already, and are due to make our final remaining payment on 12 May.  
We have wedding insurance with John Lewis, and this covers us for many Covid-19 related issues that may arise e.g. cancellation or postponement costs of wedding if they venue cannot hold the wedding, infectious and contagious disease outbreaks etc.  However, something John Lewis say that they do not cover specifically for overseas weddings, is cancellation or postponement due to not being able to travel.  This means that if the wedding is able to go ahead in Italy, but we are unable to get there - even if due to continued travel restrictions - we are not covered.  
While I understand this clause under normal circumstances, it feels a slight abuse of this when global and absolute travel restrictions are in place. 
Is anyone else currently facing this problem with insurance, and can offer any views and advice on how to go about this?  Most circumstances appear to be covered by either our contract with the wedding planning company, or our insurance, but not the issue of us being unable to attend due to travel.  
We are in a tricky position where we likely will be pressed to make a final payment on 12 May that could void our insurance, given we are expected to reasonably make efforts to limit losses.  It does not feel a reasonable effort to limit losses if we are making a final payment on a wedding that we know may not be able to go ahead.  
We intend to play this by: 
1) speaking to our wedding planning company about our options to cancel or postpone the wedding under different circumstances, and where we could and could not expect a refund.  
2) speaking to John Lewis about the payment we need to make on 12 May - I think they will ask us to delay the payment if we can. 
3) holding firm until we have clarity on whether the wedding can go ahead or not.  This one feels particularly weak, as national governments make announcements that extend only a few weeks, meaning we cannot properly predict what the position will be until (i suspect) a few weeks before the wedding.  
These issues are particularly challenging for overseas weddings as we have over 50 guests who all have travel and accommodation booked and at various points in the run up to 12 August (our wedding date) will need clarity on whether it is going ahead or not in order to e.g. decide whether to make that final payment on a booking, cut losses, or rearrange plans etc.  
Any and all advice is welcome!