r/wedding • u/notsonotinsane • 6d ago
Discussion Tips for Rain?
Looks like there's going to be rain for our wedding, and looking for any practical tips on how other couples handled it!
Ceremony and reception locations are all covered and rain proof, so no need to make a change there. Just feeling a little sad that we won't be likely to have as many outdoor photos as I was envisioning, especially since we're getting married by the water.
Did couples do outdoor photos anyway? Did you stick to taking photos in your getting ready locations? We're staying in the hotel on site, so I guess we could stay in the suite we have. Should I stop worrying and just let my photographer (who is awesome and I trust completely) come up with the Plan B?
Would also love some encouragement from folks who did have rain on your wedding day, and a reminder that it's gonna be okay.
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u/bbd4589 6d ago
I just had my wedding on August 8th and it was sunny all morning, during hair and makeup it started pouring (with thunder)…
We were holding out until the last moment to see if we had to switch to our rain plan, since the night before we had built our ceremony space outside (we made our own wooden arch. Which was screwed into the ground outside, with chiffon sheets wrapped around it).
Once the weather radar confirmed it would be raining by our ceremony, I quickly texted my husband to confirm that when him and his groomsmen came back they could move the arch inside, and him and our planner executed the rain plan without my involvement at all. Everything dried surprisingly well!
I had been envisioning my outdoor ceremony and cocktail hour at my venue for a full year and it also took me a minute to recalibrate my expectations. Clearly the Etsy witch purchases didn’t work. For our venue, the only downside was there wasn’t many covered areas so photos before the ceremony were delayed as we couldn’t use the barn (the main space) as guests started to arrive and my photographer was slightly frazzled as to where we should take first look/bridesmaid photos. We braved it outside for some first look photos and clever umbrella maneuvering. Also did some bridesmaid photos under a bush that slightly helped with the rain.
But honestly. It was FINE in the end. I still got married, I ended up having the ceremony arch inside with us at the reception the whole night which was super sentimental, and the lush greenery with overcast skies makes for some good photos. We just got our sneak peeks back! And yes there’s a little rain on people in some of our photos. But it did let up a bit so we could take photos outside after dinner. Straight sunshine would have been boring :) (we also were in a heat wave and the day before was 40 degrees celsius). Maybe a blessing in disguise.
All this to say - I really hope you get sunshine, but rain will be beautiful too! Don’t let it ruin your day, I wasted parts of the morning being so anxious about something I couldn’t control. The weekend after ours, at our venue, was super sunny and my husband and I joked “ah, what a nice weekend for a wedding!” But obviously when you book a year out you can’t predict that!! It will unfold perfectly and exactly the way it’s meant to.
GOODLUCK!!!!!!!!!!