It's like rain… on your wedding day

Contrary to Miss Morissette's famous song, I never did think it was particularly ironic for it to rain on your wedding day. Annoying - yes, ironic - no. But even though it is certainly not ideal to have the heavens open on what is supposed to be the most important day of your life, I'm here to tell you it doesn't have to be the end of the world.

And you can trust me because I speak from experience!

Weather is a worry that has plagued many a bride and groom-to-be before their wedding day. Living in England and deciding to have our marquee wedding in a field in May, we were no different. I remember exactly 1 year before our wedding I went to visit my Mum in the village where we were going to get married, and there was an an almightily thunderstorm. We felt that did not bode well and took several measures to 'weatherproof' our wedding. Rain is the usual worry, but lets discuss some of the other weather conditions that people sometimes don't consider.

I'm going to share some of my tips on how you can prepare for adverse weather conditions, so that if the worst does happen, you've got everything covered (no pun intended).

Stock up on umbrella-ella-ella-eh-eh-ehs

A good way to insure yourself is by forking out on some lovely wedding umbrellas. It's the classic story isn't it - whenever you take an umbrella with you it never rains, but as soon as you forget it the heavens open. So my top tip is to invest in some nice umbrellas for your bridal party. Even if it doesn't rain and it's sunny instead, you can always use them as parasols!

If it does rain, try not to be too disheartened, you can get some great photos in the rain and use your umbrellas as props in the photos.  Our photographer suggested white umbrellas. White makes for nicer lighting if you are taking close up photos. But for photos, colourful umbrellas would add lovely pops of colour.

I would also recommend having a collection of umbrellas by the door for your guests to borrow. Particularly if you are having a marquee wedding and you have to go outside to get to the toilet like we did!

Have a backup plan for outdoor weddings

If your wedding is all indoors, then getting to and from the venue is all you really need to worry about, but if you have an outdoor wedding like we did, there are a few more things to think about.  We had a large marquee and then 2 tea tents, a gazebo  as well as a little tipi. Unfortunately it did rain on our wedding day and this meant that the marquee was really the only area that was used. We had a little bar in one of the tents, another was full of hay bales to sit and chat, and the gazebo had our Photo Booth in it.

Luckily we had room to shift the bar into the marquee, although it didn't look quite as good. In hindsight though I think we should have had the Photo Booth in the marquee. I think we'd have gotten much more photos that way! I'm sure some of the guests that arrived later didn't even know it was there.  So my advice is, by all means plan for sun, but make sure you have a place for everything if it does rain.

Equally, if you're planning lawn games, see if there is somewhere indoors that they can be played if it rains. Otherwise, try not to put too much effort into them or pay too much, or you may be disappointed if you aren't able to use them

Shelter for Musicians and performers

If you are planning on having any outdoor entertainment, you will need to make sure they have somewhere undercover where they can go if it does rain. Performing in the rain would obviously be miserable as it is, but having electrical equipment outside in this situation can become very dangerous.  A gazebo or corner in a marquee should be fine, but it's always worth checking with your entertainment what they may require. This will often be written into their contract.

Photographs

We've already touched on how you might be able to use umbrellas to your advantage in rainy photos, but you might want to chat through all of your options with your photographer.  It's always worth having some alternative indoor locations for your portrait photographs if the weather is just too bad to take them outside. Have a chat with your photographer so they can put your mind at ease. They'll be able to get some lovely shots indoors too.

Footwear

If you are having a festival style wedding I would highly recommend having a nice pair of wellies to whip out if the weather does take a turn for the worst. These could make for a good photo opportunity too! It is also worth considering what you are going to wear on your feet for the rest of the day, if you are likely to be on grass a lot you may want to go for a pair of wedges to avoid sinking into the ground.

Preparing for other weather conditions

You may be worrying about rain, but what about other weather conditions? ...

Sunny

• If it is very hot and you have a band booked to play, you might want to see if they can start playing a little later, because your guests are less likely to dance if they are hot, or enjoying the lovely weather outside.
• Make sure your guests stay hydrated by having tap water easily accessible.
• If you are having an outdoor ceremony, providing fans as favours can be a nice touch.
• Consider having a box of goodies in the bathroom for guests to use to freshen up if it is particularly warm.
• Shelter for your musicians is also important if it is very hot. Make sure you keep them in the shade if they are performing for any length of time. Don't want the bass player passing out!

Windy

• Think about anything you have outdoors that might blow away if there is a big gust of wind. You might want to tie your order of services to the chairs, or pop something on name cards to weigh them down etc

Snowy

• If you're having a winter wedding and are worried that snow could effect travel on the day, you could always have a rehearsal dinner the night before to make sure all the important people are there in good time

To conclude

While rain can make things difficult, it does have one plus point which we experienced at our wedding.  The rain meant that everyone stayed in one place, and because of that everyone spent the whole night dancing together. If the weather had been nice, our guests would have been much more spread out, and I don't think it would have felt like such a big party. So that is the silver lining that clouds have on your wedding day, and I urge you to remember that if it rains on your day too.  Don't let it ruin your day!

Plus, as long as you have a good band to keep everyone entertained then it really doesn't matter what the weather is doing! If you haven't booked your band yet then you can have a look at some of our awesome bands by browsing the menus above, or if you want some help finding your perfect band you can email us at bandboutique@gmail.com.

Before I go I'll leave you with a picture of what our rainy wedding looked like… not so bad hey!