Ask a Planner: The Rain Plan
Photo by The Brenizers
Here’s the thing. When you’re planning any event, you always need a plan B. This goes for most elements of the day, but is especially true for the weather. If you live in New England, you know that even during wedding season, the weather is unpredictable. Despite this though, so many couples plan to have an outdoor wedding ceremony and take their chances with the weather. If this is your wedding plan, then this post is for you! You need a solid rain plan. Here are are top tips to make that happen:
Pretend like it’s your Plan A. When it comes time to make the rain call on wedding day, we’ve found the biggest stressor to be that people don’t love their Plan B. Heck, sometimes they don’t even like it. Imagine - they had a beautiful outside ceremony planned and now they have to get married in a corporate meeting room. Not ideal. Obviously, they didn’t think it was very likely that rain would be needed, so they didn’t put much thought into what would happen if it actually rained. In New England, there’s typically some sort of precipitation about one-third of the year. So, be prepared and make sure you like your rain plan enough that you won’t be bummed out if you have to use it.
Keep in mind, rain plans aren’t just for rain. Rain is not the only reason you might not be able to have your outdoor ceremony. Sometimes, it’s just too hot, too windy, or too cold. This definitely happens less often than rain, but it’s something to think about. In New England, the sun in the middle of the summer isn’t a joke. We often have guests pass out due to heat stroke. You don’t want to subject your guests to a heat wave to watch you exchange vows. Sometimes, you need to have a rain plan and a high winds plan, depending on where your wedding is taking place.
Make sure the decor works for both plans. The other reason people get upset about needing to use their rain plan is because their arbor/arch/chuppah just doesn’t work or look as good in the rain plan space. Design your ceremony decor as if there is a real likelihood that you will need to use your rain plan. You can either have one design that looks amazing in either space or have two different designs. If you do the latter, you will likely need to make your rain call earlier than normal so that the florist can load her truck accordingly.
Consider how guests will move from ceremony to cocktails to reception. Often times, people just worry about the ceremony plan and forget about the rest. Even if the cocktail hour and reception are indoors, it’s important to think about how guests will move from the ceremony to the rest of the evening. Is there a covered walkway? Will the venue provide umbrellas? Do you need to bring umbrellas? It’s hard to make enough umbrellas appear last minute, so considering this in advance ensure you can order them ahead of time and have them on hand just in case you need to use them.
Shift your mindset. Rain doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Some of the best wedding photos I’ve ever seen have come from rainy days - rain clouds seem to make the light just right. Consider how you might want photos to go if there’s rain, so that you have a plan for those, too!
One last bit of advice - you should create this rain plan when you’re booking your venue, not later in the planning process. You should see the rain plan options on your site tour and discuss layouts and pricing so that everything is clear upfront. You don’t want to find out down the road that there isn’t really a great option for your rain plan and get stuck with an option that you don’t love.
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