How to Deal With Bad Weather During Your Elopement or Outdoor Wedding
How to Deal With Bad Weather During Your Elopement or Outdoor Wedding
So if you’re considering eloping or having an outdoor wedding, I’m guessing one of the first thoughts that came to your mind was, what if it rains? And if it wasn’t on your mind, it was on your mom’s—rightfully so. What do you do when you’ve planned to have a beautiful elopement or small, outdoor ceremony and it’s supposed to be windy and rainy. I’ve got a couple of suggestions to help the situation to go as smooth as possible.
1 | Check The Weather Patterns for Your Elopement Location
The Farmer’s Almanac shows long-range weather history and patterns to help you determine the best time of year, and what type of weather you can expect during different seasons. Wunderground gives you real time weather updates as well as historical weather patterns. Maybe it’s going to be stormy in the evening but not in the afternoon. If you leave a little wiggle room in your schedule and it’s supposed to be rainy or windy, you can adjust accordingly and catch a window of good weather.
Utah in particular can be a little finicky with its Spring and Fall weather. Spring can stay cold and we can get snow clear through April, as well as in October. We’ve had snow before Halloween before! So definitely plan accordingly. The snow in October doesn’t tend to stick, but the temperatures can be quite cold.
2 | Rent A Tent
Rain or wind, these can be a great option for shelter and can be styled to look really beautiful. There are lots of tent rental companies, or you can buy your own to use later, or even just buy it as a backup and return it if you don’t end up using it. Just make sure you’ve got one you can secure into the ground and that you have the appropriate weights to keep it from blowing away into nowhere land. Also be sure to look into the types of grounds you are on and keep in mind, Leave No Trace. Different areas will have different ecosystems to consider. I’m linking a few options below. There’s a canopy tent, clear bubble tent, a mess tent, and a carport (check it out before you think I’m crazy). The color of the one I’m linking is actually really pretty and your photos + some simple styling like florals and outdoor lights plugged into a generator can really help elevate the entire look and make it look really cool.
3 | Clear Umbrellas
These, along with some throws (see next item down), are the perfect combo for a chilly, rainy elopement. These umbrellas come in a pack of 6 and actually look really cool in wedding day photos.
4 | Throw Blankets and Shawls
Look for neutral colored throw blankets or shawls that go with your elopement styling and you’ll stay comfortable and warm. You can always take the blanket off for some photos and then put it back on when you need to warm up. Also, it never hurts to have a stash of hand warmers on hand.
5 | Bulletproof Hair and Makeup
Either hire a hair and makeup artist, or spend a significant amount of time on youtube learning some wedding day hair and makeup tips to help the style and look last all day. Embracing the rain is a lot more fun when you know you aren’t going to look like a bag of melted chocolate chips in all of your photos. As for hair, it actually looks really pretty with the wind blowing through it and the wind can give that perfect messy hair look that goes so well with elopements.
6 | Communicate With Your Vendors
Communicate, communicate, communicate. Wedding vendors are used to thinking on their feet and with learning how to adjust when things go awry. No wedding goes perfectly as planned and we are ready for that. Be sure that you have all of their numbers saved to your phone and keep them up to date on any changes of plans. And if you have a small vendor team, it may be possible to shoot earlier in the day, the evening before, or the morning after. Be sure and ask these types of questions in the inquiry process and in the weeks leading up to the shoot. Don’t be worried to ask them if they have suggestions for a backup plan.
7 | Embrace the Rain
You likely planned an elopement or outdoor wedding because you’re a little more on the adventurous side. It’s a risk, but be ready for adventure because I will be. As long as weather conditions aren’t unsafe (lightning, flood warnings, hail), then it’s time to just go for it! Nobody wants their makeup to melt off their face, or to get soaking wet and freezing, but with some of the things I’ve mentioned above, those can be addressed.
The thing that’s cool about rain is that stormy weather brings stormy skies. They are dark, and moody, and set such a magical tone to your photos. With the rain comes some wind that gives beautiful movement to long hair and wedding dresses. The skies and the movement combined give almost a cinematic feel to your photos. The other cool thing is that if you embrace the rain and the storm, you will have photos that look un-like any other wedding photos out there because most people cancel if there is going to be rain.
Click HERE to see a rainy day elopement in the mountains. The photos remind me of The Notebook and it’s one of my favorite sessions of all time.
One last thing, rain on your wedding day is known to be good luck. It’s a symbol that your marriage will last. A knot that becomes wet, becomes extremely hard to untie, so when you “tie the knot” on a rainy day, your marriage is symbolically hard to unravel.
8 | Plan B, C, and D
There are plenty of options depending on how flexible you are. Look for local studios nearby, or indoor locations such as libraries and city buildings. Or drive to a nearby surrounding location where it isn’t supposed to be stormy at the time of day you are supposed to have your ceremony. Don’t be afraid to be flexible and go with the flow. It’s probably the number one thing that will make your wedding day a good memory, and help you in the present moment to feel as stress free as possible.
Looking to plan an epic Utah elopement or outdoor wedding? Want photos that make you feel something, that don’t look like everybody else’s? Get a hold of me and let’s chat. Let’s create something beautiful together.
9 | Hire A Wedding Planner
Sure you can do a lot of this yourself, but you’ll take SO MUCH of the headache out of things if you’ve got a planner on your team. They will take care of so many of your worries and do all the heavy communicating for you which allows you to just be present and enjoy your day as much as possible. This is likely your first wedding, but it isn’t their first wedding they’ve planned. They’ve been around the block a few times and are so worth the investment.