What to do if it Rains on Your Wedding Day
Bridal portraits with our couple at the Winter Park Events Center after a rain shower.
You’ve been planning your wedding for months, maybe years - the day has come, every detail is ready and now the forecast is saying it’s going to rain! We are going to walk you through what your wedding day can look like if it rains. Included in this post are portraits from weddings we have photographed in the Orlando area where it rained either during the ceremony or the reception. So don’t despair! Your wedding can still be as memorable as you dreamed if it rains on your wedding day.
The best thing you can do to prepare for rain on your wedding day is to hire a coordinator. Maybe you were expecting a different answer, but having an experienced coordinator in your corner is the first step in being prepared for rain on your wedding day.
Why is having a coordinator so important for a rainy wedding?
Your coordinator is the person on your vendor team who ultimately makes the call to execute your rain plan. If you do not have a coordinator, you will be sitting in your hair/makeup chair, wide-eyed and panicking on whether to move the location for your ceremony indoors or just delay the ceremony start time.
That should not be something you have to worry about on your wedding day! Coordinators are wedding professionals and amateur meteorologists who watch the radar like a hawk on your wedding day. They will communicate with you what the situation is like and make a recommendation to either move your ceremony indoors if that’s an option or delay the ceremony if it looks like it will pass over in a few minutes.
Bending Branch Ranch and Moss Estates Venue are two venues we work closely with who have in-house coordinators who know exactly what to do in this situation so you don’t have to worry and can enjoy your day.
If you don’t have a coordinator booked yet, jump to the bottom of this blog for other coordinators we love!
What is a wedding day rain plan?
You really have two good options for a rain plan on your wedding day: either move your ceremony to a covered location or delay your start time. We have worked at weddings where both of these options have been implemented with no problem. Again, having a good coordinator keeping an eye on the forecast is what you need to make this decision. Some venues have an easy rain plan like Bending Branch Ranch. For this wedding below, it was raining all through the ceremony which could have been a problem as the ceremony site is outside. Fortunately, the venue offers a covered space which is easy to quickly convert into your ceremony space.
Other venues are able to flip the reception space for to be used for the ceremony. Be sure to ask your venue what their rain plan is for your wedding day before you book. Even if it’s not your favorite plan, you can at least be mentally prepared on your wedding day and of course, pray for clear skies!
If you are a Floridian, you know some rain showers come and go quickly. If it looks like your wedding day can continue with just a 10 or 15 minute delay, then your coordinator may just make a plan to house your guests in the reception space and delay your ceremony start by a few minutes. This pushes your timeline back a bit but it may be all that is needed for the rest of your day to flow without a problem and your vendors just need to pivot by 15 minutes or so.
The secret option number three is to just continue and hope for the best! Sometimes it’s merely a sprinkling and is hardly a bother for you or your guests. Regardless, this is where having a hair and makeup professional on your side is what you need to keep you looking fresh even in Florida’s rain and humidity.
Our bride walking down the aisle in sprinkling rain. And it stopped during the ceremony!
How can you help your day flow best if it rains?
The best thing YOU can do to help your day flow without a hitch if it rains is to keep a sunny disposition. Again, maybe you expected a different answer, but having seen several brides face this conundrum, we’ve observed that taking your day as it comes and not stressing about the things you can’t control (like the weather) is what it takes to truly enjoy your day. I think of your wedding day as a dress rehearsal for your marriage: some parts may not go exactly as you think and other parts may go better than you expected! Keep your eyes focused on what you’re there for: getting married and celebrating with your friends and family. The day goes by so fast, so take it as it comes and soak in all the best parts.
(It’s raining in all four of these photos, but our couples were having the best day of their lives!)
Have you ever rescheduled a wedding due to rain?
No, we have never rescheduled a wedding due to rain. However, we’ve also never had a wedding take place during a hurricane either. That would probably be the only instance that your wedding venue might reschedule your wedding day - due to risk of endangerment to others. The best thing to do is look over your venue contract to determine what they offer in the event of a natural disaster. As long as your wedding is happening, we will be there.
We have had one instance where we coordinated with the couple to shoot bridal portraits at a later date due to a stormy wedding day. There were several factors that led to this, including the bride being unable to walk on her wedding day due to a medical issue that sprung up the week of her wedding as well as a full-on deluge that did not allow for ANY photos outside during the whole wedding day. You can see below, their wedding day on the left - an indoor ceremony at Moss Estates Venue and on the right, fresh bridal portraits on a golden afternoon.
This situation is very rare. But we are committed to making your day all you imagined, so we worked with the venue to re-shoot portraits later on and the couple was more than happy to get those photos done.
If you are planning a wedding in Central Florida, reach out to us about how we can help your day go smoothly - rain or shine! Without further ado, here are several coordinators we recommend to help your day go off without a hitch!