Being a South Wales based wedding photographer, you can imagine how many times the weather comes up in conversation! Yes we live in a pretty rainy country, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still plan an awesome, colourful indoor and outdoor wedding.
It’s quite rare that there are no breaks in the weather, but occasionally it can happen (like on my own wedding day!) so it’s always best to be prepared and ready to embrace it!
Tips for an awesome wet wedding
Buy Umbrellas
Ok so this is an obvious one, but a lot of couples only buy 2 – one for each of them. I recommend buying enough for your whole wedding party if, in the days before your wedding, the forecast looks iffy. My recommendation would be to either buy clear umbrellas, so that you can all go out for some fun photos in the rain, or if you want to add extra colour, matching umbrellas in your wedding colours. These could be incorporated into any gifts you hand out on the morning, lets face it you can never have enough umbrellas, I’ve lost count of how many I’ve left behind at weddings!
Raining Confetti!
If you’re planning to have confetti (and why wouldn’t you be?!) you have two great options, depending on what your venue allows.
You could go ahead with a confetti walk in the rain – this is where umbrellas in your wedding colours would look amazing! Or you could save it for the first dance which, in my opinion, looks incredible.
Have a Ceremony Back Up Plan
Recently, I’ve seen a few weddings on social media that have gone viral for being outdoors in the rain. Personally, I think that can be cool, especially if you want a great story, I’ve actually been a part of two outdoor weddings where it started raining mid way through – one carried on in the rain, and one packed up and ran inside. Both made for a great story!
But, if it’s pouring down and you don’t actually want to spend half an hour standing out in the rain, it’s good to have a plan B. Most venues will offer a back up plan, an indoor ceremony space. If you don’t like it as much as the outside space, think of ways you can jazz it up with colourful backdrops, decor and flowers. Here is where a stylist is worth their weight in gold.
The colourful backdrops can double up as a backdrop for your family group photographs, and later it could be moved to the dancefloor or used as a photobooth.
Plan for your portraits
If you want a few rainy day portraits that don’t involve umbrellas and wellies, make a little plan for great spots around your venue: big windows, covered doorways, archways and other structures. I’ve also had a couple who re-jigged their wedding timeline a few days before, because it was due to be dry up until their ceremony time we arranged a first-look and did couple portraits beforehand.
Pack your Wet Weather Essentials
As well as umbrellas, you might want to consider a change of footwear, jackets or warm snuggly blankets, a little towel, spare shirts, even a hairdryer! Whatever you think you might need if you get wetter than planned!
Embrace It!
If you plan to make your rainy wedding day awesome, rather than just hoping it stays dry, then you won’t actually be too disappointed if it happens. Think of ways you can add colour and bring the sunshine in through your decor, confetti, flowers and even dress code. Maybe after all the ‘important’ moments are captured, you could plan five minutes to just go and dance in the rain!
I’ll leave you with an Italian saying: “Sposa bagnata, sposa fortunata” which means a wet bride is a lucky bride. Whether you are a bride or not, rain on your wedding day is supposedly lucky. And as I’m on my 11th year of marriage and doing a job I absolutely love – I think the Italians might be on to something.
