Tips for a wedding day rain plan!

 Hi everyone! Today we're talking all about tips for rain plans and how to make sure to save your wedding day if it happens to rain. First and foremost, always plan for rain! That way, you can always be prepared no matter the circumstances. Instead of just hoping that it doesn't rain on your wedding day, act like it's going to and make sure that you are completely comfortable with the plan if it does. 

First, you want to make sure that your venue has a rain plan option. If they don't, that might not be the best venue to choose. It's possible to get a tent that can help cover your guests, but this is definitely going to be an added cost. There are some rental companies (here in Tennessee) that will allow you to do a deposit on a tent. They actually call it a rain plan tent and you let them know 48 hours in advance if they should deliver the tent or not. You're going to lose your deposit if you don't have the tent arrive, but you don't have to pay for the rest if you don't need it. The only bad part about that is you have to make the decision 48 hours before your wedding day. Either it's coming where it's not. You can't make the decision after because they don't have enough time to set up the logistics. So make sure that you're really comfortable with your venue, and ask if they have a rain plan in place. If not, then you can consider a “rain plan tent” or consider a different location. You're also going to want to confirm details with all your vendors. This is extremely important! Vendors such as Dj, buffet tables, and a photo booth cannot be outside during the rain. So you need to talk to them about what your rain plan would be and if it's even going to work for what they have to do. 

You need to really be practical also about your hair and makeup. If you have super frizzy hair with humidity, talk to your hairstylist about that beforehand, just in case it does rain on your wedding day. Now, on the day of, you want to start keeping up with the forecast. What I recommend for my clients is not looking at any forecasts until five days or four days before their wedding day. Otherwise, you're just going to freak yourself out for no reason! Two weeks before your date might show intense thunderstorms all day and when the day rolls around it's 72 and sunny all day long. Looking about two to three days in advance, we'll actually give you a better, more realistic view of what your day is going to be like. Specifically, on the wedding day, we use an app called the “weather bug”. I particularly love this app because it's not just showing, let's say, an 80% chance of rain in Knoxville, Tennessee. Instead, what it does is use my GPS location and then populate a weather radar. This way, I can see how far the rain clouds are from any specific venue in real-time instead of just knowing that at some point during the day in Knoxville, Tennessee, there's an 80% chance of rain. Let's be honest, that's helpful, but that's not as helpful as I need it to be. What I'm looking for is finding enough time for an outdoor ceremony to take place before rain clouds hit! If you think that the ceremony might still be able to take place outside, you can hold the ceremony off for about 10 or 15 minutes. If you think it’s not going to ease up, it's most definitely time to move everything inside. 

Planning this close to the ceremony might not be possible depending on your venue. Certain venues have different types of logistical issues, some might need you to make a decision four or five hours before the ceremony even starts. If that's the case, you're just going to have to use your intuition, in combination with radar maps, weather apps, and any other factors to make an informed decision. But once that decision is made, it cannot be reversed. If you end up executing your rain plan, keep your guests in the loop of potential options. Inform them of where the backup ceremony will take place. This would include directing foot traffic directly from the parking lot to the new ceremony location indoors. If you think that you might be able to wing it and have your ceremony outside, you can wait for the rain to stop. Have dry towels on hand to wipe all of the ceremony chairs down before you ask your guests to sit. 

Now photography, obviously having it rain throughout today might be a little unsettling, most couples think it's going to ruin your pictures, but don't stress actually! Photographers really like overcasts. Having direct sunlight in your pictures can make it harder for them to effectively take good photos. So having an overcast or cloudy sky is actually preferred by a lot of photographers. A lot of them don't mind a little bit of rain! Trust me, if they're a professional wedding photographer, it's nothing they've never dealt with before. 

With your wedding party, if you really think rain is going to be an issue, you can get matching umbrellas to take cute and creative pictures! You also get the added benefit of keeping everyone dry at the same time. For my wedding planning company, we always come on-site with a pile of matching white umbrellas, just in case, it's going to rain. I purchased 10 of them off Amazon for $60 bucks. You can also ask your photographer to use rain for some creative photos and see if they have any ideas for a rainy photoshoot. This is something you can preplan if you really think that rain might be an issue. Some photographers absolutely adore the rain because they can get some really cool pictures at the end of the night with the couple using some creative lighting. Now overall, the best tip that we have for a rainy wedding day is just to embrace it and make the best of it. There's no way you're going to be able to stop the rain, but you can stop yourself from having fun. Don't let the rain ruin your wedding day! The wedding is still gonna go on, you're still going to get married. You're also still surrounded by your friends and family and everybody that loves you and you can still have a fantastic day. Now, just in case I freaked you out bout it pouring down the rain on your wedding day, in the seven years that I've been a wedding planner, we've only had to move a ceremony inside five times. That's because we always have a rain plan and make use of weather apps. We know exactly where those rain clouds are. I only need a solid 20 to 25 minutes to get that couple married and safely indoors. So, being mindful of the weather and what's happening above us helps keep everybody cool, calm, and collected. 

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