Rain on your parade (how to deal with rain on your wedding day!) ⋆ that black & white cat weddings

How to deal with rain on your wedding day

Most brides dread it raining on their wedding day – they pray for clear and sunny weather for several months before, booking summer dates (despite the unpredictable UK weather!) and spend their time constantly checking weather apps in the last 10 days before the big day.

On my wedding day I had a choice of two dates and we thoroughly researched weather patterns over the last 10 years to try and ensure the date we chose was going to be rain free (it was by the way but maybe that was just luck!).

Despite all that effort, it may well rain on your wedding day which is why you need to turn the negative into the positive. Can it be a positive you ask? Of course, I’ve seen some beautiful photos of newly married couples under an umbrella in the rain – the rain droplets looking like a thousand stars behind them. Yes, it might not be the typical wedding photo you dreamed of but they are unique.

Photography courtesy of Love Umbrellas (www.loveumbrellas.co.uk) and jofoto photography

That said I would always recommend doing the following as part of preparing for your wedding day

Check out the options at your venue if it was to rain, for example
- Do they have a separate room you can use for pre-reception drinks and canapes if the outside patio isn’t an option?
- Look out for uncovered areas between buildings where guests could get wet. Consider asking if you can erect a temporary cover (some venues might even do this for you) or purchase a large number of umbrellas for people to use (after all you can always sell them on ebay afterwards!)
- Where can you take pictures indoors if needed?
- Is there space inside the venue for a group photo? Staircases can often be an excellent option.
Speak with your photographer. They will have encountered this a number of times and will have plenty of ideas, especially if they have worked at your venue before. They’ll often have a towel with them too as sitting on wet surfaces after the rain is a definite ‘no no’ in your gorgeous dress

Most of all importantly use it as an excuse to have some fun. In fact, it can add to the occasion.

Purchase a ‘Mr & Mrs’ umbrella
Consider buying see-through ones with qwerky moustaches for that comical angle
Heart shaped umbrellas can make a really great impact (one is featured in the photo above)
Get your wellington boots out – you could buy ones which match your theme or even get matching ones?

Photo JEA PHOTOGRAPHY

Photo Thomas Thomas PHOTOGRAPHY

Tigerbear Photography gives the following advice:

“Embrace the rain – ultimately there’s nothing you can do to change the weather, so roll with it. The addition of colourful wellies and umbrellas can make the shots all the more interesting, and if you’re really prepared to get wet, flash lit raindrops will look absolutely stunning. You don’t necessarily need to cancel planned events either, they may well be more memorable for it…”

Final word of advice – Don’t forget the waterproof mascara (always handy for those ceremony tears anyway) and leave time afterwards to combat any ‘frizzy hair’. But most of all remember that the rain will most likely break at some point anyway! And when it does, grab your photographer and run outside ……. quick!