July wedding

If the heat goes above a certain point, you are going to have to move the ceremony inside to a cooler location. Heat stroke is a real and dangerous thing. 80 degree weather and outdoor wedding ceremonies just don't mix.

On a slightly cooler day, tubs of bottled waters, program fans, and those battery operated mini fans can help some.

Date twin!

I'm getting married in Florida so I am of course worried about the heat as well. We did choose our date for a very sentimental and personal reason, not because we hate our guests We really wanted our anniversary to be July 9, so the heat is something we were willing to work around to have a lifetime of July 9 anniversaries! Bonus: July 9 isn't Satan's birthday!

We have tentatively planned our ceremony later in the day at 6 PM with my FH and I standing on the steps of the chapel with our guests under tents with electric fans. We aren't doing any readings, any unity-type ceremony, etc...we are keeping it very short and sweet! We will have a covered area with a drink station and electric fans. Our programs will be paper fans. We are having our wedding party sit under the tents with our guests during the ceremony, we don't expect them to stand on the steps with us since that would cause them to be in the sun. We are choosing chiffon dresses for the girls and lightweight linen for the men to wear.

If it's too miserably hot, we have a back up plan of having the ceremony inside our reception hall. We will have a floral arch behind our cake which can serve double duty as the arch for our ceremony if we do end up moving the ceremony inside. We have designed our seating in the reception hall to accommodate the ceremony if need be.

ETA: This is a picture of our outdoor location. FH, our pastor, and I can fit on the steps under the overhang to be out of direct sunlight. The tents will be where the chairs in the picture are located. Our reception hall is located on the same property so if we need to move the ceremony, it will be a piece of cake.

And also, buy yourself some anti-perspirant spray and spray yourself down everywhere with that. And get yourself some of that Urban Decay makeup setting spray. You'll be thankful for both of these things during your pictures!

At this point I'm planning an outdoor wedding and reception in July. The wedding will probably be under a tent and the reception will be on an open riverboat on the river. So, shade will be provided for the wedding, and full refreshments for the reception. Being on the boat and heading down river towards the ocean will be nice and cool also.

ETA we're also planning on timing everything that the reception will be at dinner time, so as evening progresses, it will be cooler as well.

I'm getting married in July too but i def wouldn't be having an outdoor ceremony if the heat was bad! I am having everything indoors in AIR CONDITIONING!!! I would hate to be sweating to death in my dress and have my guests suffer! Just play it by ear and if its getting close and temps are high i would suggest moving it inside!

July 9th is my birthday! That's all I have to add.

Date twins!! I live in MD and our wedding is outside as well. The reception is under a tent, however the ceremony is in the garden. The ceremony doesn't start until 6:15pm. Our caterer is providing water and fresh lemonade as guests arrive. I also created wedding fans. I'm going to look into fans for the tent area. My concern is that they may be too noisy though. There is a indoor site that people can retreat to but it only holds two-thirda of our guests.

We had our ceremony outside, our cocktail hour under a tent, and our reception inside. Our ceremony was short, we had cold drinks offered to our guests upon arrival and our programs were printed on fans. Our ceremony space was well shaded and there was place inside for people to wait if they arrived early. We lucked out and the temperature didn't hit 80 that day.

ETA: pic

Over 80? Go inside. Water and fans will not make anyone any happier.....

We had an outside ceremony and inside reception in late July. Start your ceremony in the evening - ours was at 6:30pm - and keep it short, around 20 minutes. Also, we provided small water bottles for guests. I live in Maryland and summer is HOT and HUMID but it was fine! There's no way I would have done an outside or tented reception in summer though!

We're getting married July 9th too! But we're getting married in Texas and chose a venue where we don't have to go outside at all. My only suggestion is have cold drinks available, and be mindful of your BP and how long you are keeping them outside in the heat for pics.

You may want to think about going indoors. I recently posted the same thread and I am telling you it caused an uproar on the threads but they we're right it's just to hot in the summer month's, depending on where you are but for us it was going to be waaaay to hot. Good luck.

I know I should change my icon- I'm not a spammer- I am getting married on July 3rd in Vermont and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions about flowers that may be in bloom that time of year- I haven't chosen my colors yet, but maybe some flower suggestion might serve as an inspiration? I love the idea of printing the program on fans- high humidity is possible in vt summer!

I really hope those that are saying it's after 6 aren't here in the south. In Texas, it doesn't matter if it's dark at outside, it can still be in the triple digits in the summer, that gives no relief.

Do what is right for your wedding, but I've been a guest at many summer outdoor weddings and I am miserable. It's hard to enjoy the love being shared because I feel like I'll burst into flames at any moment.

Also, change your avatar!

Miranda is right. Dark doesn't make it any better....

I went to a wedding in July in Houston m. It started at 6:30. The ceremony was outside and the sun was on the bridal party and half the guests. It was not fun. Then, the reception was partially indoors (for family) and mostly outdoors (non family). Most of the guests left between 8:30 and 9. Those of us outdoors were in a tented area, but we were still sweating.

The best thing to do for your guests? Either have it indoors or in the spring. Fans and cold drinks are nice, but they will still sweat and be unhappy.