Rain forecasted for wedding day! Help!!

The weather predictions can change a lot from day to day. It could end up not raining or hold off for your wedding.

Are you able to rent tents?

Do you have a backup plan?
Where I live, forecasts often predict rain and sometimes it won't. Other times, rain storms appear out of no where. So I only rely on forecasts like 60% of the time. Just relax, this is out of your control. At the end of the day, you get to marry your best friend!

You can't control weather, that's what your back-up plan is for. I would wait until the day before to decide if you need to put the plan in place as predictions can change,

What’s your backup plan? We’ve had tents rented in case we need them since we decided on an outdoor wedding

First things first - make sure you are ready to pull the trigger on your back up plan.

Second - last Summer our 4th daughter got married. Was supposed to be an outdoor wedding literally over the water on the bay. Three days prior to the wedding every weather model around had been consistently predicting 63 degrees, cloudy, windy, and a high chance of rain. Even without the rain you don't get married outside when it is 63 and cloudy/windy on the bay. It is much colder than you would think! Saturday morning everything literally cleared up, temps went up, wind died down and we went forward with her outdoor wedding. So there is hope, but you need to be ready to pull the trigger on your plan B.

There is an indoor plan B, right?

Besides having a tented/indoor backup plan, I heard a great recommendation from a wedding coordinator about getting big clear umbrellas for taking pictures (getting from place to place dry). You could also get big black ones too but no logos. (Or any other color you want really). She also recommended rainboots.

If you don't have an indoor or weather backup plan you should probably figure one out, and fast.

Tents, indoor area, etc.

We did get to order a 3-piece canopy tent with three sides, so we will all be dry to eat. And a handful of pop up tents from my parents and a best friend will help with the dance floor and ceremony. Unfortunately no indoor options are available because we are at a house and there will be approximately 90 guests.


You all are definitely making me feel better though. It’s one of those awful situations that we have absolutely no control over and I appreciate that in my freak out moment.

View Quoted Comment We did order a handful of clear umbrellas from Amazon for the wedding party since we have nothing over us and we’re next to a pool for the “alter” so tent is not an option. I’m glad to hear that here too, makes that decision feel validated.

IMO, a three sided tent, some pop up tents, and umbrellas aren't going to cut it. You really need to find an indoor option. I had a completely outdoor wedding and we had a plan B, C, and D depending on the intensity and type of weather. Honestly, this was not great planning on your part and you should jump on finding an alternative just in case.

I wouldn't rely too much on the weather predictions until around Thursday or so... I've noticed the meteorologists have rarely been right in predicting anything this winter, so I hardly even check the forecast anymore. However, if it does indeed still show rain, is there any alternative indoor locations you could get married in? Most venues always have a back up.

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Agree with all of this. You say you will be dry to eat but what about your ceremony? are you saying you have a series of small tents for people to sit under for the ceremony?

I would check the forecast a little deeper. For example we are in Iowa and yesterday it said 90% chance of snow. And it did snow- but not until like 9pm.

View Quoted Comment Yes, it’s 100% chance of rain through 2PM now. Our ceremony starts at 4 when it’s just 20% for sprinkles. Everyone is aware it’s a backyard wedding and majority of our guests are local, so they all know and understand the weather too. We can pull out the tables for the reception after 2, so that won’t be an issue if it’s pouring before that. But yes, just keeping an eye on the times.

View Quoted Comment Your opinion is valid, but probably not something you should tell the bride three days before the wedding. Obviously I see we should have spent the extra money on an actual venue, but since we are paying for the wedding ourselves we made the decision not to. Donations are welcomed, lol.

Will the yard turn to mud if it rains a lot? Do you have flooring to lay down in the tent?

View Quoted Comment No flooring under the tents, but they are being put up prior to the rain starting. Every guest knows it’s an outdoor wedding, so they have already planned for outdoor shoes. Fortunately no heels are planned by anyone I have talked to.

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Actually 3 days before is the perfect time because you still have 3 days before your wedding to try and figure it out.

I really hope you put some effort into finding a solution instead of just assuming that your guests will be fine cause they know its an outdoor wedding...

If you plan your wedding outdoors you should always have a plan B. But either way, weather tends to change.