What about the rain?

I had the same problem. In the end we moved our date forward and because it was February I picked a beautiful indoor venue. Then again, I was worried about a snowstorm, but I was much less anxious. Id look at venues that have an equally beautiful indoor space OR find a botanical garden. That way even if it rains you can have a beautiful outdoor feel

100% need to book a venue with a good rain location, don’t want that added stress of what the weather will do the last minutes leading up to your big day

When we toured venues, we asked what is their plan B if it rains since we’re getting married in April. We fell in love with our wedding date (4/3/21) & did not want to change that. They’re the professionals- ask them what their plan B & even plan C is.

Many venues have indoor backup plans for bad weather. You can also check online to see what the weather is like historically for any date as a guide.

Definitely have a back up plan ! , but try to plan a date where chances of rain are slim. our venue is a ranch & the rainy day option would basically be in the stable witch I wasn’t exactly fond of but the odd of rain in March in Arizona are minimal, also it helped me a lot to see photos of how it looks set up .

Have you booked your venue yet? I wouldn't book a venue unless I loved both the indoor and outdoor option. We were initially choosing between 2 venues and this factor alone is what made the decision that much easier. Even though our ceremony was supposed to be outdoors on a patio overlooking a beautiful garden, a summer rain storm changed those plans...I was so relieved that we booked the venue with the nice indoor option. We also purchased a permit to take our bridal party photos at a botanical garden (the kind with the glass dome, protected from the rain). This came in handy as well.

Having our ceremony under a dome at the end of the arches (dunno what else to call them), and our reception indoors (thank heavens for A/C in Virginia's September!), with the courtyard for a little dancing and some scattered cocktail tables near the end, for guests who want to enjoy the views while we're doing photos. If it's cool enough outside, I'm hoping to just have the farm tables set up in the courtyard and hold the reception there. It's perfect for our medieval-themed wedding! 🥰

The venue we booked had a great indoor venue for the reception. And it had multiple outdoor areas for the ceremony, including two covered locations. We don’t get much rain in CA but the year I got married... sun the week before our wedding, sun the week after, rain ON our wedding day and entire mini-moon there. 😑


But we braved outdoor first look pics anyway and they were spectacular! ☔️

Our venue has both a plan B and a plan C in place. Plan B is for regular or light rain while plan C is for full on storms with heavy rainfall. I don’t really like plan C, but having it makes me feel a lot better. As another previously said, I wouldn’t book a venue unless I liked both plan A and B options.

Rain backup was key on our list of venue questions. Our ceremony will be inside (in a church) so that wasn't an issue, but we were usually told about ceremony sites anyway...several had BEAUTIFUL outdoor ceremony options but not-so-great indoor backup plans. It did come into play with us for cocktail hour, though, which often seems to be outside. For many places, the backup cocktail hour plan was to shove everyone in a corner of the reception room, which wasn't something we wanted! I always assume worst-case so definitely wanted a place where we were happy with every (or at least most!) of the options.

I think the biggest red flag is no backup plan at all--if they have one but you don't love the indoor look, that's a slight issue, but at the very least you know it will be organized!

My venue is outdoors and early on I was stressing like crazy about the rain. I even searched the farmer's almanac as far back as I could go to average rain accumulation on our chosen date back to like 2002. As we've gotten closer I've eased up because at the end of the day I have absolutely no control over the weather. Our space has a really nice permanent tend on the grounds that's draped and has bistro lighting so although not ideal we can always have the ceremony under the tent. We've also looked into getting clear umbrellas for the day of for our bridal party.

Have you looked at the farmer's almanac? It's pretty accurate in terms of what to expect for weather (barring unforeseen events) Additionally there is an old wives tale that says rain on your wedding day brings good luck and a lifetime of happiness.