Wedding All outdoor brides: here''s why you need a rain backup

[ladyciel]

A lot of you may already know from when I posted photos that our outdoor ceremony was rained out and we had to use the backup room we reserved just in case. Well, out of curiosity, I just looked up the weather stats for September, and I found out something interesting. When I said it poured, it POURED. Over 2" on our wedding day, and over 3.5" total for the weekend (sat-sun). Average total rainfall for the entire month of September, according to weather.com? 3.38" So, on our wedding weekend, it rained more in 2 days than it does on average for the entire month. This year there were 5.33" for the month, meaning 40% of the month''s rain fell on our wedding day, 67% on our wedding weekend.

Don''t worry, I''m laughing as I write this! My only regret is that we paid a hefty rental fee for the gardens and didn''t really get to use them, but at least we had a nice backup room there that kept the feeling of being outside (big windows looking onto the gardens) and got to use their conservatory for photos. Did we expect to have to use the backups when we booked? Of course not, but we at least realized it was a possibility and factored them into our decision!

The main reason I''m sharing this, other than for a laugh, is to maybe persuade even just a bride or two that yes, the extra money/effort to make sure you have a GOOD rain backup, one you would be HAPPY to use, is completely and totally worth it. Mother nature seems to think she''s a comic. Don''t trust her. EVER.

Oh, so what''s the going exchange rate on wedding rain? I''d like a luck estimate on my 2.12".

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Wow..

..thank you so much for the advice! I am glad you can at least laugh about it now, haha. I''d probably be upset, but hopefully I could laugh, too. I still think your wedding was gorgeous!

 

[Elmorton]

Lady Ciel - I think rainy wedding days are beautiful! Two friends of mine have been married "in the rain" - one was a church wedding, the other had to use her back-up and got married in a room that had huge arched windows where you could see the rain coming down over a golf course (which was of course empty). It was lovely.

DH and I were hoping that if it rained it would just pour down (we had sunshine and 95 degree heat...probably should have used our indoor location, but didn''t) - b/c if it rained 1 inch on our wedding day, we''d get a full refund on my e-ring from the jeweler (a "Pray for Rain" promotion). I''ve heard though that in 5 years, they''ve only given away 2 or 3 e-rings because the probability of it raining more than an inch on a Saturday (and we''re in the midwest, most weddings are in summer when it''s the least rainy) are so slim.

 

[neatfreak]

I agree, a good rain backup is ESSENTIAL. I have seen too many brides who fail to get a backup and then end up getting married in a hallway or something like that!

 

[Shoopy]

This is one of the main reasons why we are still wanting to have the wedding in December rather than October or November. October is a heavy hurricane month for us and November we still get lots of rain.

But because of the holidays, we might push it up to November. Thank you so much for the advice!

 

[basil]

It rained every Saturday in September in RI...except the weekend of my wedding! So we really lucked out. Usually September is not rainy season, but there were so many tropical storms and hurricanes that ended up as nasty weather in the northeast.

I had a rain backup plan (having the ceremony under the tent in the courtyard instead of in the gardens, but I still think I would have been disappointed in it. It was very difficult to find an attractive indoor venue that wasn''t a church, though, so we ended up with an outdoor ceremony by default.

 

[AllieLuv83]

I am so glad we ended up getting our venue, most historical mansions were small and could not fit either everyone in the house and def not have the ceremony and dinner in one place. The mansion we got has enough room to bring the ceremony in incase of rain and if not there is so much land all around to go the ceremony outside. Hoping for a dry sunny wedding!!!

 

[CrownJewel]

Yeah darn rain. I saw your thread lady, and I was like "Oh my gosh I have to post that umbrella pic from my wedding!!!" We were stubborn and refused to believe that the rain would affect our wedding. Denial all the way through, until the rabbi said, "maaaaayyyybee you guys wanna move inside now?"

Here''s a shot of my friend from high school and her poor umbrella. And on the far far right you see my other friend just cracking up about it.