The Wet Weather Plan You Hope Never to Use

This is less a set of instructions about the contingency plan for an outdoor wedding than an argument, and it is worth saying so at the start.

The decision has to exist before the day

An outdoor ceremony without a written alternative is not a plan with a risk; it is two possible weddings, one of which nobody has designed. Suppliers need to know the alternative in advance because it changes their setup, their equipment and sometimes the number of staff they bring.

A room that has to be turned around at short notice needs people rostered to do it, and that cannot be arranged on the morning. Deciding it early also removes the temptation to gamble, which is what happens when the alternative is unattractive and unrehearsed. The best contingency plans are ones the couple would have been happy with in the first place.

What a real alternative includes

Name the space, the layout, the seating capacity in that layout, and who moves the chairs, since the last item is the one always missing. Establish how long the changeover takes and therefore how far in advance the call must be made, which is usually earlier than instinct suggests. Check that the alternative space actually holds your guest count seated, because indoor capacity is frequently lower than the lawn everyone was standing on.

Between the two families, confirm that the ceremony can legally or religiously take place there if that matters, since some ceremonies have requirements about location. Walk it once so you know what it looks like rather than imagining it from a floor plan.

Who makes the call, and when

Nominate one person, ideally the venue or the coordinator rather than either of you, and give them the authority to decide without consultation. Set a deadline tied to the changeover time, and make it a hard one, because a deferred decision is what produces a half-set room. Agree the criteria in advance in plain terms, such as sustained rain or a specific wind condition, rather than leaving it to judgement on the day.

Between the two families, once made, the decision should not be revisited even if the sky clears, since re-reversing it costs more than the improvement is worth. Couples who keep this decision for themselves invariably spend the morning refreshing forecasts instead of getting ready.

Weather that is not rain

In hot climates the real risk is heat, and an outdoor ceremony at the wrong hour is genuinely dangerous for elderly guests and small children. Shade, water and a shorter outdoor segment do more for guest comfort than any amount of decoration, and they are usually cheap to arrange. Wind ruins more outdoor weddings than rain does, because it takes out lightweight structures, flowers, hair, veils and every unamplified word said.

Insects at dusk in some regions will empty a lawn faster than a shower, and the mitigation has to be planned rather than improvised.

Cold at the end of the evening is the common one in temperate places, and a supply of blankets is remembered fondly for years.

Guest comfort as the real objective

Guests are experiencing your weather choice for several hours in clothes chosen for photographs rather than conditions. Tell them in advance what the ground and the conditions will be like, since people can dress for anything they know about beforehand. Provide the obvious mitigations, which is to say water in heat, shade at midday, cover at the edges and somewhere to sit for anyone who needs it.

Six months out, watch the oldest and youngest guests as your indicator, because if they are uncomfortable the atmosphere in the room has already changed. A comfortable indoor ceremony beats a beautiful outdoor one that people endured.

Making the alternative look intentional

If plan B is used, nobody should be told it is plan B, because guests take their reading of the day almost entirely from the couple. Arriving into a warm room with the ceremony ready simply reads as the wedding, provided nobody spends the afternoon apologising for it.

Six months out, design the alternative with the same care as the first version, which mostly means deciding the layout and lighting rather than spending anything. Photographs taken indoors in poor weather are not worse, and photographers generally have more control over light there than outside. The version that happens is the wedding, and treating it that way is what everyone else will follow.

The takeaway

Design the wet weather version well enough that you would not mind it happening, then hand the decision to someone else.

It is a party with paperwork attached. Keep them in that order.