Being a wedding planner in the Pacific NW can be a challenge, especially with weather. We get really good at reading Doppler and having access to good weather websites. However, there are just days that come out of nowhere. This was one of those days, it was a gorgeous August day and the wedding was all set up for an outdoor ceremony and an indoor reception. The guests were all being seated for the ceremony when this dark cloud came over us and it just started pouring!! People were running to get under trees into the gazebo and up on the ceremony platform area. So now all of these guests were trapped and couldn’t get to the building. So thankfully I had a lot of white big umbrellas that I ran out to each area and got them to the building. At the same time I had my staff and the catering staff flipping the reception room to be a ceremony set-up. Another reson to have professionals because they had this down to a science and could get it flipped for 200 guests in under 10 min.

This whole time the bride is in the bridal suite and watched all of the mayhem from above. So I head up there and I am now also soaked. Like I dove into a pool soaked. So I get up there and open the door and I was worried she would be upset and she just started cracking up and was not stressed about it at all. She knew that I would be able to make here indoor ceremony as beautiful as it would have been outdoors. The mother of the bride on the other hand was a lot more stressed out about it and thought the wedding was ruined. However, once she saw the indoor ceremony area she was happy with the situation. After the ceremony the rain went away and it bacame a gorgeous sunny day again. The bride and groom got to take cute pictures under the umbrella and even got a parital rainbow picture. Then the guests got to still have an outdoor cocktail hour and enjoy the outdoor space. This bride is a perfect example of what outlook you shoudl have on your wedding day. She knew that we can’t control the weather but, she also trusted in us that we would make an indoor ceremony just as beautiful. She laughed at the whole experience and now it is a fun story to tell.

Moral of the story: Have a  back up plan if your having an outdoor wedding, be relaxed on your wedding day and trust that the professionals that you have hired will do their jobs and have a great day no matter what happens.