What if it rains during on my wedding day?

There are lots of things you can plan for on your wedding day. You can pick your dress, taste the food, find the perfect venue and carefully hand pick your bridal party members. However, the one thing you can't control is the weather ☀️ ⛈ ❄️

Of course, you can book a Spring / Summer wedding in the hope of boosting your chances of getting a dry day. But Northern Ireland being what Northern Ireland is, we know it to be true that even Summer isn't completely safe to guarantee the sunshine.

However, fear not! Some of the best and most enjoyable weddings I've been to (both for me as a vendor and for the guests aswell) have been some of the wettest. So let me encourage you to try your best (hard though it may be) to not have sleepless nights on the run up to your big day in the fear that the sun won't be splitting the skies.

When it comes to your wedding video, couples sometimes ask me 'will the rain ruin my video?' The answer, you'll be glad to hear, is generally no. It does make my job a little more challenging for sure, but there are always workarounds to ensure that you get a video you love.

So, with all that in mind, let me share a few secrets with you:

1) Often rainy days can be easier for photographers / videographer than sunny days

Yes, you read that right. I often have guests come up to me on the super sunny wedding days and say something like 'I bet you're a happy man today.' Of course, I usually nod and agree in politeness. But, in reality, super sunny days can be some of the most difficult to capture nice footage because the bright sun is just so harsh and unflattering on people's faces.

On the other hand, clouds in the sky act like a big light diffuser which both softens the light and makes it far more flattering on people's faces. So, in reality, the actual quality of shots you get outside on rainy days are way better than sunny days. The only problem comes, of course, when the rain is so heavy that no one wants to be outside so there's no one to capture 😅

2) It is very rare that it rains the WHOLE day

To be completely honest, we can get a LOT of super nice couple shots in the space of about 10-15 minutes. The same is true for things like bridal party and family shots. So, with that in mind, all we need on the wedding day is a brief window where the rain subsides and we can dart outside and get a lot of those important shots done.

In my time of filming weddings, I can honestly count on one hand the weddings where the weather has been so bad that we haven't managed to get outside at all. More often than not, even on rainy days there are little breaks in the weather where you can capture a lot of the good stuff outside. This is where having a Summer wedding does have it's advantages as the daylight sticks around till well after 8pm. For Winter weddings, the time window we're working with is a bit more squeezed.

(Bonus tip: It is worth ensuring there will be a number of umbrellas available at the venue. These can be incorporated into the odd shot and, if the rain isn't too bad, we can take use them to walk to a filming location and briefly ditch them in order to get the shot we want).

3) If we can't get outside, let us worry about sorting alternatives

It's true that, generally speaking, outdoor shots are far easier than indoor shots. However, in most venues you can take advantage of the outside light without actually being outside. Usually this involves finding a spot beside a big window, for example. Let the photographer and I worry about that. In all likelihood, at least one of us will have shot at the venue on a rainy day before and so have tried and tested a few options.

4) The weather forecast is often wrong - so no point stressing

The truth is, we don't often realise how frequently the weather forecast is wrong because, on most days, we don't particularly care what the weather is going to be like. However, when it comes to your wedding, you perhaps start checking the weather forecast as soon as it becomes available.

It goes without saying, but generally up until about the week of the wedding, the forecast accuracy is pretty poor. In fact, there are weddings I have been driving to that morning, fully expecting the day to be a whitewash (because the forecast told me so), and it ended up being dry and sunny.

With all that in mind - there's no point stressing about the weather. Venues and vendors are all well accustomed to working in all sorts of weather and your guests are just thrilled to be there. Never have I had a wedding where the weather has even remotely spoiled the day, and I don't suspect yours will be the first.