WEDDING ADVICE
What Happens If It Rains on Your Wedding Day?
If it rains on your wedding day, we have a plan
You can pick your venue, plan your timings and have everything ready down to the last detail. The one thing none of us gets to choose is the Scottish weather. If it rains on your wedding day, I understand why that can make you nervous after all the thought you’ve put into it.
Please don’t spend the week before your wedding refreshing the forecast and imagining everything going wrong. I’ll be keeping an eye on it too. We can change the order of the photographs, use the spaces your venue gives us, wait for better light or head out for a few minutes with umbrellas. I’ve done this on wet wedding days, and I’ll help you decide what makes sense on yours.
Kerry and Tom, out by the water in the rain. We didn’t need to pretend it was a sunny day.
I’m watching the weather, even when you’re not
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I always have an eye on my weather app, whatever it says first thing in the morning. I’m looking at the showers coming through, what the light is doing and how that fits with the rest of your day. A wet spell at three o’clock does not mean we have lost the chance for photographs outside.
If it is chucking it down when we had pencilled in couple photos, I may suggest we do the family groups somewhere sheltered, let you enjoy a drink with your guests, then go out when the light and conditions are better. Sometimes we take a short window straight away. Sometimes we leave it until later. I’ll tell you what I’m seeing and why I think a particular moment is worth taking.
You don’t need to make a call based on a weather app while you’re trying to enjoy your wedding. That’s part of my job.
When do we head out, and when do we hold off?
Light rain can look brilliant in photographs, especially with dark trees, hills or water behind you. If you’re happy to step out, I’ll keep it close to the venue and make the most of a short spell. Kerry and Tom’s photographs by the river are a good example of letting the weather be part of the picture.
If the rain is heavy, the wind is getting up, the ground is slippery or you simply don’t fancy it, we stay in. We can use a window, a doorway or another part of the venue, then take another look later. I won’t drag you into a downpour because the timeline says it’s time for portraits. There is room to move things around, and the photographs should still feel like your day.
A couple of clear umbrellas go a long way
If you’re choosing umbrellas for the day, I’d get a couple of clear ones. They let the light through, I can still see your faces, and they work with pretty much any setting. Ask someone in your wedding party to keep them nearby rather than leaving them in the car.
Claire and Callum had the brollies up for their photographs at Glen Clova. Kerry and Tom brought an umbrella that suited them, a patterned one, and we used that as part of their story. You don’t have to match a rule for the pictures to work, but clear umbrellas are a handy choice if you’re buying some in advance.
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Kerry and Tom by the river, and Claire and Callum at Glen Clova. Two very different rainy wedding days.
Rain at Banchory Lodge and Glen Clova
Beth and Shannon had rain at Banchory Lodge and we used umbrellas there too. Claire and Callum were out in Glen Clova when the rain came in. Both days changed as we went, so I worked with what was happening rather than trying to force the original plan.
The trick is knowing what we can do with the conditions in front of us. A covered spot can buy us a few minutes, the rain can give the landscape a completely different feel, and a break in the clouds is worth being ready for. I’ll watch for it and let you know when to go. You can see Claire and Callum’s full Glen Clova story here.
Please don’t worry about the bottom of your dress
I completely get wanting to look after your dress. We’ll avoid deep mud, choose where we walk and lift the skirt when it helps. If you’d rather stay on a path or under cover, say so. I’ll work with what feels comfortable for you.
The underneath might pick up a bit of dirt if we go outside after rain. That’s okay. You wore it to get married, to walk through your day and to have an adventure together. A mark underneath does not take anything away from the photographs. Let the dress tell your story rather than spending the whole day worrying about the hem.
What if it rains all day?
We’ll use the best indoor light we have. That might be a big window for your couple photographs, a sheltered entrance for family groups, or a covered space where guests can gather without getting soaked. I’ll look at those options with you and your venue, and we can still take a short trip outside if the weather eases.
A group photograph matters because of who is in it, not because the sky is blue behind them. There’s no need to rush everybody into a shower to tick it off a list.
We’ll tell the story of the day you actually had
If the sun comes out, lovely. If it rains, or even snows, that belongs in the story too. I’m not going to make a wet wedding look like it happened on a glorious sunny day. The umbrellas, the light on the hills, the way everybody moved between indoors and out, that is all part of what you’ll remember.
So bring a couple of umbrellas, have a chat with your venue about sheltered spaces and tell me if there’s somewhere outside you’d love to use. After that, trust me to keep watching the conditions and find the right moments. You get on with enjoying the wedding. I’ll take care of the photographs.
Planning a wedding in Aberdeenshire or further across Scotland? Let’s have a chat about your day.
