Six Steps to Help Make Your Outdoors Wedding Stress-Free

While there’s still a certain charm about traditional weddings, more and more people are opting for alternative ceremonies: people are heading to hotels, restored barns, and even ruins. As caterers and wedding organizers get more established, they’re able to give people a wider choice of options. So, that fairy-tale wedding you’ve been obsessing over since you were ten? Well, it’s a possibility now. With this advance in abilities, it means more people are getting married in the great outdoors: from gorgeous lakeside marquees to ceremonies held in sublime mountainous terrain. If you’re thinking of an outdoor wedding, no one can blame you. You can guarantee it’ll be a gorgeous ceremony, and you won’t have to worry about adding décor. However, there’s one big issue: the weather. You might be lucky enough to live somewhere with guaranteed sun all-season round, but for those of you who don’t – here’s your guide to keep it stress-free.

Keep an eye on the weather – but don’t be obsessive

Yes, you want to be prepared. Yes, you want to know what to expect. Yes, people will be asking you every 30 seconds. However, refreshing the weather app on your phone, or scouring the internet for long term forecasts won’t do you any good. You need to relax, and ensure there’s a plan for every eventuality. Dark Sky is one of the best apps on the market when it comes to weather watching, so download it, and try to use it sparingly.

Plan sensible activities

While you’ll probably have unlimited space, you’ll need to use it carefully. If you get torrential rain before the wedding, the ground will be incredibly slippery. So, if you’re going to have dancing, make sure you’ve got a solid floor to lay down. That way, you can protect the hems of clothes as well as shoes, and not risk any of your guests slipping over.

Choose outfits based on worst-case scenarios

If you’ve always envisioned a dress with a train stretching ten meters long, having an outdoor wedding probably isn’t for you. While you should still get your dream dress, be practical. If you’re outdoors on possibly muddy ground, you don’t want your white or cream dress to soak up water and mud. From your unique champagne diamonds to your glittering tiara, you want your outfit to stay radiant for the entire night. Likewise, if the ground is soft or uneven, those with super high heels might struggle. It’s a good idea to bring another pair of flat shoes to change into, so you don’t need to worry about keeping your footing.

Have a Plan B

If you can’t trust the weather to behave, make sure you’ve got a Plan B. This could take form of having a marquee for everyone to celebrate in. Or, you could choose a site with a proper venue attached to it. That way, you can pick and choose whether you stay outdoors and risk it, or seek shelter inside.

Get the right equipment ready

Fail to prepare, fail to prepare, right? Right. So, get everything you need ready well in advance. From huge umbrellas to solid flooring, you want to be covered on all bases. Having all of this equipment ready will put your mind at ease, as you won’t need to worry about rushing around in the days beforehand.

Embrace whatever happens

You’ve chosen an outdoors wedding for a reason, so you need to embrace it. If you get wet – you get wet. Just make sure you’ve got all the wedding photos taken before the heavens open!

Nickida

Nickida - is a wife and stay at home mother of four. She was born in Trinidad but moved to the US at age 14. She started blogging on an off for about three years and recently started writing more consistently. She enjoys sharing about her children, marriage, books, recipes, movies, reviews, giveaways and much more. She is working on improving her baking skills and building on her cake decorating business.