Weddi-quette Wednesday!

I can't tell you all how much I love a short week! Having Monday off has me a little bit turned around this week, but I am not complaining! We're already well on our way into another beautiful Fall weekend! (A little bit of rain won't hurt us!) Speaking of beautiful weather, this week I will be discussing the rules around outdoor weddings. Outdoor weddings are one of the most popular choices these days for the ceremony and now, more and more, we're seeing a trend in outdoor receptions. What's not to love, you barely even need decorations in most outdoor venues, the beauty of nature speaks for itself! Of course you need some things to tie it all together, but when you have the gorgeous blue sky as the background and a beautiful forest surrounding you, people aren't looking at much else. (Except the bride of course! ;) )

Outdoor weddings are wonderful, however, many people overlook the biggest rule of all- You must, absolutely, no questions asked have a back-up plan. Not just a fly by the seat of your pants back-up plan either. A solid, well thought out, easily do-able back-up plan. If you and your partner are planning on an outdoor reception, you can't just "keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best" and if you have to, slap up a tent the day of. No, no, you better know where that tent is coming from and pray that if you're only giving them a week's notice (it really should be more) that they will be able to accommodate you. You MUST have furniture, people cannot stand for however long your ceremony is. Even if it is the shortest ceremony of life, I can bet there are probably going to be some older people in the crowd that just cannot handle it. If you are having your reception in a venue, but your ceremony outside, chat with the venue upon booking to ensure that there is a plan in place should it rain. If it's larger venue, perhaps they can squeeze you into another room, if not ensure they have a good plan in place to quickly flip the room so your guests will hardly even notice! Remember, this is all worst case scenario's, still plan for the wedding of your dreams to happen outside and pray, pray, pray to those weather Gods!

My guess is if you're planning an outdoor ceremony, you probably have your heart set on it. The thing is, weather is so unpredictable and nothing can be done to stop it obviously. So don't have a cow and start loosing it on your bridesmaids (or wedding planner) just be OK with the fact that sometimes in life plans change. And now that you've read this post, you totally have a back-up plan, right?

While it's super easy to overlook all of the planning that goes into developing a back-up plan, just remember how important it truly is. You do not want to be soaking wet on your wedding day, even though rain is good luck! You don't want your friends and family trekking through the mud in their beautiful outfits! So make sure you create a little insurance for yourself, double check, plan ahead and make a back-up plan!!

I bet these folks had a back-up plan :)