It’s Fall Y’all. While Fall is one of our favorite seasons for weddings, in Northern California that can often mean a chance of rain on your wedding day. Whether you think rain on your wedding day is awful, good luck, or ironic (bonus points if you get the reference!) a little bit of wet weather doesn’t mean you can’t have a Pinterest worthy wedding! Today we’re sharing our top tips for rainy weddings.

Once you realize that rain is forecasted for your wedding day, the most important step is to not panic! Don’t panic and start planning! It’s always important to have a backup plan for your ceremony site. Most venues will provide you with the options of an outdoor location as well as an indoor or covered spot for your ceremony. It’s important to double-check with the venue that you’ll be able to use both if necessary.

If you don’t have access to and indoor or covered location, be sure to warn your guests! Just in case they need to bring an umbrella. Also, check with your venue to see if they have a tent or something similar you can use. Most venues that only have outdoor locations will have a tent on hand. If they don’t have something for you to use, it may be a good idea to look into investing in a rentable tent or covering of some kind.

Now family/bridal party portraits are a little trickier. It can be a little difficult to find, but the easiest thing for the larger group portraits is to a nice open overhang, like a porch or cathedral hallway. With these, you get nice bright light so your images won’t be dark and you get protection overhead from the rain! Once we find a spot like this that is nice and covered, we stick there! We shoot from every angle imaginable to give you the best variety in photos while keeping you and your bridal party dry! If all else fails and there isn’t a good overhang, you could always use the same spot you used for your ceremony!

For bride and groom portraits, porches are our best friends! Just like with bridal party portraits, finding a good porch is the best solution! We don’t mind getting a little wet and looking like a hot mess so you can have some good images! However, if there’s a break in the rain, or if you’re feeling a little brave, we can always grab and umbrella and take a few photos out in the open.

The most important tip we have is to just relax! If it’s going to rain on your wedding day, all of the wedding pros you’ve entrusted your day with will be able to take care of you and make sure that there is nothing you’ll need to worry about.