With a hurricane coming this weekend and the uncertainty of the weather during the Fall wedding season, I thought this post would hopefully be timely and helpful! Shooting on a rainy wedding day is never ideal, but they’re still do-able. I know I stress less if I have a plan in place to tackle it, so I’ve compiled my best tips for photographing a wedding day in bad weather!

Come prepared
I think it’s important to be prepared for whatever can happen on a wedding day and bad weather is part of that. On a rainy wedding day I bring my Hunter boots for outdoor portraits and carry a few umbrellas. We have a clear one AND a few huge black golf umbrellas. I also take an extra outfit in case the one I’m wearing gets soaked. I also typically shoot with my lens hoods on when it rains to protect the front element from stray raindrops. I don’t use them at any other time. (Just a personal preference thing!)

Arrive early
I usually try to arrive early at every wedding day to give me a chance to scope out locations or start details early, but on a wedding day this is extra important. I will often look around for areas with at least a bit of cover (a porch, an overhang, a big cluster of trees, etc) so that if we don’t have much of a dry spell, there’s still somewhere I can photograph with natural light. Since I live 2-3 hours from most of the weddings we shoot, I also sometimes look up the venue and then the area on google maps for ideas of where there might be cover.

Educate your clients
Educating my clients is such a huge part of what I do. Our clients aren’t the experts (though, in some cases, my photog clients are experts, too!) and they’ve hired you for your knowledge as well as your skills. My clients trust me to help them get amazing images even in the worst weather. The first thing I will do when I see rain on the forecast is bring it up with the couple during our last minute details phone call. I’ll chat with them a bit about what their rain backup plan is and find out if the timeline will differ any due to the weather (sometimes rooms need to be flipped if the ceremony is moved indoors, etc). I also chat about it with the bride when I first arrive on the wedding day to let her know what I think the best plan of action is to ensure they get all of the photos they’re hoping for. Your clients will get more out of their experience if you educate them. They’ll also be so much more likely to go along with what you’re asking from them if you explain why.

Prioritize your portraits
If it’s going to be bad weather, I’m always thinking about what my priorities are for the couple in terms of their images. It’s my top priority to make sure their romantic portraits are done outdoors in the natural light, so I will often make choices on when and where we photograph based on that.

Yes, I could photograph everything inside with OCF but that’s not my style and it’s not the look the couple hired me for. I believe consistency is incredibly important and is very valuable to the couple because they’ve hired me based on my current portfolio…which is primarily natural light based when it comes to their romantic couple portraits.

For this reason I will sometimes make a judgement call and rearrange the schedule a bit (obviously after discussing it with the couple! See above!) depending on when we have a tiny window of dry skies. I use the app Dark Sky to give me a good idea when the weather might improve a bit and then will often push family formals to last (instead of first thing after the ceremony like we would normally do) since if it starts pouring rain again, it’s not a big deal if we shoot those indoors with artificial light. Bridal party photos are my second priority after bride and groom portraits and we do those outdoors too.

Embrace it!
Use the bad weather as an excuse to force yourself to try something new and creative! This photo was taken at night with just the light from the patio and it’s not my normal style, but I really like it and the couple loved it too! Trying new things is always a good idea and the rain gives you a chance to break out of your comfort zone a bit. When I photograph something like this I usually say something to the couple like “This won’t look like my normal style, but let’s try it anyway and see how it comes out!” so that way they know to expect something different (or nothing at all, if it doesn’t turn out the way I was hoping it would.)

Stay upbeat and positive
Last but not least, I think one of the most important things you can do on a wedding day to add to the couple’s experience is to make sure that you always have a good attitude, no matter what challenges come your way, or how hard Uncle Bob is trying to ruin your photos with his flash. Even if I’m having a mini panic attack inside I smile and act as calm as possible. It helps that I naturally have kind of a monotone way of talking to begin with that makes me seem pretty chill (I once googled “how to be perky” ha!!!) but you can always exude that kind of calming energy to help put the couple’s minds at ease. No matter how bad the weather gets or how stressful it makes the day, I think it’s important to stay as positive as possible. You can’t change the weather, but you can still make it a great day for your clients!!