What If It Rains on Your Wedding Day?

First, the honest truth

You’d like to think that your date, whatever it is, will be glorious, but this is Britain, and you never quite know what weather you’re going to get. So we don’t hope, we plan. In all the years I’ve been filming weddings, rain has never once ruined a film. A couple rushing around with no backup and a sinking feeling? That’s the only thing that dents a day, and it’s the thing we head off in advance.

Agree the wet-weather plan before the day

The single best thing you can do is settle the backup with your venue early: where the ceremony moves if it’s outdoors, which room has the best light for photos, and the covered spot that saves your confetti shot. I’ll have scouted the same things, so on the morning there’s no debate, we already know exactly where we’re going if the sky turns. When everyone knows the plan, nobody panics, and calm is what a good film is made of.

Don’t drag your dress through a wet field

A real worry couples raise, and rightly, is being marched out to a soggy park or lawn for portraits with a dress that costs more than the honeymoon. So we don’t. If the grounds are waterlogged, we use covered terraces, doorways, big windows and the venue’s best interiors instead, and we watch the forecast for a dry twenty minutes to nip out for the couple session. You need the right window, not a long one.

Rain can actually look incredible on camera

Here’s the bit couples don’t expect: rain can be a gift on film. Umbrellas make a beautiful frame, window light is the softest, most flattering light there is, and wet streets and city glass turn into something genuinely cinematic, I’ve taken couples out for portraits that ended up looking really edgy precisely because it was chucking it down. Handled right, a grey North East day gives a film mood that a flat blue sky never will.

The mindset that saves the day

My promise to every couple is the same: no matter what happens, we’ll sort something out and make the best of it. There is always a way. And if something does go sideways on the day, the rain included, the best thing you can do is let it go, because at that point there’s nothing to do but throw yourself into it and enjoy your wedding. The people who relax into a rainy day always end up with the warmest films.

What you should actually do

Ask your venue for their wet-weather options before you book, and ask your videographer how they handle rain, a good one will have an answer ready, not a shrug. If you’re marrying in the North East and want that plan mapped out for your venue, check your date with me. Questions now are always better than questions on the day.