How to handle bad weather on your elopement day

Are you worried about how to handle bad weather on your elopement day? Don’t be! While rain, snow, and wind can be a factor when getting married outside in nature, you don’t have to let it ruin your day. Take my tips as a photographer on how to handle any weather for your elopement, without letting it stress you out.

“What can we do about bad weather?” is one of the questions I get most often from my couples who are eloping in Colorado. And it’s a good question to think about when you’re getting married in the mountains! The weather here is unpredictable at the best of times, and can go from sunny to snowing in hours. (At least it never gets boring.)

A photographer’s tips to handling bad weather

After photographing almost 300 weddings and elopements over eight years, I’ve learned a lot about how the weather behaves—and how we can plan to make the most out of your elopement no matter what the forecast says. Here are a few quick tips:

1. Don’t stress about the weather too early. Especially in climates like Colorado, the forecast will change many times in the weeks leading up to your wedding. I will usually start checking it about a week in advance, but it can and will change daily.
2. Always have a backup plan for worst case scenarios—and work with vendors who can help you change your plans on short notice.
3. Remember that all that really matters is spending the day with the person you love. The only way bad weather will completely ruin your wedding day is if you let it stress you out so much that you don’t have a good time. If you can roll with it, everything will be okay.

Wondering about a specific bad weather scenario for your wedding? Read on for my top tips for handling snow, rain, and heat!

What happens if it snows at our wedding?

Snow is a real possibility between the end of September and all the way through May in Colorado. Yep, that’s crazy, but also accurate. The first snow of the year usually falls early in October, and by the middle of October most of the dirt roads to trailheads and mountain passes at higher elevations are closed because of the snow. In 2019, we had over 500 avalanches over a two-week period in March which closed down many of the main roads, so traffic and travel are also important to consider.

Luckily snow is also the easiest to deal with of the bad weather scenarios! Snow makes for incredible photos, does not damage cameras the way rain can, and it’s also just straight up fun to play in. But here are a few important things to plan for when there’s a chance it could snow on your wedding day.

• Wear warm boots or shoes, and make sure your shoes have traction so that you’re not slipping on the snow. Men’s dress shoes are notoriously slippery on snow. Your shoes should also have enough room to wear warm wool socks, like Smartwool or Darn Tough.
• Have layers that you’re okay with being photographed in. While you can take a coat off for some photos, your photos will be more natural if you can leave the warm layers on for some of them as well.
• Stock up on hand and toe warmers, and bring gloves or mittens. Ear warmers are also great, since your head getting cold is the first thing that’ll make it miserable.
• Consider wearing fleece-lined, nude-colored leggings under your dress to keep your legs warm, or baselayers under your suit.
• Make sure that all the most important guests and vendors are in the area the day before if there’s a chance of road closures.

I love photographing weddings in the snow, so you won’t hear me complaining about the cold. I was raised in Norway on the saying “there’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing” and I still live by those words here in Colorado!

What happens if it rains at our wedding?

While Colorado brags about having over 300 days of sunshine a year, there’s always a chance that you’ll get some bad weather on your wedding day. Spring in Colorado (May-June) can be very rainy, and afternoon thunderstorms and rain showers are an almost daily occurrence in the summer months.

Luckily the rain never lasts for long, so chances are you’ll only have to worry about a 15-30 minute rain shower in the afternoon. If you want to avoid the rain completely, plan your elopement for sunrise or early morning, when it’s highly unlikely that we’ll have bad weather. And there are a couple of things you can do to in advance to make sure you’re not stressed out when it starts raining!

• Have a flexible timeline. It’s really nice when you’re able to push back the ceremony by half an hour for a rain storm to pass, without worrying about the entire timeline of the wedding day getting messed up.
• Buy clear umbrellas. Get at least two, but preferably enough for your whole wedding party. Dark umbrellas keep the light from your face, so they’re not ideal. (I keep a dozen clear umbrellas in the back of my car at all times, so if we’re working together, you’re already set.)
• Be okay with getting your shoes and clothes a bit wet and muddy. If you’re really worried about staying clean in the rain, let’s plan on doing your portraits after the ceremony when you can better relax.
• Make sure your photographer can handle it. I shoot on weather-sealed mirrorless cameras, so I don’t have to worry about rain killing my cameras in the middle of a wedding. When I used to shoot on Canon DSLRs, even the smallest bit of rain could cause condensation in the lenses, and take forever to dry out after.

At this wedding in Aspen, the couple had planned an outdoor dinner reception at the groom’s family’s ranch, with big farm tables and no party tent. Then after three weeks of draught and forest fires, it rained almost the whole day for their wedding. Their wedding planner had to decorate the tables multiple times to avoid everything getting drenched, and luckily it stopped raining in time for everyone to still eat outside. But if that sounds like a nightmare for you, make sure that you have a party tent or indoor venue option, even if it’s just as a backup option.

This micro-wedding at Upper Beaver Meadows got the heaviest rain I’ve ever photographed in. But because they (as true Colorado born-and-raised adventurers) had such a good attitude about it, their guests all brought out umbrellas, the ceremony still happened outside in the meadow, and afterwards everyone packed onto the trolley they had rented for toasts and cake cutting. A perfect example of making the best of bad weather!

What happens if it’s too hot on our wedding day?

I know most people wouldn’t consider “too hot” to be “bad weather,” but I’m adding this one in here anyway. I’ve photographed a couple of weddings in 100F/38C and hotter weather, and they’re honestly harder than any of the cold or rainy ones because there’s less you can do about it.

From July through September, temperatures are often uncomfortably high at lower elevations, like in Denver, Boulder, and Colorado Springs. It’s rare for mountain towns at higher elevations to get above the mid-80s, so heading to the mountains is a great way to stay cool in summer.

• Have lots of water available, both for yourselves and your guests. Staying hydrated is key!
• Sunrise is the coolest time of day, so if we’re hiking or doing anything strenuous outside I recommend that we get an early start.
• If you don’t want to get up early, schedule most of your portraits for late in the day when the temperatures start dropping, even if it means taking time away from dinner or dancing.
• Stay out of the sun from 11am-2pm if it’s possible. The Colorado sun is really bright at this time, and you’ll be sweating in no time, or squinting at the camera.
• Think about the potential heat when you’re shopping for outfits. No one wants to wear a black suit and vest when it’s 100° outside, and I can’t think of a worse torture device than wearing a tight corset on a sweaty day in summer.
• Plan for shade. Is there anywhere that guests can escape into the shade during cocktail hour? Are there big trees around where you can do photos in the shade?

With proper preparation, there’s no reason to let bad weather bother you.

While you never know what kind of weather you’ll get in Colorado, you should now be prepared to handle bad weather on your wedding day! Always remember that you can’t change the weather, but you can change your attitude about the weather.

And that’s the best way to have an incredible wedding or elopement, even when it starts raining in the middle of your ceremony. Look your partner in the eyes, and laugh at how there’s nothing like rain or snow to make you feel alive! If you can handle bad weather at your wedding, you can handle anything else life throws your way.