No matter how much planning you do, one part of a wedding can’t be managed or scheduled: the weather.
Just ask couples who got married last year on Martha’s Vineyard, where nearly every weekend in the spring and fall saw some sort of rainy weather, cloud coverage, or even a hurricane warning.
“I’ve never had this much rain in my life,” said planner Sandy Brooks-Kovacs of Timeless Event Planning.
But rain, wind, or even an ill-timed hurricane don’t have to ruin a long-awaited celebration. That’s what rain plans are for, and why many Island planners and vendors in the industry said having a “Plan B” is nonnegotiable for Vineyard weddings. “There’s no time of year that’s safe for rain events. We’re in New England, and especially since we’re on an Island, weather can change so quickly,” said planner Jamie Newhouse of Island Dreams Event Design. “We really don’t know until we’re...in the moment what’s exactly going to happen.
“Every client dreams of a blue sky,” Newhouse added. But once couples have settled on a wedding plan they’re happy with, she brings up backup plans. That way, “we’re not rushing to make decisions.
Ceremony
During Sean Howe and Jane Lindahl’s June 10, 2023 wedding, their ceremony began outside at the Agricultural Hall in West Tisbury. Photographer: Arletta Charter
Given that many Island wedding ceremonies take place outside – be it at the beach, in a field, garden, or even a backyard – rain plans for the “I do” portion of the day often start with two things: alternate locations and tents.
Brooks-Kovacs noted that, in some cases, spending extra money on a backup ceremony location is worth it, given the cost of a wedding. She recalled one couple’s June 2023 wedding that was supposed to take place outdoors at the groom’s family home on West Chop, with the West Chop Club’s casino building booked as a backup. When the forecast looked uncertain, Brooks-Kovacs suggested renting enough chairs to set up at both the home and the West Chop Club so the couple could make the call last minute. (Usually, she recommends deciding on the final location well before the day.)
The couple went ahead with their original plan, and in the background of their ceremony photos a storm can be seen rolling in. Thankfully the rain held off, but it was reassuring to have a backup site.
“If you have the luxury of two beautiful locations – one inside, one outside – why not spend the extra [money],” Brooks-Kovacs said. This works best if the locations are near each other, as in the case of one couple who got married on the beach next to the Edgartown Lighthouse but rented a room at the Harbor View Hotel as a backup. “You’re spending all these hundreds of thousands of dollars putting on your wedding, you might as well have $2,000, $3,000 insurance, whatever it is to make sure you have what you’re envisioning,” she said.
When couples want an outdoor, open-air ceremony, planners and tent companies suggest putting down a deposit on a backup tent that can be assembled if needed. Couples often have until about two days before the tent would be set up to cancel the rental. They won’t have to pay for labor if they decide not to use it, according to Jim Eddy, owner of Big Sky Tent and Party Rentals. Last-minute tents are often hard to come by as companies sell out and fill their schedules well in advance (and the Island only has three tent-rental companies to source from).
“Last fall, it was weekend after weekend; we had a lot of people calling us for last-minute tents that we couldn’t accommodate,” Eddy said. “Every weekend people that had reserved rain backup tents were using them, and we didn’t have the tents or the time to do [additional] backups.”
Some locations, such as the rose garden at the Dr. Daniel Fisher House in Edgartown and the East Chop Lighthouse in Oak Bluffs, cannot be tented. And at certain wind speeds, tents aren’t safe, Eddy noted. His company doesn’t have a hard and fast rule about when it is too windy for a tent – but other factors, such as the location and the topography of the site, play a role.
Rescheduling completely is an extreme option that rarely works, though sometimes couples can shift from a Saturday to a Sunday, or change the time of the ceremony, if it works for all the vendors.
Photography
But a passing rain shower prompted the couple and their guests to move inside to finish their “I dos.” Photographer: Arletta Charter
When Sarah Strauch and Jonathan Doucot got married on September 23, 2023, they planned to take photos on a dock overlooking Vineyard Haven Harbor. Given wind and rain on their wedding day, photographer Sam Brooks helped them pivot to an alternate plan, which included the couple holding clear umbrellas and posing for photos next to a vintage car and on the porch. The entire wedding party also posed outside with umbrellas. (Umbrellas in multiple colors can be a fun option too, Brooks noted, which she witnessed firsthand as a second photographer for a rainy wedding on the Island in October of 2022.)
Brooks said she encourages couples to have a rain plan for photography, especially if the ceremony is outside. That means walking through plans for portraits and photographs of other big moments, such as the first look, and considering indoor locations that have natural light or beautiful rooms.
“I try to encourage [couples] to find something that works for them budget-wise, looks-wise, aesthetically,” Brooks said. This can be hard, and you have to be creative, she noted – even some covered locations, such as a porch, are fairly exposed to the elements.
Her key piece of advice is: “[Love] your venue and where you’re getting ready. Because if it is super, super rainy and you love the look of the venue, it’s not a problem.”
Another thing to consider is keeping the photographer – and their valuable equipment – dry. At Strauch and Doucot’s wedding, Brooks had her fiancé come along to hold an umbrella over her because she was photographing alone.
“All of our equipment is really expensive and it’s weatherproof, but if it’s downpouring, you don’t want to...stand outside,” she said.
Reception & Catering
Even if you end up not using them, having a tent with sides that can roll down – such as this one from Tilton Tents and Party Rentals – helps give peace of mind in case of inclement weather. Photographer: Christine Sargologos
Most couples have already secured a tent for outdoor receptions (or even welcome events, rehearsal dinners, and brunches), but that doesn’t mean guests and vendors are entirely protected by the elements. Thankfully, many tent companies offer connectors – covered walkways from the tent to other areas, such as the catering tent or the guest bathrooms.
V. Jaime Hamlin, of V. Jaime Hamlin and Sons Catering & Party Design, said rain plans don’t involve changing the menu, but instead a lot of extra logistics (and early planning – in April of this year, Hamlin was already checking the hurricane season forecast). Wet, slippery grass or mud are not only unpleasant, they can also be dangerous, especially for caterers who are carrying large trays of food.
Installing flooring throughout tents is helpful – it makes walking, dancing, and carrying catering items a lot easier – and some venues, such as the Dr. Daniel Fisher House’s front lawn, require it. That’s preferable to using sheet pans to walk over muddy ground, which Hamlin has also experienced. Eddy noted that tent companies will often use more utilitarian, safe flooring in catering tents and Hamlin said her staff will bring rain boots and raincoats and work in teams, with one person holding an umbrella over someone carrying food.
Planners usually work more directly with clients, Hamlin noted. On the catering end, “we make it work,” she said. “We make it so that it happens because this is their big day, it’s a huge day. People are spending a lot of money, and they want it to be as perfect as possible despite the rain.”
Brooks-Kovacs said she tries to make the experience positive for vendors in addition to guests. “You don’t want anyone working a wedding where they hated it,” she said. “You want everyone in the room to be happy with how the day went.”
Guest Experience
Pivoting from their original plan of getting married outside at the East Chop Lighthouse in Oak Bluffs, Donnelly McDowell and Larry Handerhan had their backup tent from Big Sky Tent and Party Rentals set up just outside the Ag Hall to still give them and their guests an outdoor “vibe” for their ceremony, while keeping everyone out of the elements. Photographer: Randi Baird
Another factor to consider when creating a rain plan is the needs of the guests. Newhouse recalled the rainy-day wedding of Donnelly McDowell and Larry Handerhan on September 30, 2023 that was meant to have the ceremony take place outside at the East Chop Lighthouse, but was moved to a tent at the reception site at the Agricultural Hall in West Tisbury instead. “I think it made their guests so much happier than if we had tried to maybe bring a ton of umbrellas out to the lighthouse,” she said. “They would’ve been wet...and miserable. It makes a greater impact on guests, even though they weren’t at the most scenic location we had planned. They were all extremely happy to be comfortable and dry in the backup plan.”
Brooks-Kovacs echoed the importance of guest comfort over aesthetics. “Being able to roll sides down on tents for ceremonies or receptions may not be the most photogenic, but it’s important in the case of wind or driving rain,” she said. “If someone’s cold at your wedding or they’re wet, they’re miserable. That’s what they’re going to remember.”
Even if the ceremony and reception are both indoors and relatively close – such as a ceremony at the Old Whaling Church and the reception down the street at the Edgartown Yacht Club – finding last minute transportation is tricky and expensive in the case of bad weather, Brooks-Kovacs noted. Options range from relatively simple, such as buying umbrellas and ponchos to have on hand, to putting a bus or vans on hold to take people between locations.
Other considerations for guest experience include moving bathrooms closer to the tent (and having a basket of umbrellas for people to take). Warmers and blankets are important for early- or late-season weddings too, Newhouse said.
“When we’re trying to decide on a rain plan, I always think about the oldest guest that’s going to be there…. Do we want them out in the rain?” Newhouse said. “And I really think that helps people make decisions that they’re comfortable with, because it’s emotional to still let go of your perfect wedding day. But at the same time, we don’t want grandma out in the cold. So I think that really helps.”
And communication with guests and off-Island vendors is key – especially when inclement weather can cancel ferries and ground flights to the Vineyard. Brooks-Kovacs suggested starting an email thread a week or two before the wedding letting guests know you’re excited to see them. “This way you could get in touch with everyone as quickly as possible,” Brooks-Kovacs said.
A Sunny Outlook
Brooks-Kovacs and Newhouse know the importance of backup wedding plans based on experience: it rained on Newhouse’s 2021 wedding day, and there was a hurricane on the day of Brooks-Kovacs’ wedding in 2020. Both said it did not ruin their experience. “You can never tell in the photos because it ended up being beautiful,” Brooks-Kovacs said.
Newhouse recalled a gorgeous pink sunset that came out after the rain on her wedding day.
“I think you take that moment to grieve your blue-sky beautiful wedding day that maybe you’ve dreamed about since childhood. Take that moment to be sad,” Newhouse said. “But try to move past it as quickly as you can, because we still have so much joy and so much to celebrate and so much happiness. It’s still going to feel like your wedding day…although sometimes we do end up with our most beautiful sunsets on rainy days.”
Photographer Brooks repeated a saying she heard at a rainy wedding last year: “A wet knot is harder to untie than a dry knot.”
