I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted true wedding planning advice. But, I think this will cover me for a while. I think I’ve mentioned planning outdoor events before. Well, after this weekend’s wedding, I was reminded of just how important a rain plan is. Not because it rained and they had to resort to their rain plan. It’s because it stormed and the couple had no rain plan.
So, here’s the low down on this past weekend’s wedding. It wasn’t actually a wedding that I had planned. I wasn’t even directing. This time, I was part of the fantastic team that makes up Tulla White Cuisine and Catering. Tulla has contracted with Invision to design and execute his major catering displays. This wedding would qualify as major. Long buffet, cocktail hour, milk and cookie send off for 200+ guests. Lots of stuff. Anywho, I was there overseeing just the catering aspect of it. Meaning, I only had limited contact with the planner of the wedding and I never met the bride (Heidi Jones was the catering sales rep and she did work with the bride). It soon became clear that something wasn’t quite right in this wedding.
A couple weeks before the wedding, Heidi was having the final tasting on the menu with the bride and her planner and she asked what the rain plan was (ceremony outside, cocktail hour under tent and on covered patio, buffet on covered patio and reception inside). While most things were being held under cover, if the ceremony had to move it could create a problem for the buffet placement. Well, the planner told Heidi that it wasn’t going to rain and that was their plan. Let me say right now that if you ever hear that out of your planner’s mouth, fire them! That is a huge red flag that they do not know what they are doing! It does rain and it definitely did rain on their wedding. It rained all day as a matter of fact and it was storming during their cocktail hour.
So, what ended up happening is a last minute rain call (and by that I mean 15 minutes before the ceremony, the venue director made the decision to pull the ceremony into the reception hall and have guests seated at the tables) where not everyone could see the ceremony and noise from catering prep was overheard in the background. I will say that we tried to keep the noise down, but we were under severe limitations at that point and cocktail hour would be starting immediately after the ceremony ended – meaning food had to be out.
Now, here’s my lessons for everyone.
#1 – Obviously, if you plan an outdoor event, you have to have a rain plan! It seems crazy to have to say that, but apparently some folks just aren’t that smart.
#2 – Hire the right people. I hate to bash anyone on my blog as that is not its purpose, but this planner just wasn’t fit for the job. She was unprofessional, unorganized, unprepared and incapable of adapting to the situation. I know it’s hard to find the right people to plan your wedding, but please do your homework! Don’t ask for references from the planner. They will only give you their good references. Ask around in the professional arena and see what other vendors have to say about them. Believe me, it’s worth the time.
#3 – Take your rain plan to the next level. Make your rain option part of your plan. That way, if you do have to fall back on that plan, your event won’t look like a backup plan. It will just look like you planned to have it that way. Case in point – This weekend, the florist spent hours setting up the outdoor ceremony area with beautiful designs in rose petals at the alter and an elaborate backdrop under the gazebo. Nobody even thought to put anything at the spot where they actually got married inside. All that work was a total loss.
So, there is my rant for the week. If you would like to see a successful rain plan, please see the photos of Kara and Ian’s wedding here in this post (yep, that’s their tent) and at these other posts: Gallery 1, Gallery 2, Gallery 3, Gallery 4. This wedding used the tent as their rain plan. It was gorgeous and if we needed to hold their ceremony under cover, the tent would have done that and would have still been beautiful. It didn’t rain, but the tent was still used and gave an unbelievable look to the wedding. So, please. Learn lessons from others. Rain plans are a must!!!