Chances of Rain

I'd say 5 out of 10 brides will email me worried about the weather. The online weather reports are always scary. Every single day we have a chance of rain. The norm is 30%, often 50%. Click on the photo above to see exactly what that means.

Our weather moves in and out very quickly. We do have rain clouds that move in and out quickly as well. I have honestly been on Magen's Bay Beach (which is one mile long) and it has been raining on one end and not on the other end - while the sun was shining 100% of the time! It's crazy! Brides ask me all the time what we will do if it rains. 95% of the time the answer is "wait for it to pass" - because 95% of the time, it does pass and we just start 10 minutes later than planned.

I found a little trick on Weather.com that I think helps put a brides mind to ease. When you enter our zip code into the search engine, it takes you to an overview of today and tomorrows weather (today of course has a 30% chance of rain but I don't see a rain cloud in sight!). Click on the Monthly tab above the data. This will take you to a monthly overview which includes the days that have already been observed. The thing to note in the observed days is the amount of precipitation that accumulated on that day. It's amazing but true that there was so little rain the first 18 days of February that they couldn't even record it! That's also because, like the photo above, it just doesn't rain everywhere. It's very isolated. A wedding on Lindquist Beach may be rained delayed while a wedding on Magen's Bay doesn't even see a drop.

I know it's a natural thing to worry about the weather when you are planning an outdoor wedding. But this is something that no one can control. I've learned not to fret over things that can't be controlled. Just know that you have a wedding planner that is there to take care of the situation in the event that rain becomes an issue. Stay calm and enjoy your day. Things will work out and you are covered by a great planner to make sure a Plan B is established in case rain decides to crash the party.

(This kind of advice always reminds me of when I was in labor with my first child. I thought, there is NO WAY I'm going to be able to do this, NO WAY!, and was trying to politely think of ways to ask for a c-section. I thought I was going to die before I had this baby (did I mention they didn't have epidurals on the island at the time?). My doctor looked me straight in the eye and said "Janelle, look at my face, do I look worried? Am I concerned? Don't worry unless you see me freak out. If I freak out, you can freak out. But I'm not worried, I'm not concerned. You can do this". So this is my pep talk to all my brides worried about rain - or anything really - don't freak out unless I do. If I'm not freaking out, it can't be that big of a deal, just take a deep breath and know you can do it!).