Soooo, all of your guests are in town for your wedding, and an unexpected weather emergency happens. I don’t mean a rainy day. I mean obscene amounts of snow that impedes safe travel or severe windstorms like tornadoes and hurricanes.

Now what?

Hopefully, you are reading this before your wedding day, because I’m going to give you advice and back up plans to think about ahead of time.

MY #1 PIECE OF ADVICE:                W E D D I N G   I N S U R A N C E

Even in my contract, I offer up the suggestion of wedding insurance. There are two parts of a wedding insurance policy that you can buy. One is the liability side, and one is the cancellation side.

The liability side of the insurance is sometimes required by venues, and is highly suggested (by me) if you are having a tent wedding at home. This part of the insurance covers you for liability for things like bodily injury and alcohol related accidents.

The cancellation side of the insurance is more relevant to the weather situation. This part of the coverage (which needs to be purchased/is not included in the liability part) gives you benefits like reimbursement when things like weather emergencies happen. It even gives you coverage for things like damaged attire, having to re-do wedding photos, and other benefits.

LAST MINUTE, UNPREDICTABLE WEATHER ON THE WEDDING DAY

If you are having a tent wedding at home, this is obviously the more flexible of any other venue situation. You have the ability to reschedule for the following day, without worry. If it’s a tent wedding, hopefully your rental company has an emergency number if the tent has to be reset. If so, have them come reset the tent, and use it for a celebration the following day.

Even if your other wedding professionals are unable to provide services on another day, you would potentially be able to whip up a back up plan like a brunch or cocktail style reception to still celebrate while your guests are in town.

If you are having your wedding at a venue, reach out to the venue to see about the possibility of having your wedding the following day (if they are not already booked). If they are, reach out to other local restaurants or Country Clubs that may be serving a brunch or breakfast that has the capacity for you and your guests.

WHAT ABOUT MY OTHER WEDDING PROFESSIONALS?

While I’m never an advocate of makeshift/DIY wedding services under any other circumstance, I am advocating to do so if it means salvaging what you can of the weekend of your wedding while your guests are in town.

If your officiant is not available the following day to perform your wedding on another day, you and your partner should still hold a ceremony where you exchange words and promises in front of your guests and then you both can make it legal in a private ceremony with that officiant when they are available, or at City Hall.

If your photographer is not available the following day, have a guest use their camera to take photos and then schedule time with your booked photographer for post wedding photos. (It’s an amazing opportunity to put your dress on a second time and have some intimate shots done during a beautiful sunset or in a gorgeous field.)

If your musician or DJ is not available the following day, see if your local rental company rents a sound system and play a great Pandora station. Make sure you don’t use the free subscription of Pandora, because commercials are not romantic. 🙂

If your caterer is not available the following day, hopefully you purchased the insurance that I mentioned earlier. Since food is perishable, the caterer will likely still need to bill for the cost of food. That would be up to the caterer. See if they are available the following day, and if the food would still be fresh and usable. If not, have local friends and family members make a quick trip for food and supplies to have a cocktail style reception. This would mean small bites and beverages.

Your florist may likely have already assembled your arrangements and even if they are not available to deliver them the following day, they may have an option for you to pick them up. Same would apply for the cake, most likely.

If your hair and makeup teams are not available the following day, ask them if they would be able to give you a credit and use that to do a sexy boudoir session with your photographer and hair and makeup team, soon after the wedding day.

Hopefully, you will have a wedding planner or “Day Of” manager…hint, hint…to help you pull off this undertaking flawlessly.