Outdoor Wedding Do's and Don'ts

Speaking from experience...

Many people long for the beauty and serenity of an outdoor wedding; I know I did.  But somewhere along the way, I realized that this particular venue choice had its own unique set of considerations.  Unfortunately I failed to plan for a few things which made for some last-minute decisions on my wedding day.  Hopefully, you can learn from my mistakes and get your outdoor wedding started out on the right foot.  The following is my hand-picked list of Outdoor Wedding Do’s and Don’ts.



DO have a back-up plan. 

Let’s face it… WEATHER HAPPENS!  I myself had planned for an outdoor beach wedding.  A day before the wedding we ended up moving the entire ceremony up a day to avoid a monsoon of a storm.  I am thankful that we did this to preserve my beach wedding, but in hindsight we could have done some things to make it a bit easier on ourselves. 

Have a back-up location on stand-by in the event of bad weather.  Hoping for the best doesn’t always work out.  I suggest either rent a large outdoor tent that could be used in the event of rain, or make sure your venue has a back-up indoor location that you could use in the event of bad weather.  

At the very least, have some cute umbrellas on stand-by.  If you are stubborn or cheap and refuse to pay the extra money to reserve the tent (I was…) then at least have some attractive umbrellas on-hand so that you don’t look like a drowned rat in all of your wedding photos.  You probably don’t want to have Uncle Herbert’s 1980’s plaid umbrella in all of your wedding photos either.  

DO double check the RULES

I reserved the appropriate quantity of clear glass china, place settings, and bar ware for our outdoor wedding reception.  BUT, when we arrived at the venue, we were informed that NO GLASS was allowed in the patio area because of the liability and safety concerns of broken glass.    What was I to do…. Run out and purchase a bunch of Dixie cups and paper plates???  Do you see my point.  Double, Triple check with the venue to make sure there are no special restrictions.  If no glass is allowed, consider attractive hard plastic plates and glasses.  If you haven’t thought about it until the day of the event, you might just be stuck with those paper plates!

·        Is glass dinner ware allowed?

·        Can we have open-flame (candles, fire pit, tiki torches, etc…)

·        Will there be electrical outlets accessible to the venue (if required)

·        ASSUME NOTHING!

DO be flexible!  

Of course everybody knows that the bride is traditionally on the left side of the ‘altar’.  Now… consider this.  An extremely windy day on the beach; with the winds blowing in the direction that would place the bride’s veil directly in the grooms face – for the ENTIRE ceremony.  Yes, this happened to me – but luckily I had the foresight to recognize that this was going to be an issue and make for some awkward wedding photos.  What did I do??? At the last minute, I decided that for my wedding, it was okay for the bride (me) to be on the right side.  Sure, my maid-of-honor had my veil in her face – but that was far better than in my husband’s face.  See what I’m saying… Be flexible.  Nobody had a fit about us switching sides, and the photographs turned out beautiful. 

DON’T expect perfect hair.  

It really doesn't matter what type of hair you have, nature’s elements will inevitably have some affect on your gorgeous locks.  Please keep this in mind when selecting your bridal hair style.  Consider that it might be windy, rainy, or humid… or all of the above.  In my opinion, an up-do with lots of hair-spray is the best way to combat the elements and maintain your look throughout the ceremony.  Of course I didn't take my own advice, I thought that long flowing beach-curls would be dreamy.  Sure, they were dreamy until I stepped outside and the curls fell flat to my head.  Thank heavens for the veil and the wind!

DO Be considerate of your guests

DON'T make a poor choice in shoes

Consider the terrain at the location of your ceremony.  Will you be walking down the aisle in the sand, the mud, over rocks?  You don’t want your bridal party or you to worry about tripping down the aisle on your big day… trust me I’ve seen it!  Even well manicured grass is no match for stiletto heels.  If you must wear heels, maybe consider a wedge or something with a larger footprint for better stability.  Ideally choose a cute, comfortable shoe that won’t let you down… literally.  If you are doing the beach thing, maybe you don’t even need shoes.  Another idea is to wear your super-fancy high-heels for your bridal portraits, but wear something else for the actual wedding.

Don’t forget to turn up the volume.  

This one is pretty self-explanatory.  If you are having an outdoor wedding in the south in the heat of the summer, be courteous enough to provide fans.  I promise, you will be much happier if your guests are enjoying themselves.  Then again, maybe it isn’t a good idea to get married in the hottest part of the summer anyway, so before you go booking the only available venue date, just double check the average temperature.

Sound has the tendency to dissipate very quickly outdoors. In other words, your guests may not be able to hear a word of your wedding ceremony or vows.  Consider having some sort of microphone or other amplification device so that you can share your joy with the entire audience.  This is also very important if you are having someone film your wedding ceremony.  They will probably want to mic. the minister or person officiating the ceremony in order to capture all of the details. 

And finally, to reiterate the most important of these listed... BE FLEXIBLE!