Wet weather plans that actually work

Melbourne weather does not require an introduction. What it requires is a backup plan that is an actual plan, rather than a sentence in an email saying the ceremony can move inside.

A real wet weather plan has four parts

A decision time. The latest moment the call can be made, usually driven by how long the change takes to set. If moving the ceremony indoors takes ninety minutes, the call happens ninety minutes before guests arrive, not when it starts raining.

A decision maker. One named person. Not the couple, who will be getting ready and will be hoping. Somebody who will look at the radar, make the call, and tell everyone.

A distribution list. Who gets told, in what order. Celebrant, photographer, florist, caterer, musicians, the venue, and then guests. Guests last, and only once it is certain.

A physical plan. Where the chairs go, where the arbour goes, who moves it, and how long they need. If your florist has left by then, your ceremony flowers are not moving indoors.

The parts people forget

Guest arrival is the real problem, not the ceremony. Fifty people walking thirty metres from a car park in rain arrive wet and stay cold all night. Umbrellas at the drop-off point cost almost nothing and change the evening.

Ground conditions last longer than the rain. A lawn that took a downpour on Thursday is still soft on Saturday, and heels do not work on it. If your ceremony is on grass, have a matting answer.

Cold is under-planned relative to wet. An outdoor Melbourne evening in October can drop ten degrees between canapés and dessert. Heaters are usually available and rarely booked.

The photography conversation

Ask your photographer, at the booking stage, what their wet weather plan is and where indoors they would shoot. Good photographers have already scouted it. It is a question that also tells you a lot about who you have hired.

Do not let hope make the decision

The most common failure is delaying the call because the radar might clear. It occasionally does. The cost of switching too early is a slightly different room. The cost of switching too late is guests standing in rain while furniture is carried past them.

Set the decision time in writing, give it to one person, and let them call it without a conversation.