Today – one of my favorite topics… rain and weddings. It is a big issue for outdoor ceremonies and as I always say, if the whether is nice, no problem, if the weather is bad, no problem, but when it is ‘iffy’ … problem.
In the early morning rain.
There is an old saying that rain on your wedding day is a lucky omen. The Italians even have a saying for it, “Sposa bagnata, sposa fortunata“, which means that a wet bride is a lucky bride. In the U.S it is commonly repeated that rain is lucky, and also considered to be a good wedding omen in Germany, Sweden, and France. This is possibly because rain is associated with a bountiful harvest, and thus, fertility. Some believe that the rainier the wedding day, the more children the marriage will produce. But let’s be honest, most brides would prefer a dry day and a little less luck!
The uncertain condition is what happened with the ceremony I officiated this past Sunday. It was sprinkling on and off all morning and as the ceremony time approached, the wedding coordinator and myself asked the bride for her decision. In my opinion it is always the bride’s call! She changed her mind a couple of times, which is totally understandable, and ultimately we went with doing it outdoors. There were some sprinkles and luckily folks seemed to have umbrellas and ponchos. They were somehow prepared. But ultimately it is only water…it dries off and it was warm out, so she had her outdoor ceremony, and as I could feel the rain drops moving from mist to actual rain, I skipped through a couple of sections of the ceremony and went directly to the vows and rings, and the couple sealed the deal with the kiss and off they went as it started to pour. Timing, as they say, is everything!
Who'll stop the rain?
Saturday I officiated one of the most fun weddings of all time – a surprise wedding. A surprise, that is for the guests! I’ll blog more about when the photos are ready from my friend, the wonderful photographer Jane Caruso-Dahms.
I hear laughter in the rain...