Living With Clariity

Outdoor weddings allow for a unique and personalize ceremony. Image from Phomentum Photography.

Outdoor weddings can be beautiful and unique, but they also pose special challenges and are not for everyone. If you think an outdoor wedding might be right for you and your fiancé, give careful consideration to both the potential advantages and the risks involved, and plan accordingly.

Outdoor ceremonies can mean inexpensive wedding venues

When my husband and I got engaged, we knew we wanted an outdoor wedding. We both love the outdoors, and often went camping together while we were dating. He even proposed next to a mountain stream while we were on vacation in Colorado. We considered several outdoor wedding sites, including a gorgeous but pricey botanical garden and a local park with a picturesque lake, but no shelter available in case of rain. In the end, we chose a nearby state park with a renovated tobacco barn next to a sizeable clearing.  The barn had plenty of space for the reception, its own parking lot and nearby restrooms, and cost only one hundred dollars for the entire day. It also gave us an alternative ceremony site in case of inclement weather.

Outdoor weddings allow you to express your personality

We did have some relatives who were dubious about our decision, and as the weeks leading up to our wedding were incessantly rainy, I began to resign myself to the idea of getting married in a barn. But the sun came out that day, and even though it was unseasonably cold, we had our outdoor fall wedding in the clearing at sunset, just as planned. The entire area was surrounded by a wide expanse of trees that offered a beautiful backdrop of orange and gold leaves for our fall ceremony. It was beautiful, unique, and the perfect representation of us as a couple.

Before setting your date, look up the average temperature and rainfall for the area for the past several years to optimize your chances of agreeable weather. Avoid the middle of summer if your wedding is going to be in a hot or particularly humid climate. Late spring or early fall weddings usually work well outdoors, and some brides even opt for dramatic outdoor winter weddings. But you never know what the weather may do, so make sure you have a backup plan.

Outdoor weddings are perfect for non-traditional outdoor ceremony ideas

Setting up chairs in some outdoor locations may be tricky, so consider alternative seating such as hay bales. We had our ceremony in the round, with our friends and families gathered around us. We wanted everyone to feel like a participant rather than a spectator, and it created a very intimate atmosphere. Just make seating available for those who may need it, and keep the ceremony short.

If you’re the kind of person who likes to have control over the situation, or if you have very definite ideas of what you want your wedding to be like, you may be better off with a traditional indoor ceremony. On the other hand, if you’re willing to take a chance and can keep an adventurous spirit about your big day, planning an outdoor wedding may be worth the risk.