One of the biggest, uncontrollable fears couple’s face the day of their wedding?  Bad weather. New England’s unpredictable weather is one of those things couples will undoubtedly stress about, but have no control over.  And despite feeling like the world is crumbling at your feet, you may be surprised by the kind of beauty a shower or snowstorm can bring to your photos. To ease your worries, we’ve decided to share some of our personal storm-stories that caused our brides to prepare for the worst, embrace the expected, and recreate the moments they had hoped and planned for.

PREPARE.

August 4, 2018.  It was a hot, muggy day and the rain was on-again off-again all day long. I remember driving to the girl’s hotel and it was pouring buckets, to the point where visibility was an issue, even with the highest windshield wiper setting on.  Ten minutes later it would be hot and sunny, then cloudy, then rainy, then sunny again. Little did we know, but this unpredictable weather would continue straight through their reception. 

Moments away from accepting Mother Nature’s fate and switching to an inside ceremony, I reminded our bride (Becky) that ultimately, it was her day. If she wanted the ceremony outside, she should just do it.  At that point it wasn’t raining, despite all of the weather apps in the world telling us it was.

“Oh and did I mention Kate? She was sending me minute by minute pictures and videos of the weather. Moments before my coordinator had me convinced I needed to move the ceremony inside, I called Kate on the phone and she was the just the voice I needed to hear to tell me that ultimately it was my day, and if I wanted the ceremony to be outside, I should do it outside. I did, and it was the best decision I could have made.” –Becky

Fast-forward 15-minutes and the guests are in their chairs, the wedding party in their places and Becky and her father are halfway down the aisle when a rain shower started back up.  Without hesitation her Godfather and high school friend jumped into action and started holding umbrellas (and having toured the brewery that morning, with Budweiser logos on them nonetheless) over the bride and groom. All I could think was “Ohhhh no. We can’t have Budweiser logos in their wedding ceremony photos!” Luckily, I had brought some clear bubble umbrellas with us, so I walked behind the wedding party and switched out the umbrellas. The rain drops, both in and out of focus, provided a whimsical element to the photos.  And I’m SURE they were sick of hearing it by the end of the day (as many of my couples do), but they say rain is good luck on your wedding day 😉

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EMBRACE.

The year leading up to Merri and Pierre’s wedding, we had rescheduled their engagement session AT LEAST seven times with hopes of a snowstorm setting for their engagement session.  We would get freezing rain, hail, snow at 2am which would turn to slush by 8am… We never got our snowstorm session and we ended up settling on a foggy March afternoon.  

A winter wedding has the potential to bring all kinds of unexpected factors–snow, hail, power outages, road closures, you name it. And while we never got that snowstorm for their engagement session, Merri and Piere’s December 8th wedding called for the first snowstorm of the season. During photos, Merri kicked off her heels and threw on some cute Hunter boots.  The two hiked up a couple cliffs so we could capture some breathtaking shots mid-storm along Maine’s rocky coast. Needless to say, they showed us that when Mother Nature hands you a snowstorm on your wedding day, bring snow boots and have a fcking party. These two adventurous souls embraced EVERY BIT of this snow storm, and the photos more than justified being a little wet post-portraits 😉 

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RECREATE.

So, maybe your day doesn’t go as planned. Maybe there’s just no amount of preparation that can save your outdoor ceremony plans.  Joanna and Jeff got married Labor Day Weekend in 2017, the same weekend that Hurricane Harvey decided to touch down in New England.  They live, work, eat, ride and play in Portsmouth. Joanna had her heart set on an outdoor ceremony at the gorgeous Prescott Park before heading up to Maine for their reception. With whipping winds and flooded streets, their wedding coordinator worked tirelessly for the 48-hours leading up to their big day, finding an indoor location in downtown Portsmouth where they would ultimately have their ceremony.

One year later, on their first anniversary, they recreated their wedding day. Jeff in his tux and Joanna in her dress, we started in Prescott Park for formal portraits of the two of them. This time, the weather couldn’t have been more perfect. The couple hopped on a moped for a ride around the city with pedestrians yelling words of congratulations, strangers taking photos of them on their iPhones, and car horns beeping… We literally had THE BEST time.  There was no stress, no pressure, no stringent timeline. They were “just married” again for a day and we toured their favorite city, taking photos at some of their favorite spots (the bridge, the murals, the docks, etc.)  Post-shoot, Jeff had made dinner reservations for the two of them at a cute little restaurant downtown.

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