How to Stop Wind Ruining an Outdoor Wedding

When most people think about bad weather ruining their outdoor weddings, they think about rain. It's far more likely that you will have problems with wind on your wedding day than with rain, however. Wind can kick up in all seasons, and it can upset your decorations, your linens, your cake, your glasses and many other parts of your wedding. Making a plan to deal with wind ahead of time can stop it from causing real havoc.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Weights
• Fishing weights
• Hurricane lanterns
• Tent

1. Choose a location that has natural protection from direct winds. If you're getting married on the beach, some cliff-side and cove locations are protected from direct wind. If you're getting married in an orchard or park, trees can offer some protection.

2. Choose a sturdy tent with weighted sides to stand up to strong winds. Cheap tents can buckle and even crumble when hit with moderate winds. Get a guarantee from the tent rental company that your tent well stand up to winds of X mph.

3. Plan to have an indoor backup location. A good idea for all outdoor weddings, you may need to use your backup location if particularly strong winds set in. Even if you have a tent, you may not be protected in seriously strong winds.

4. Weigh down centerpieces. Flowers aren't usually that heavy, so you'll need to put extra weight inside centerpieces to keep them in place in the wind.

5. Protect outdoor candles from getting blown out by using hurricane lanterns as a backup. Lanterns and simple glass vases also work.

6. Choose heavy stemware. A strong gust of wind can knock over a light wine glass easily. Metal stemware is naturally weighted.

7. Stop the wind from ruining your hair by choosing a style that looks best when wind swept. A loose updo or tousled down look will only be enhanced by a little wind.

Tips & Warnings

• Check with your videographer to make sure his microphone will have wind guards. Wind can completely distort ordinary microphones. This is also important if you are broadcasting audio during your ceremony.
• Test your place settings in your outdoor location before the wedding to see how they stand up to the wind. You can't stop wind from ruining your tables unless you know what will be susceptible to the wind.
• Avoid getting married on the top of a hill or the edge of a cliff. These are some of the windiest places you can find.
• Avoid chiffon and other lightweight flowing fabrics. While they may look nice when blown by a gentle wind, a swift gust can blow skirts up around the waist.