How to deal with weather at winter weddings

Heather planned her wedding and a blizzard happened! What a way to remember the big day. Winter weddings can be beautiful but also risky.

As a wedding photographer, one of my first thoughts when waking up today and seeing a blizzard was being predicted was “what will happen to weddings going on today?”

Blizzards don’t have to ruin weddings, however. After all, a winter wedding is indoors and the ceremony can take place without being impacted by a blizzard or other harsh winter weather.

Shelly Richardson, owner of Event Design in Lincoln, says not many couples want winter weddings. Only about 5 percent to 10 percent choose the winter.  Those that do want it for the pretty white snowfall and that fact that wedding costs can be lesser due to lower demand. Some couples choose winter weddings because they are involved in sports and winter is the best time for them.

“As long as there is a good contingency plan, everything can take place beautifully with minor disruption, however attendance of guests may be lower than anticipated,” Shelly says.

A blizzard can, however, impact a wedding’s guest list and other details.

Here’s a story from Jacob and Heather Wroughton, who got married last April 14 in Nelson.

It had been 70 degrees earlier in the week, but temperatures started falling as the weekend neared. The night before the wedding it was snowing, and Heather and her best friend and wedding attendant stayed at the couple’s homestead.

Winter weddings can lead to problems

They woke up at 4 a.m. to a loud roaring noise. It turned out the power went out and the tractor was running a generator.

When the two got up the morning of the wedding, they packed up everything they needed for the wedding and headed into town, assuming that the power there should be on.

Heather was already worried about her wedding cake. The baker informed her she didn’t know if she would be able to bring it from Grand Island to Nelson. While it had snowed only 2 inches, wind and ice made travel difficult. So the groomsmen went and got the cake.

One of the groomsmen worked for the power company and had to work to restore power the day of the wedding. He said he would try to be back for pictures and the ceremony.

“My heart sunk and I was so worried it would ruin my day,” Heather says.

The rest of the blizzard wedding party was busy scooping snow and salting walkways to the church. Luckily, most of Jacob’s military buddies got there early, so only one groomsman was missing.

While the couple was getting ready, power in town kept flicking off and on. Power was out completely at the reception site, and friends were bringing generators to power the building.

Blizzard keeps some away from winter weddings

Heather was getting texts from family and friends who said they would not be able to make it to the wedding. Her sisters kept reminding Heather that everything would work out.

Many of her family from out of town did not make it to the wedding and the couple didn’t get all the photos they hoped for. The reception was rushed as people were anxious to leave.

The biggest impact of the day, Heather says, was the missing family members. About 500 were invited and about 250 showed up.

The day was definitely memorable, and Heather has a great attitude about her blizzard wedding.
I wouldn’t have changed a thing about it,” she says.

The craziest weather day Shelly has seen during a wedding is one in which all four seasons were experienced in one day. It was hot for the ceremony. During the reception rain poured down and it got colder and started to sleet. Tornado warnings were in the area but guests were comfortable inside and happily danced the night away, she said.