Rainy weddings: When life gives you rain on your wedding day, turn it into a cinematic masterpiece!
Rain on your wedding day is every couple’s nightmare, right? Mud, ruined hair, soggy suits… the whole Pinterest-perfect dream washed away. But here’s the secret: rain can give you some of the most unforgettable wedding photos. Not the polished, posed kind, but the real ones – the ones that make you laugh, cry, and remember exactly how it felt in that moment.
This one below is one of my favorite rainy wedding photos I have ever taken.
Full story:
There’s very little anyone could say to change my mind, and I’m not showing it off to fish for compliments. I know it’s a simple photo, but it contains so much of my whole philosophy about weddings, about choosing the right vendor for you, and honestly, even about life itself. Because let’s be real, sometimes you want a Chardonnay and life serves you lemons with extra raindrops on top!
Devon & Robert, a couple from New Zealand, booked their destination wedding weekend in Portugal and flew their guests over, dreaming of sunshine and poolside cocktails. What they got instead was a weekend of rain. Non-stop. The dramatic, cinematic (and a little bit annoying!) kind.
This moment here? It’s the bride walking down the (improvised) aisle. Plan A was a beautiful outdoor ceremony. Plan B was quickly improvised under a tent lodge. Her father is walking beside her, wearing a very expensive suit that is completely soaked. Why? Because he’s holding the umbrella in a way that shields her hair and makeup instead of himself. That gesture alone made me melt. And then, look closer. Do you see their faces? They’re both grinning like it’s the best day ever. She’s got mud on her sandals, mud on the skirt she flew across the world with, and yet they’re just so.damn.happy.
That’s really the heart of it for me.
The most important skill a wedding photographer can have today isn’t just knowing the technical stuff. Yes, we love gear, and yes, tech is awesome, but that’s the easy part now. What really matters is adaptability.
Being able to read the energy, roll with the chaos, make a hundred tiny decisions in the blink of an eye, and somehow turn the “ruined” moments into the ones you’ll treasure forever.
And thank God for that, because I get bored easily. I have two speeds: either I’m daydreaming myself into another dimension, or I’m hyper-focused.
Weddings are the ultimate antidote to boredom. (I should know, I was a bored biologist before becoming a photographer!) They’re a roller coaster of emotions, they’re unpredictable, they challenge me in all the right ways and hit that sweet spot of my brain’s right hemisphere.
You say jump, I say how high.
Which brings me to my last point: when you choose your wedding photographer, don’t just look for pretty posed pictures. Anyone can take those. Personality matters.
Look for someone you trust to be there with you when things go sideways. Someone who notices the small, unspoken gestures. Someone who’s willing to run into the rain with you, not stand back under cover.
Because those are the photos that will make you laugh-snort into your coffee years later, the ones you’ll frame, and the ones that will still give you goosebumps long after the cake is gone.
This wedding took place at Casa Fontelheira, a charming Glamping venue in Northerm Portugal ran by a lovely Dutch couple.