If you’re planning an outdoor wedding, you will also need to have a Plan B. I have performed weddings in sweltering heat, in rain and in freezing cold late spring and early fall weather and although I am ready for any kind of weather, your guests and bridesmaids (if any) will not. Guests plan their outfit so that they will look their best and will assume that you won’t put them out in inclement weather. Bridesmaids typically wear strapless or sleeveless gowns without a wrap and won’t have a way to keep warm if the temperature dips below sixty-five. And there’s nothing you can do about rain. It will cloud everyone’s memory of the ceremony (pun intended). Last Saturday I performed a wedding in East Troy, Wisconsin. The ceremony site was beautiful. The bride’s parents’ huge yard had been transformed. White chairs were set up to overlook an outcropping of rocks. Three large arches made of thin branches and decorated with flowers stood in front of the rocks. There were elaborate floral arrangements at the back of the aisle. A table with a glass pitcher of ice water and a bottle of expensive bourbon were also at the back. And just as I pulled into the driveway it started to rain. The wedding coordinator was beside herself. The bride’s family looked at their phones every couple of minutes and declared that the rain would pass in time for the ceremony to start on time. I sat on a swing the front porch with someone’s aunt from Texas, waiting for word on what we would do if the rain didn’t pass. Finally, it let up and the coordinator and her assistant hurried to dry off all 150 chairs. I herded the guests out from under the reception tent over to the ceremony area. We were able to begin about ten minutes late, which is a typical wedding delay anyway. Tricia and Danny, the bride and groom, were lucky. I have officiated at other weddings where I had to ask the ushers to watch the elderly to make sure they didn’t faint from the excessive heat on summer days that were over ninety degrees. I have watched bridesmaids teeth chatter because the couple decided they weren’t going to give up on their dream of a wedding overlooking Lake Michigan when there was an icy wind and mist coming off the lake. And I had to start one ceremony over because a thunderstorm came roaring in when we were halfway through. Keep your guests and your attendants in mind when planning an outdoor wedding, so that their memories will be of how lovely you looked and how wonderful everything turned out despite the weather, should it turn nasty, rather than of how you made them suffer through it.
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Toni Maddi was wonderful. We had met once before and made me feel really comfortable. She was great with getting back with e-mail. On the day of the wedding she came early and she was very calm and collected. She walked through the whole thing with us. During the ceremony she would make sure that we were okay. She did a wonderful job and I got many compliments from the guests about her.
Toni was great to work with, from the moment we met to discuss our wedding event till the day she married us. The ceremony she gave at our Wedding was very unique to us and kept it very true to us.We are Hispanic, and it was great the Toni incorporated Spanish into our ceremony– This really helped our family and friends understand the ceremony. We were very lucky we got to work with Toni and that she was the one who married us. You did great in the Spanish parts too! Thank you so much Toni!
Toni, Thank you for making our wedding day very special. We couldn’t have imagined for anything to be as perfect as you made everything. It’s comforting to know that there are individuals who care enough to make someone’s special event, no matter how small, be the most wonderful occasion possible. We will always remember you as we reflect on our wedding day. You have truly earned our highest recommendations to anyone who is enquiring about an officiant for their special event.
Anthony and Trisha