If planning an outdoor wedding, there is absolutely no way to ensure your wedding day will be rain-free. Have a back-up plan in case there is rain, but also plan the back-up plan. What I mean by this is don't spend the next year focused only on a garden wedding because it is very possible rain will be in the forecast for your special day, which could send you into last minute freak-out mode. This would cause you to re-plan your entire event, the event you dreamed of taking place under the stars and in the garden, to fit under a small, unattractive tent. It would be much less stressful on you to plan the garden wedding, plus how you would decorate the tent if you have to have one, so you aren't even more stressed and nervous in the days leading up to your wedding. Also, make sure you budget enough money to rent a tent big enough to fit all of your guests comfortably.
(Side note: If you schedule and pay in advance through a rental company for something you know you'll need for the ceremony, such as chairs, they may be willing to throw a tent on the truck last minute without requiring you to put down a non-refundable deposit for it. They typically require a deposit to get you on the delivery schedule for a certain day, so by paying in advance for something you know you'll need you will then be on the delivery schedule and should be able to add last minute items without an additional deposit.)
I had picked October 17 as the big day and this gave me a whole year to plan the wedding. I checked the Farmer's Almanac for the weather prediction of that date. I also checked prior years' weather conditions online and each year consistently showed highs around 75 degrees with no precipitation. Not only that, South Carolina has been in a draught for years. With all of this information, what could possibly go wrong? I was confident I would have the beautiful, sunny outdoor wedding of my dreams. I never even considered it would rain.
It all started around the middle of September. Torrential downpours lasted almost a month straight with a few rain-free days in between. Then came the unseasonal cold fronts that swept through the week of my wedding. Rain was now in the forecast for October 17. I went to work the Monday before my wedding in tears. Luckily I have friends who prayed it wouldn't rain on the 17th. I went on faith that it would not rain, I had too many people praying it wouldn't. Besides, by this time I didn't have any extra money in my budget to rent a tent, so it couldn't rain.
The morning of the wedding it rained. Throughout the day it sprinkled. By this point I knew there was nothing I could do if it did rain so I finally stopped worrying about it. The ceremony was scheduled to start at 6 PM...It never rained another drop after 5 PM. Talk about the power of prayer. Now that doesn't mean October 17th wasn't the coldest October day we've had in years, but I only cared about the rain. Luckily I had the foresight to rent a couple of patio heaters and I ended up with the beautiful garden wedding I had dreamed of.
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