Top Tips for a COOL wedding on a HOT day
So, you’re having a summer, outdoor wedding and you have your fingers crossed for blue skies and a cool, slight breeze. You want your wedding to be memorable for all the right reasons. If you and your guests are comfortable, the occasion is remembered for the emotion, the experience of love and magic, however, if you and your guests are uncomfortable, hot, thirsty, wanting to leave this isn’t ideal! Here are our top tips for a cool ceremony on a hot day!
BE HONEST ABOUT THE CEREMONY START TIME
State the correct time that your ceremony is due to start on your invitation. Guests start arriving at weddings a half hour early and most are settled and in place at least 15 minutes before the stated starting time. Stating an earlier time on your invite to make sure your guests are early can backfire as leaving your guests waiting in the heat can dampen the mood and tire out your party goers! If you anticipate an issue with parking or directions; mention it on the invite to give everyone the heads up to take a little extra time to find the location.
WATER STATION
Have a water station for your guests as most of them will be here for around an hour, sometimes longer, you can be as simple or fancy as you like, the easiest option is to ask your stylist to organise this for you.
You can be as simple or fancy as you like, from delegating friends to bring along an esky (chilly bin) with ice and bottles of water from the supermarket; to fancy stands with metal tubs holding cool lemonades, waters and juices (you can even create personalised labels) … or have a pop-up bar serving drinks.
Make sure your water station is set up BEFORE your guests arrive.
It’s always wise to over-cater water, you can always re-use any unopened bottles and that would be a much better situation than running out.
The easiest way to make sure your drink station set up looks slick and is catered for correctly is to have your ceremony stylist company include it in their package.
Another nice touch is to make sure you have a cool drink for the bride and groom at the signing table.
Usually ceremonies held at seasoned wedding ceremony venues will offer this as an inclusion to your ceremony package however if you’ve booked a beach or garden, put this on your to do list.
Check out the home-made drinks station pictured here and also, a gorgeous lemonade and lime drink station by Cloud Nine Weddings and Events
SHADE FOR GUESTS
If your ceremony location doesn’t naturally offer shade remember that you would never go to the beach in a suit or formal dress and happily stand out in the summer sun for an hour. At least, provide your guests with parasols as they can be bought cheaply and re-sold after the event or hired for a small fee and you will find that they are priceless on the big day.
SHADE FOR YOU
If you’re on the beach or open park, think about a covered 4 post arbour to shade you and ensure you stay cool you and won’t be squinting in all your ceremony photos. Having even light or shade is what your photographer will be hoping for rather than dappled light through trees. Keep the direction of the sun in mind when organising the set-up position so you are actually in shade. It may sound silly to mention, but also make sure your arbour has a cover (roof) on it and it’s not just four posts and a decoration or two. Another great option is a large white market umbrella which can look quite nice but is not great on windy days.
FANS
These can be gorgeous, one on each seat and handed out to guests as they arrive. They will keep your guests cool and if you’re a ‘craft’ person you can create a fun ‘order of service’ or poem/message on a piece of card and create a fan from these and you’ll see tonnes of these on pinterest.
INSECTS
Be smitten, not bitten! If your ceremony is in a park and later in the afternoon, pop out some insect repellent for guests and make sure the bride and bridesmaids put repellent on their feet and legs.
Also, make sure groom and groomsmen put on sunscreen! They are going to be out in the elements for over an hour and you don’t want them to get burnt!
A REALLY REALLY COOL TREAT?
How about arranging a vintage ice-cream van to visit after your ceremony?
THE COOLEST TRANSPORT!
When organising your wedding transport, it’s a good idea to find out if there is air-conditioning if this is something that is important to you. Many older vintage cars won’t have air-conditioning as standard.
Most chauffeurs will be more than happy to open your bottle of bubbles and usually have a picnic hamper option for your photo escapade after the ceremony, but it is best to check that they allow drinks to be consumed inside the vehicle.
With seating for 8 of your wedding party, an esky with ice, napkins and champagne flutes a favourite for hot beach weddings are the funky Deluxe Kombi Vans. To cool you down all you need to do is open up the sunroof, flip up the windscreen, crack open the champers and head to beach, but behave because it’ll all be captured on GoPro!
Written by Celebrant Suzanne Riley
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