It's no secret that what we want from our wedding day is changing. Thanks in no small part to the pandemic, inquiries for "runaway weddings" have trebled at one UK firm. Meanwhile, intimate micro-weddings are more in vogue than ever before.
Planning any kind of wedding is a huge task because there are so many brilliant options when it comes to flowers, dresses and engagement rings. But one thing it's impossible to know for certain is what the weather will be like on your big day.
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However, this doesn't mean you can't make an educated guess. The folks at Simply Be have created a weather calculator that allows you to find out the chance of rain on your prospective wedding day.
The calculator uses 89 years of official Met Office rainfall data and is region-specific. You simply enter the date you're thinking of and the part of the UK you want to get married in – November 14th in central England, for example – and the calculator will tell you the chance of rain. In this case, it's a not too shabby 42%.
Though April is associated with rainfall – the apocryphal April Showers – Met Office data reveals that it's actually the driest month overall. In Northern Ireland, the date where you're most likely to avoid rain is 18th April, while in Scotland it's 29th April. In England and Wales, the driest day comes a little later on 29th June.
Of course, we all know that British weather is impossible to predict, so it's best to be prepared for all eventualities. "If the forecast hints at an overcast or rainy day, have a choice of umbrellas on standby for yourselves, your wedding party and your guests to grab and cover up at short notice," recommends Olivia Lockey, owner of Northside Farm, a wedding venue in Northumberland. "There are lots of suppliers who you can hire umbrellas from, even matching in with your colour scheme."
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Sensibly, Lockey also points out that it's best not to get too hung on your wedding day weather, adding: "As they say, a wet knot is tighter. And with big dark dramatic clouds, your photographs will look amazing!"