Rain?

It depends how hard its raining. I know I personally wouldn't want to be outside in the rain if there is the option to do it inside. But if the ceremony isn't long then maybe your guest won't mind. Hopefully the rain will just push back until after the ceremony so your day can go as planned

Totally in the same boat as you, my wedding is in 8 days, and the forecast says 50% chance of rain. I know it could change within 8 days, but I'm contemplating if I should just buy those cute clear umbrellas just in case too lol. I chose my venue for the outdoor ceremony space as well, so don't want that to go to waste.

30 minutes (plus the time waiting for the ceremony to begin and the time waiting for the recessional) is too long to ask guests to sit or stand in the rain, no matter how cute the umbrellas are. If you won't compromise on this, I would be prepared for your guests to all wait inside while you get married.

Umbrellas are an idea. However, if it’s raining, you’ll want to ensure that the seats are dry too. But that’s difficult to do because guests arrive at different times. Honestly, as a guest, I’d wait inside until the reception. I’m not getting dressed up just to be out in the rain for a 20 minute ceremony plus waiting time before it begins. Also buying an umbrella for every guest seems unnecessary when there’s an indoor plan B.

We were in a very similar situation! We originally fell in love with our venue because it had a beautiful outdoor space for the ceremony and a gorgeous ballroom for the reception, and this is why we booked it. Then the rain came...Even though our ceremony was very short (less than 20 minutes from start to finish) everything had to be moved indoors. Even if we had provided umbrellas, we didn't feel comfortable asking guests to sit in the rain. It also would have ruined our ceremony decor (we spent way too much money on fresh flowers...) not to mention that our chairs were rented so that would have been an issue as well. We ended up having the ceremony in the ballroom, and then the staff flipped the room during cocktail hour, which was held in a different part of our venue. Later in the evening when it finally stopped raining, our photographer pulled us aside for 15 minutes to finally take some photos outdoors. I will also say that I had the most gigantic plastic dome umbrella you could ever imagine, and the 30-second walk into our venue was enough to get the bottom of my dress dirty and my makeup smudged. I can't imagine what it would have been like to stand outdoors for 20 minutes straight. It's an unfortunate situation, but rain happens, and moving things indoors is always the safer bet. However, I would not make that decision until the day of your wedding. Our ceremony started at 6 pm, and our venue gave us a 'deadline' of 3 pm that day to make the call. Best of luck whatever you decide

If you can rent/set up a tent, you can have your ceremony outside in the rain. Umbrellas aren't enough coverage. Think about when you're walking behind someone with an umbrella, you get extra wet because the water falls off of their umbrella and onto you. That would happen to all of your guests' legs; they'd keep their heads covered, but their pants/bottom part of their dresses would get wet. It is okay to buy some of the clear umbrellas and ask your immediate family and bridal party to have photos taken in the rain before or after the ceremony.