Plan B

The main concern with a Northern California wedding in the early spring is the weather. Seeing as Mr. SB & I are very inspired by the natural beauty of the area and hope to have the ceremony outside, this is an extra big concern. At each place we visited, I made sure to go over (very specifically) what the Plan B would be.

Our Ceremony Plan A. On the beautiful winery lawn, under the setting sun.

Our winery also has a beautiful fountain courtyard which, sadly, we won't be using for the reception. Way too risky weather & temperature-wise.

I was pretty sure tents were out of our budget. And I only like the look of really fancy tents (fancy lighting, flooring, etc., not just a covering over your tables or chairs), which I *KNEW* was out of our budget.

So I asked the site director what she suggested. The room that I already had planned to have the reception in has a beautiful fireplace at one end, flanked by tall doors that look out on a balcony and stunning view of the area. Even in bad weather, I'm sure the view is gorgeous.

All pictures from Nicholson Ranch.

She explained to use that we could set up for the ceremony in here (sans tables), sweep the guests off to the wine caves for the cocktail hour while the caterers flip the room, and then we'd come back up to a fully re-decorated room for dinner. We were a little nervous about asking the caterer to do such an important (and quick) turn over. But she highly recommended a local company and when we met with them, they assured us that they were very familiar with the site and had done the flip before and it would be no problem. So, with a deep breath and fingers crossed for good weather... we signed up for both the site.. & the caterer!!

Image source.

Side note: the site director told us that last year, only three weddings were rained on... and two ended up with rainbows. What a nice bright side.

What back up plans were an important part of your wedding plans?