A week ago, we posted a beautiful wedding photo session with Robbie & Rosina in front of the Superstition Mountains. The photos were some of our new favorites, despite the fact that they were shot in the RAIN! We’ve heard from many of you asking how we managed to get beautiful shots of our bride and groom and serve them well in the rain, so today we are laying out our three best pieces of advice on how to make a rainy day shoot successful!
Assure and Reassure
Have you been there too? You are crazy excited for the upcoming photo shoot you have and then get sad and nervous when the day comes and you realize there’s a chance for rain? For us desert dwellers, it doesn’t happen often. Still, Murphy’s Law has proved itself to us more than once: “What can go wrong, will go wrong!” The truth is, when we arrived for the wedding session, we were super bummed about the weather. We love natural light and Arizona sunsets! We love the soft glow of the sun creating rim light on our subjects. Yet as disappointed as we were, we knew that our clients were probably feeling disappointment beyond our own.
These were their wedding photos! She had the gown, bouquet and professional hair and makeup – there were no redos! We knew that in order to have a successful session, we needed to make sure our clients knew that everything would be OK. The moment they arrived we smothered them with compliments. We assured them that cloudy days make for beautiful photos and explained how the clouds act as a huge natural light diffuser in the sky! We let them know that we were prepared to deal with the rain, and that we were 100% all in with them!
We firmly believe that without putting the client first instead of focusing on our own disappointment, the photos would have been a dud. Making sure they knew we were still excited and enthusiastic gave them reassurance that it would all be ok!
Be Prepared
When we saw that rain was in the forecast, we knew we needed to be prepared. Years back we invested in a clear umbrella. It’s the one you see featured in their photos on the blog! It’s cute and petite and since it’s clear it does very little to interfere with the photos. This little umbrella has saved us so many times. More often than not, we don’t need to break it out, but when we do, it’s a lifesaver! Since we knew there was a chance for rain, we made sure to bring the umbrella along for them to use. We also brought one an additional umbrella to walk them to and from the location and use for other purposes, like covering our gear.
Here’s a pro tip that we will take for ourselves next time: invest in rain covers for your camera. They can be found here. Truthfully, we didn’t invest in them because we figured since we live in the desert we would never need them! But oh did we wish we had them that day! Yes, our Canon L series lenses are water resistant, but that doesn’t mean water proof! Luckily we work as a team and Jon was able to hold an umbrella over the camera most of the time. We can’t imagine not being prepared in this situation and shooting solo! We won’t be caught wishing next time!
Deliver an Over the Top Experience
Even though we reassured our clients that everything would be ok. Even though we were prepared to deal with the rain. Let’s be honest. Standing in a wedding gown in an Arizona downpour can get old…fast.
We were so blessed that Robbie and Rosina were both totally game to do whatever it took for their photos! Their positive attitudes and outlook were really what made it all come together. And while we knew that our initial encouragement would reassure them everything would be OK, we wanted it to go beyond that. We wanted it to be GREAT!
We always make a point of giving our clients positive reinforcement as the shoot goes on, but for that day, we knew we needed to take it ‘all the way to eleven!’ We wanted them to have an amazing client experience despite the rain and despite the fact that once in position, there was very little that Rosina could move due to the mud vs. wedding dress fight taking place!
The only way we were able to deliver on the experience was to elevate them in every way possible. Not just with words, but with actions. We walked in the rain as we held umbrellas over their heads. We adjusted the train of her dress on the ground with surgical accuracy to avoid the mud. We showered them with love and compliments. Making an otherwise unpleasant experience a great experience takes intentionality and sacrifice. It takes placing your client’s needs above everything else to make sure that their experience is the best they have ever had.
We are in the people business. Yes, photography is our craft, but our clients are our WHY. Everything we do is with intentionality to positively impact the people we are blessed to work with. That is why it is SO important to put these three pieces of advice into place before you need to use them! Be prepared for rain – it will happen to you at some point, and you want to know your game plan in advance.
We’ll leave you with this. Despite a wedding photo session that most might think was unideal, here was the bride’s reaction to the photos:
“I wan’t expecting the rain to actually make the photos come out good, but they did! And OMG! The umbrella we used was awesome!”
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