Deciding Whether to Have an Indoor or Outdoor Wedding

There is a moment when you start to plan a wedding where the sheer magnitude of the situation will wreak havoc on your brain. The overwhelming feeling will hit you around the time when you realize that besides finding the perfect flowers, the best photography, and the most flattering wedding dress, you also have to pick table clothes, music, wedding favors, wine and even what type of salad your guests are going to eat. This is the moment where it's a nice time to leave the room, walk outside and take a deep breath. It's impossible to plan everything at once, so it's best to start at the beginning. The first question to tackle is an easy one, one so easy that most will probably forget that it's the first step. This question is: are you going to have an indoor or an outdoor wedding. After that question is answered, everything else can begin to be tackled.

There are both positives and negatives to having both indoor and outdoor weddings. Each choice offers its own sets of variables to consider. Sure, the weather is easier to control indoors, but there is nothing like a soft spring breeze wafting through your dress during the ceremony. There are, of course, a few things to consider before making deciding whether to have an outdoor ceremony.

First thing, if you're going to have your wedding outdoors where do you want to have it? There is a difference between having a wedding in a garden then having one on a cliff beside an ocean, namely wind and insects. Make sure you ask around; see what people have to say about other weddings they've attended. If they absolutely hated an ocean side wedding then you might want to reconsider it. If they were annoyed by bugs at a garden wedding then that might be something to also take into consideration.

Weather is always one of the key factors to an outdoor wedding. If you live in a climate that is usually warm and sunny (I'm looking at you California) then you should have no problem having an outdoor wedding in July. But then again, freak storms do happen, so does your location have contingency plans? If you live in a rainy/ stormy climate your only option may be indoors (unless you really, really like the snow).What about food? Can the outdoor location accommodate mobile kitchens so that the (party) be at the same location? Or is it easier to just have both indoors.
This is not to deter you from attempting to have an outdoor wedding. The upsides can be amazing. The views, the breeze, and the lighting are all amazing. It's all about finding a place the works best for you, may it be indoors or out.

Author Kimberly Green had the most fun choosing the wedding favors for her best friend's wedding.