In What Season Should You Have Your Wedding?
As time goes on, weddings become more unique and individual to each and every couple. One constant though is that there is an unavoidable amount of planning that goes into crafting your ideal wedding day. Creating the timeline of your day, deciding on a venue, choosing a photographer, and deciding if you need a second photographer are just a few of the different areas of planning you’ll have to consider. Today we’re here to cover another important area of the wedding planning process, which is deciding on the right season for your wedding. Much like every other aspect of wedding planning, this is a decision that rests heavily on your preferences as a couple, so let’s talk about what each season brings to the table!
What Season is Best for Your Wedding?
As a wedding photographer in Rockford, Illinois I’ve had the pleasure of documenting gorgeous wedding days in every season. One thing I can say for certain from these experiences is that you can create a spectacular wedding day no matter the season. With that in mind let’s go over the different pros and cons of each season as well as the unique experiences they provide to see which appeals to you the most as a couple.
Summer
Pros
First up we have the classic summer wedding! Summer is one of the most popular seasons for weddings, especially here in Rockford, Illinois, and for good reason. The summer months bring the most consistent weather to the Midwest, an area that is known for being unpredictable in terms of temperatures and weather conditions. This consistent weather means that you’ll be able to enjoy more time outside during your wedding day, whether you have an outdoor wedding venue or are just looking to take your portraits outside. If you do plan on having your wedding at an outdoor / semi-outdoor venue you’ll be able to truly enjoy the natural beauty of the lush greenery.
Cons
The largest negative aspect of a summer wedding is a result of the popularity of the season itself. Due to the higher demand for summer weddings, booking your team of vendors is a task you’ll have to be on top of much earlier. Venues and Vendors typically book out their most popular dates a year in advance if not even earlier, and some venues even have higher pricing for these popular dates.
Another downside of the season is that you can experience some pretty extreme levels of heat for your wedding, especially here in Rockford, Illinois. While inclement weather isn’t quite as common during the summer as some of the other months, it still is very much a possibility. With that in mind you’ll want to make sure you choose a venue that has some sort of back up plan in place in case you end up having a total downpour on your wedding day.
Fall
Pros
Next up is the fall, which is the other incredibly popular season for weddings both here in Rockford, Illinois and around many other parts of the US. This popularity is due to a number of factors, first being the incredible beauty of the season. The undeniable wonder of the fall colors gives your wedding an astounding setting that can be truly breathtaking. Another draw are the generally cooler temperatures of the fall which makes any time you spend outdoors much more enjoyable, as long as the temps don’t dip too far.
Cons
While the fall has plenty of positives to the season, there are of course a fair share of drawbacks to it as well. Much like the summer, the fact that fall is one of the busier seasons means that you’ll have to book your vendors and venue much earlier than some other seasons. Another thing to keep in mind is that while temperatures are generally on the cooler side, they do become a bit more unpredictable in the fall. Some days can be warmer and nearly feel like a hot summer day, others can bring heavy snowfalls and frigid temperatures to your wedding day. With this level of variety it’s incredibly important to have a backup plan in terms of an indoor/covered space for your wedding celebrations.
Winter
Pros
Our next season we’ll be looking at is of course winter, one of the most underrated seasons for a wedding in my opinion! Rockford, Illinois often becomes a true winter wonderland this time of year, which can be a ton of fun to work with on the day of your wedding. A fresh snowfall can make your wedding portraits feel truly magical, as long as you’re willing to brave the elements a bit for some outdoor photos. The colder temperatures do mean that your venue choices are limited to indoor spaces, but luckily there are a TON of stylish and unique indoor venues, like The Pavilion at Orchard Ridge Farms, that are perfect for these occasions. The winter isn’t quite as busy as the summer or fall seasons, meaning it’s easier and in some cases less expensive to book your vendors.
Cons
The first major issue that comes with a winter wedding is a pretty obvious one, and that is the lower average temperatures of the season. Winters in Illinois can get incredibly cold, sometimes dangerously so. This makes taking outdoor photos a bit more of a challenge to accomplish. There’s more to the weather than just the cold temperatures though. Extreme snow storms can dramatically impact the travel times of your wedding day, causing huge delays in your wedding day timeline or making it so that certain guests are late or forced to miss the day altogether. On the flipside, there are some years where snowfall is minimal or completely non-existent which takes away one of the largest draws to having a winter wedding in the first place.
Spring
Pros
Last, but certainly not least, we have the spring months! Spring is a fantastic season to have your wedding in Rockford, Illinois for a few reasons. The first is that you get to enjoy the atmosphere of the world excitedly coming back to life after the long months of winter. Trees begin to bloom, flowers begin to sprout, and the birds sing with joy as the warmer temperatures return.
The weather is a bit all over the place during the spring, and while this is definitely a drawback to the season it also means that it’s a less popular season when it comes to weddings. Just like the winter months, this means less competition and stress when booking your vendors and your venue. While you’ll definitely want to plan and be on the lookout for inclement weather, a spring wedding means you’re very likely to have some time throughout your day for some outdoor portraits taking in ALL the beauty of the season.
Cons
The largest drawback of the spring is something we’ve already somewhat discussed, and that is the unpredictable nature of the weather during these months. While it is a beautiful time of year as you get to witness everything bloom, that beauty comes at a cost, namely the rain. Spring weddings are often subject to complications from the rain, whether you experience rain on the wedding day itself or you’re forced to deal with potentially muddy landscapes from a rain shower the previous day. This of course isn’t the end of the world, as the rain can add a layer of emotion to your wedding portraits that make them feel like something straight out of an award winning indie film. It’s something you’ll have to be prepared for, which is why I always suggest having a covered space for any and every wedding in the spring, just in case!
Other Things to Consider
While we now know the pros and cons of having your wedding during each of the four seasons, there are still a couple things you’ll want to consider when making your decision, first being your venue itself.
Venue Choices
As mentioned throughout the article, choosing a venue that will best serve your wedding during the season of your choice is a factor you have to take into consideration. I always recommend my couples, regardless of season, choose a venue that has multiple spaces available for you to use on the day of your wedding. Ideally you’ll want a venue with both an indoor and outdoor space, or at least a covered outdoor space if an indoor space is unavailable. No matter the season, you never know what the weather will be like on the day of your wedding, and the last thing you want is to be trapped outside in the rain with no backup plan in place. If you are set on a specific venue and they have no option in the case of inclement weather I strongly suggest you consider booking a backup indoor location.
Outdoor/Sunset Portraits
Sunset portraits are some of the most stunning and often most cherished portrait photos from your wedding day, and the season you have your wedding in dramatically affects the timing of these portraits. Here’s an example:
Here in Rockford our Sunset is around 5:30pm in November. If your wedding has a time constraint like an hour long church ceremony that starts at 4pm you’re then going to be hard pressed to fit any sunset portraits into your timeline.
Time constraints like this often affect winter, late fall, and early spring weddings the most as the days are significantly shorter than the rest of the year. Depending on the importance of sunset portraits to you and your partner, this can be a make or break factor in your decision on what season to have your wedding in. As a general rule of thumb, the longer the day is the more flexibility you have when it comes to portrait photos and your timeline in general, so take that into consideration when deciding on your wedding season.
The Look and Feel You Want
The final point I want to make is that there is no one-size-fits-all answer for what season is best for a wedding. As we’ve discussed there are positives and negatives to each season of the year, so the most important thing to remember is to plan your wedding day around its most important part, YOU. You are the heart and soul of your wedding day. You two are the reason this celebration is happening in the first place. As such, you should build the wedding day that you want in each and every sense of the word. What do you want the day to look and feel like? Who do you want to be present? What do you want the setting of one of the best days of your lives to be?
It’s something only you’ll be able to answer, and my hope is that this article has helped to narrow down that answer for you! For more wedding planning resources be sure to check out some of the other articles linked in the opening paragraph, and if you’re ready to book with Forest City Photographs for your wedding day be sure to send an inquiry through our contact page!
