How To Plan A Wedding in South Louisiana

So you've decided to get married in South Louisiana!!

First of all, Congratulations!

What an exciting time for you and your fiance'. Wedding planning is such an exhilarating experience. Months and months of planning for your big day. Day dreaming of all of the pieces falling into place. All of you effort will show. Every ounce of energy put into planning will be worth it!!! There are a few things you should take into consideration while trying to plan a wedding in South Louisiana.

Decide on the best time of the year

South Louisiana definitely has a busy wedding season. For me it is usually February to April and October to December. My shoulder season months are January, May, and September. South Louisiana has a short lived fall and winter season, while spring and summer always seem to take up most of the year. Summer is definitely hot with a lot of humidity and then you have to add hurricane season to that mixture.

While planning your wedding, keep things like holidays, football season, hurricane season in mind. Each season brings its own pros and cons, you just need to decide on what is best for you as a couple!

Matthew and I were married this past December. There were a lot of factors that led up to our decision on a December wedding. I work full time on top of my photography business at an accounting firm, so first and foremost tax season was off limits for us getting married. We got engaged in April and knew we wanted to get married in a cooler time of the year and I didn't want to wait another year and a half before actually getting married.

How to handle unexpected weather conditions the week of your wedding

Unexpected weather may happen. This past July, Matthew and I attended a friends wedding that I helped shoot the ceremony for. A week before their wedding the weather channel started talking about a tropical disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico. The disturbance ended up being a Category 1 hurricane once it hit land. They were unsure if they would have the ceremony inside or outside, and actually made a decision an hour before that they were going to get married outside. Some of their guests weren't able to come to their wedding because you just can't determine how bad the storm will get.

If you find yourself in a similar situation don't forget that you have options. Most venues have a plan B just in case of unexpected weather. If you are determined to get married and have your reception outside, you can always rent a tent. If it's cold weather, you could rent propane heaters and give throw blankets as wedding favors. I told Matthew while we were planning that even if it rained I wanted to get married outside. We talked about eloping, but I just couldn't let his grandparents not be there. No matter how much they said they didn't care if we eloped.