Rain on the day of an event is not a disaster. Rain with no plan is. When an outdoor reception, arrival or group photo is part of your programme, the photographs depend less on the weather than on whether everyone knows what happens if it turns.

Decide the trigger in advance

Agree who calls it and when — for example, “if it is raining at 16:00, drinks move to the lobby bar”. A clear trigger stops the worst case: forty minutes of guests huddled under a narrow canopy while nobody decides.

Pick the indoor space with light in mind

Given the choice, the room with daylight or warm, even lighting beats the room with low ceilings and mixed fluorescent tubes. If you are not sure, tell us the options and we will look at them before the day.

Keep one outdoor shot

A light shower is often the best moment for one picture — umbrellas, wet cobbles reflecting the street lights, a venue facade in the evening. It takes two minutes, it is honest, and it is often the image people remember. We will ask for it only if it is safe and quick.

What we need from you

• Which items are outdoors and their indoor alternative.
• Who decides, and by what time.
• Whether the group photo moves indoors or is dropped.

Tell your guests, too

A plan B only works if guests know about it. A line in the morning briefing or a sign at the door — “in case of rain, drinks are served in the lobby bar” — saves the awkward minutes when people wander between two locations. Those minutes are also the ones that produce the least useful photographs of the day.

Protect the equipment, not just the people

A professional photographer keeps working through a shower with rain covers and covered positions, so the coverage does not stop. What helps is small: a dry corner near the outdoor area where camera bags can stay, and a few minutes’ notice before a planned move indoors.

That is all. Everything else we handle on the day. More planning notes are in our FAQ.