Wedding in the Rain at Fynbos Golf Club, Eerste Rivier
Quick answer
What happens if it rains on a beach wedding?
The ceremony moves inside, and the beach photos either get shorter or move to another day. At Chanty and Conrad's wedding a storm worked its way up the coast from the Cape, so the planned beach ceremony moved into the chapel at Fynbos Golf Club. The bridesmaids and the wedding stylist brought the beach indoors with sand down the aisle and driftwood around the altar. The bridal party still put on brave faces for a quick shoot on the beach. Then, after the worst of the storm passed overnight, we met the couple early the next morning for a next-day shoot. If you're planning a beach ceremony on the Eastern Cape coast, ask your venue what the indoor option looks like, and keep the morning after free just in case.
This wedding has to go down as the rainiest, windiest wedding we’ve ever photographed. This fact is pretty significant as we lived in the UK and shot weddings there for 8 years and then overseas for 2.5 years (including navigating hurricane season!). It took a weather system working its way up from the infamous Cape of Storms to say – hold my beer!
Chanty and Conrad took the day in their stride and didn’t let the adverse weather (that’s the understatement of the year) affect their mood or spoil the special day. The planned beach ceremony got moved indoors and with some creative flair and quick thinking from the bridesmaids and wedding stylist, the beach was brought indoors to the chapel. Sand lined the aisle and driftwood flanked the altar.
Due to the restrictions imposed over the past year and a half the wedding date had already been shifted a few times and they do say that rain on your wedding day is good luck, so that will be plentiful for sure.
The bridal party put their brave faces on for a quick shoot on the beach and we met the couple early the following morning for a next day shoot once the brunt of the storm had passed us overnight.
Congrats to Chanty & Conrad and well done for being such troopers on the day!
Venue: Fynbos Golf Club, Eerste Rivier
Frequently asked questions
Is rain on your wedding day good luck?
So the saying goes. Chanty and Conrad had already moved their date a few times because of the restrictions of 2020 and 2021, so if rain brings luck, they got plenty of it.
What is a next-day wedding shoot?
A relaxed portrait session with the couple the day after the wedding, usually in their wedding clothes. We first offered them during our UK years. Here it gave Chanty and Conrad the beach portraits the storm had cut short.
Where is Fynbos Golf Club?
In Eerste Rivier (often written Eersterivier) on the coast of the Eastern Cape, not Eerste River near Cape Town. It's the venue credited in this post.
