Worrying about monsoons??

goodmanr

We are having our wedding at an outdoor, do it yourself kind of venue-- the plan is out outdoor ceremony and there is little back up plan. I had looked at the Farmers Almanac months ago and saw that it hadn't rained on August 11th in Westcliffe (where we are doing the wedding) for the past ten years (ok...last year it rained .01 inches, but we could deal with that!) We just met with the person who is renting us the venue today and he mentioned that monsoon season is about that time of year and most days include an afternoon thunderstorm. That totally freaked me out-- and I don't know how to integrate that info with what I saw in Farmers Almanac. We just moved to Denver this fall so haven't had much of a Colorado summer. For those who have lived here a while, how much do we really have to worry about monsoons? The latest we could have our ceremony start would be about 5:30 pm...can we be fairly confident way monsoon thunderstorm would be over by then, or do they tend to go into the evenings? How long do those summer storms tend to last? Any thoughts greatly appreciated!!!

JetNewman

So... There's good news and bad news. I'm getting married in Denver in late August and am planning an outdoor ceremony, but we have an indoor backup because the idea of getting stuck out in the rain freaks me out. I don't think there's any way to say whether it will rain or not, though personally I think May/June gets more rain than August. So having a good backup plan is always a good idea!

That being said, thunderstorms don't last very long here...usually. Worst case scenario, you might have to move the ceremony a bit to avoid showers. I've also seen some *lovely* pictures of weddings caught in the rain. I'm sure it feels like a bit of a bummer at the time, but those pics are seriously beautiful and capture a kind of love/emotion that sunny/perfect pics don't always catch. There are some companies that will even rent umbrellas in case of rain--I think this is a great idea if the forecast is calling for the possibility of rain as you get closer to your wedding date.

Good luck!

JetNewman

Oh and I just looked up where Westcliffe is--you might want to post in the "Colorado" forum as well because I am less familiar with weather in southern Colorado. But I think all of the things I said are generally true for Colorado weather.

sakana1840

august should be good to go!

we usually have our big thunderstorms in may/june/july

august can be muggy

monsoons though? huh...it doesn't rain that much here...

goodmanr

Thanks all-- that info helps!  I will hope that you are right, sakana, and that rain will be mostly out of Colorado's system by August!  I can deal with a little muggy

We talked with our photographers (who are our only non-guests who will be at the wedding) and they said they are totally flexible with timing, so if we see a thunderstorm is brewing when we had planned to do our ceremony they can be pushed earlier/later on a day's notice.  I should be done with hair/makeup by 1:30 pm (CO springs where I'll be getting it done is 1.5 hours away, so 1:30 pm is the earliest I could make it back), so it looks like we should be able to adjust any time after that.  Fingers crossed!!