Rain, Rain, Go Away
I know that people think it's so beautiful to get married outside, but I have to say the one thing that you can NOT control on your big day is the weather.
I absolutely HATE playing outdoor weddings. Maybe I should just make a rule that we won't do them unless it's in one of those enormous tent thingies or under a shelter (with a complete roof).
Not only is sprinkling a big problem, but direct sunshine on instrument varnish is bad as well. I was checking the forecast all week, and it was supposed to be way too hot on Saturday, but no rain was scheduled.
We played an indoor wedding in a church yesterday early afternoon (2:00) and were scheduled to play in an outdoor botanical garden at 5:00. As I was driving to the 2:00 it was sprinkling out. That freaked me out and I had to check the news, rain WAS indeed on the agenda.
Of course it begins to POUR outside while we are at the 2nd location, around 4:30. I turned into a bit of a bitch at this moment. The parents, the bride, the groom, the attendants and some of the guests ALL thought we could wait it out, delay the start and still have the whole shebang outside.
The problem isn't me, it's my group's equipment. We have over $20,000 of varnished hard wood instruments. We simply can NOT be outside if there are sprinkles. Not even just rain, but sprinkles.
There was this stupid arbor/awning thing for us to be under, but it had a few boards over us, it was NOT a roof. Rain came through this thing.
The alternate indoor location was a solid wall of windows facing the garden. I liked it.
In the end, our start time was delayed by about 45 minutes and we did play outside. Finally, towards the mid ceremony, it got super hot and sunny too.
Our gig last Saturday included rain (while playing on a rooftop) as well. I just wish people would pick fabulous indoor locations.
I repeat, I personally would NEVER get married outside. Too many variables that no person can control.
Oh yeah, when we got to the garden wedding I said to the groom's father, "I hope the rain holds off" (which it didn't). When it did begin to rain, he outted me in front of everyone by pointing at me and saying, "It's HER fault!"
Dude, if I could control the weather, I'd be rich and somewhere else, not playing your wedding for a hundred bucks!
posted by Phaedra @ 9:21 AM
7 Comments:
Why is it that every single wedding has to have some element of drama?
The Onion said it best: Wedding Enjoyed By No One But Bride.
;-)
"It's HER fault!" Hah.
Don't worry, I'm not getting married outside. You could not PAY me enough to get married in a big heavy dress outside in the sun or the rain or the snow or the wind. There are about 1 or 2 days per year which I think have perfect weather: when it's partly cloudy, about 70, and slightly breezy.
BTW, let me know how Hymne went.
You should put something in your contract about rain. I did a gig 2 yrs ago, playing with the Chamber Orch concerts on the square, backing up Gerri DiMaggio, and it looked like rain... the minute there was even a speck of rain, the concertmaster stopped playing(mid tune) and all the strings took her cue, and put their fiddles under cover... we all kept playing, Sewell kept conducting, and we finished the tune with just the trio.
I do have it in the contract that we can not play outside in the rain.
Still, I'd rather not be put in a situation where it's raining, or obviously WILL rain and they still want to event outside. Which means if it does rain, we're going to pack it up and go inside.
That's exactly what happened last week Saturday, and I just HATE those gigs!
Musevia,
The Hymne was FABULOUS! We only used like the first 4 lines or something, but we will play this one again (add it to the repertoire).
Also, everyone at that gig was asking me for business cards! Hopefully, more gigs on the horizon!
*subliminal message, move home, move home*
WOOHOO! Success. I figured if nothing else it has ZILLIONS of places to stop and ZILLIONS of possible repeats. Hah.
I do make typos though, let me know if you find any. I usually catch them when I listen to the audio, but sometimes they sneak by (especially in the viola part).
Oh yeah, and you've got at least one gig on the horizon (mine). Can't tell you when yet.
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