We Froze to Death

Weather doesn’t ask permission to crash a wedding, and that’s exactly why we’re talking about it. From a four-degree ceremony on Mount Penn to a triple-digit barn field with no shade, I’m sharing the real stories and the hard-won strategies that keep ceremonies meaningful without risking your health. If you’ve ever wondered how pros decide when to shorten vows, skip a unity ritual, or move locations on the fly, you’ll learn the cues I use, the policies I’ve added, and the gear that saves the day when the forecast goes sideways.

I walk through the moment I slashed a ten-minute script to four as wind chill dove below zero, and how that day reshaped my contracts with a winter weather fee and a safety-first right to speed things up. On the other extreme, we break down heat management for outdoor weddings: shade priorities, hydration plans, attire choices that won’t knock the groom flat, and my subtle “wind it up” signal that lands a ceremony within three minutes without feeling rushed. We also get honest about wind and rain—their photo magic and their logistical chaos—and what actually works when pages fly, veils lift, and lawns turn to soup.

You’ll leave with a practical weather ladder: Plan A for ideal, Plan B for rain, Plan C for extremes. We cover blankets, parasols, clear umbrellas, indoor backups, timeline buffers for icy roads, and when to cut to the legal essentials so your people stay safe. Plus, a preview of our upcoming guest, Jocelyn from Danny May Photography, and a quick look at holiday bookings and our year-in-review milestones. If you’re planning an outdoor ceremony or you work weddings, this is a must-listen guide to weatherproofing your “I do” without losing the magic.

If you enjoyed this, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review to help more couples plan smarter. Got a wild weather story or a question you want answered next? Send it our way—we’d love to feature it.

Chapters

• 0:04 Welcome And Today’s Theme
• 0:36 Outdoor Winter Wedding From Hell
• 3:35 The Mount Penn Popsicle Ceremony
• 6:40 Contracts, Fees, And Safety Clauses
• 8:28 Beating The Summer Heat
• 11:42 The Wind And The Rain Curveballs
• 13:46 Practical Weather Prep For Couples
• 16:49 Upcoming Guest And Holiday Plans
• 19:40 Thank Yous, CTA, And Where To Follow

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:04

Welcome to the Wedding Ware with officiating by Amanda. The Wedding Wear We Froze to Death. Hello, hello. Welcome back to the Wedding Wear podcast where we listen, we don't judge, sometimes we freeze our butts off, but it's all things wedding related. My name's Amanda, and I've been an officiant for 11 years. And today we're going to talk all about the elements in an episode where we froze to death. Okay, maybe a slight exaggeration, but only slightly. And I say this coming fresh off of an outdoor winter wedding in six inches of snow. Northeast Pennsylvania is currently covered in snow, and my front steps look like a winter obstacle course. I think it's perfect timing to talk about weddings in the elements: rain, snow, scorching sun, wind, things Mother Nature just loves to throw at us on wedding days. And I'm gonna fill you all in on a little secret, okay? I am human. I know. I try to pretend like I'm superhuman, running around all the weddings, keeping house, my job, my life, my friends. But I am human, which means I freeze just like anybody else. So if you are a bride planning your wedding and go, oh, it's gonna be cold outside for me, yeah, it's also gonna be cold outside for me and anyone else in your wedding who has to stand outside. I sweat like anyone else. And there have been times where I've done weddings and did a sniff and gosh, really hoped that no one else could smell me. I have done weddings and become sunburnt and soaked and wind whipped and frozen and nearly melted, all in the name of your love. So let's talk about the wedding that inspired this episode. The first wedding where truly out in the elements and in nature, I genuinely thought, and this is how I die, this is where it ends. I am a popsicle. So a few years back, I got a request for a February wedding at the top of Mount Penn in Reading, Pennsylvania, which was really close to my house and where I was living. And usually February is pretty slow for business. Couples don't typically say, Oh, what sounds romantic? Let's stand outside on a mountain in Pennsylvania in February. And given that my schedule was very, very open, when the couple reached out, I said yes. I did not think twice. I not not even once. Not for one second. Did my beautiful blonde brain go, ooh, February, cold. Ooh, mountain windy. Ooh, winter, ice, and hard time traveling. Nope. I said sure thing. It'll be$200 for the elotement package. Tell me a time and I'll meet you on that mountain. Fast forward to the wedding day. It was four degrees. Four. F-O-U-R-4. Single digit. But that wasn't even the real feel. The wind chill pushed it into the negatives because Mother Nature loves a curveball. But wait, there's more. There was fresh snow on the ground, which made getting up the mountain. If you've never been to Mount Penn, highly recommend you try it out. It's it's a tough, tough drive. There are times I don't. I didn't think my car would be able to get up there. And I had my old car at the time, my volvo. Good old Brunhilde. Going up the steep hill to the top of Mount Penn, it was like playing Mario Kart on ice level. It was rough. So when I get there, I'm bundled up like the Michelin man. And I was in my car waiting until start time. But then I'm a punctual patty. Okay. Like if it's time to start, especially on a cold day like that, we're starting. And I see the couple and they definitely are not dressed for the weather. So all the more reason that we're gonna make this happen, make this happen quick. I get out of my car, I go up and I'm like, hey, are we ready to go? Nope. Nope. There is a car full of bridesmaids who were driving and got lost on the mountain. The mountain that's icy and snowy and curvy and windy. And this was back in the day before I had clauses about how long I wait and who I wait for and under which conditions I wait. But I waited and the couple waited. And we were popsicles. And I took every excuse I could to go back near the car to the car. As I said, it was an older car. So she wasn't really good at the start and run for two minutes and then turn her off and then start and run for two minutes. So I just would go sit in to suck up whatever bit of warmth I could on the negative feeling day. Signed all the paperwork, even typed up the review, the please submit a review email, got that scheduled. We waited. I could feel my hair freezing. And it was dry hair too, but that's how cold it was. That 10-minute ceremony I had prepared, absolutely not. Absolutely not. Not with the wind whipping. Nope, noop noob, noop noop. I cut that down to four minutes. As soon as bridesmaid got there, I was like, cool, we're doing this. We started off. It was like love, marriage, forever, happiness. Do you, do you, yep, do you? Do you have rings? Are your hands frozen enough that you can just slide the ring on and not feel anything? I probably could have gotten it down to three minutes, but I felt bad because they were also out here on the cold wanting to make it happen. And that was the day I decided to add a um a winter weather fee. So any weddings happening between November 15th and March 15th have an additional charge in that more so covers the additional time I need to take on the roads. It's an addition to the travel fee. It is not quite a you've got me outdoors in the cold, though I did just do one. And now I'm thinking I'm gonna have to rewrite that clause. And it is for travel and an additional clause for outdoor weddings in the extremes. But and that I think was one of the first weddings where I ever enacted like the I reserve the right to wrap this up, speed this up, should elements not be in our favor. It's not even a written clause, I think, in my contract. I really should write it in. But it's more of a the gut feeling, you know, like the storm clouds come overhead, you hear that crack of lightning, and you know, we gotta get done with this wedding in the next two minutes, or we're gonna get poured on. It is the groom looks like he's about to faint in the sun, and we're gonna need to wrap this up. So that was the first wedding. I definitely know that I did it for. Like there was not 10 minutes of content, not at all. Since then, I've done a lot more winter weddings, and some are beautiful and cozy. Some are indoors with just views of the winter. I like those the best. Those, those are my favorite. But there are others where I have seriously questioned my life choices and how much I want to keep doing this work. But if you think winter's rough, let's talk about the other end of the spectrum. The sweet, sweet, sweaty, sweaty heat. Picture it. Summer. Triple digit weather, not a breeze in sight, outdoor ceremony, no trees, under the basking sun in a field. Because you're at a barn, your reception's gonna be in the barn, but your ceremony that's outside. Just just the fields. I'm standing there in front of the wedding party in an appropriate officiating outfit, which means that it's probably not the most breathable, but it's, you know, it's knee length or T-length. I don't like my arms or my shoulders a lot, so I'm still having like a cap sleeve. You won't find me strapless or tank toppy. And I'm I know I've got it bad, but then I look over at the poor, poor groom. Full suit, tie, tux, all of it, all of them, sweating, like they are mere seconds from the Olympics. Any shady spot that could be found, it's gone to the grandparents, which is very, very fair. But that means the rest of us are roasting like rotisserie chickens. And for every second that they keep us down there before sending that beautiful bride down feels like an eternity in hell. There was a wedding where I had whole conversations in my head, wondering which would happen first. Of the, is the groom gonna pass out? Is the bride's makeup going to melt off? Where I don't know if she's crying or just molting. They want to do a wine unity. How are they possibly going to drink wine from their unity without immediately spitting it out? Because it's pretty much hot, hot tea at this point. And as I'm going through all of these options in my head, I see a little movement by the groom. It almost looks like when you're winding like a tape. Back in the day, you stick your finger and you kind of give it that little quarter turn or you try to turn as much as you can, but you just do a little quarter turn. And I'm like, oh, thank goodness I taught this couple the wind it up signal. That is very real. It's a real technique. I developed it. And any couple that I have with an outdoor wedding winter or summer, I teach it to. And I let them know that when they do that, I will have the ceremony wrapped up, no matter how much more they have to go, within three minutes. So if you had a unity, we might be skipping it. If, you know, I'm just going to get down to the legal parts that we still need to do as quickly as I can and not making it seem like I'm rushing it. I'm going to make everyone else feel like this is exactly what was planned. But thank you so much for giving me that cue that says, we are dying, wrap it up. And I am the most efficient NASCAR pit crew when it comes to that. I move things along immediately because sweating is one thing. But passing out during your vows, that would be a whole other wedding wear story. Other elements. There's the wind. The wind that looks so ethereal in photos and yet is chaotic in life. Veils blown off and away, dresses that lift up, like old Hollywood movies, especially bridesmates with flits. Yep, yep, it goes like that. Scripts of mine that flap so violently that I am holding everything down. Wind that is so loud that I can't speak. Like the words I know are not projecting out. They're just getting whipped away. There have been days where I've had to brace myself, yell very loudly to project. Wind has no mercy, especially if and when it is coupled with rain. The rain that just pours. It transforms any plans. Oh, photo locations become swamps. Couples really, really have to pivot and figure out if they're gonna laugh about this or if they're gonna cry about this. Sometimes the guests are under umbrellas. Sometimes they stand up and they go under a shady spot, which then ruins any thought of we want pictures of everyone sitting at the ceremony. Yeah, no, not happening in the rain. I had one wedding where in the span of seven minutes, I went from completely dry to soaked. Soaked. I had a time where my I used to print off my scripts and it rained so bad and so quick that I I couldn't even hold the paper anymore. So I'm like, let me just let me just free ball this and go for it. Being an efficient in the rain, you know, if I had to take any of the weather situations, it's that. Because the other ones, I'm just a no. Like the hot, the cold, the wind. Yeah, I'll I'll take the rain. I will pick the rain. Weather happens. So if there's any advice I can give from the takeaway, wedding weather is unpredictable. It does not care about your wedding or your timeline. Wedding does not RSVP. You should hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. Make some backup plans. Think about what you would do in these weather scenarios. And just the most common ones. Like, I don't need you to plan for a hurricane. Like that's the wrath of God. I want you thinking about cold. And if it's too cold, especially for the elderly, bridal party members, people that have to stand there and can't be nestled under blankets, people that have to look nice for pictures and can't be putting on jackets, the heat. I'm not recommending that grooms get married in like cut-off shirts, but maybe something can be done that they aren't in a five-piece tuxedo. Just saying. The wind, any sort of interruption of any sort. The rain, the snow, active snowing or recent snowing, humidity, sticky swamp butt and mess. As you think about your wedding, if any of these could apply, I beg you to have a plan. Or, in the words of friends, at least a plot. Have umbrellas or blankets. You can sell them off afterwards. Have shade if you can and acknowledge who might be in the shade or first priority for shade. Have an indoor location as a backup, even if everyone's not going to fit, because I guarantee you, if it is like icy and snowy out, not everyone's gonna make it. Just the facts. Work with me. I want the signals. I want to create the signals with you. Let's acknowledge that 15 minutes might be 10 minutes too much if all of the elements are against us. Make sure you drink lots of water or have water on hand and maybe nix alcohol unities if you were in the heat of the summer. Be flexible. Your day is still gonna be beautiful, but you want to make sure that you don't have to end up in the hospital afterwards with extreme frostbite or with heat stroke. Yeah. So that is the wedding where I almost froze to death. And some wild wedding adventures that followed. I will, I will go do these weddings. I will freeze for you, I will sweat for you, I will get rained on and windswept and sunburned and snow blasted, and I will drive the icy conditions. But please, for the love of cozy indoor ceremonies with beautiful windows that you could look out or have your pictures taken outside, and it's just you impacted. Plan. Plan. Thank you so much for tuning in for this episode. Next week we have Jocelyn, who is the owner of Danny May Photography, as well as I believe it's Danny Risquet, which is Boudoir Photos. She's phenomenal. I speak from both vendor experience working alongside her at weddings, as well as her being the photographer for my wedding. She's gonna give us a whole bunch of inside scoops on her perspective as a wedding photographer, as well as a very fun the wedding wear. And that'll get us through the holidays. So a nice little Christmas gift for everyone. What are you doing for the holidays? Do you actually have any holiday weddings? I have one for New Year's Eve. It's my second ever New Year's Eve. And I have a few couples who've asked about Christmas or Christmas Eve weddings, and I've let them know I kind of want to stay close to my family and where we're gonna be. So, you know, hit me up if you're wanting to be in the Poconos area. But if not, I'm gonna take a pass on that just for the season. And yeah, we'll we'll do that to wrap the year. Early January, we're gonna have a year in review from the officiating business, not from the podcast. That'll be a little later in January. Can't believe that we are celebrating almost one year. 50 episodes will have gone out. We have over a thousand listens. International, I'm just absolutely astonished. So still reeling from all of that celebration, still wanting to say thank you. Definitely keep sharing the podcast. Tell me anyway. Drop me a line, drop me a note, skywrite it. Do you have a wedding wear story? Are you planning your wedding? Do you find this helpful for tips and advice? Do you want more efficient reacts? Tell me what you want. I'll give you whatever you want. As we've seen through this episode, I will freeze for you. I will put out the content you want. Just let me know what it is. And I'm branching a little bit more into TikTok. So let me pull up who I am there. I would love to have some more follows. I'm trying to post the inside scoop snippets on TikTok first. So if you're over there, you can uh get a little ahead of the game. Whoa, why is it mad at me? Ah, it was mad at me. I am at Amanda Walk W A L C K. That's all lowercase, all one word with the numbers 448. It's me with really short hair rocking a really mauve-y dress as a wedding in Mobile, Alabama. That was really great. Yay! Shout out to Caitlin. All right. Well, until next time, thank you so much for listening. And this has been Amanda. Thank you for listening to The Wedding Wear with Officiating by Amanda. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and found some inspiration or insight for your own special day. This podcast is hosted on BuzzFreat and can be found on all major platforms. If you haven't already, please subscribe. Subscribe, like, comment, and share to help us reach even more listeners who might laugh a little at the wedding wear. For the links referenced in the show, visit Linktree at OfficiatingByamanda. You can also follow the business on Facebook, Weddingwire, and the Knot to stay up to date on everything going on. If you have a question you'd like me to answer on the podcast, just send an email to the WeddingWare Podcast at gmail.com. And if you're ready to inquire about officiating services for your own big day, you can reach me at officiatingbyamanda at gmail.com. Thank you so much for tuning in, and until next time, this has been Amanda.