One of my favorite things about eloping in Bali is that no matter the weather, you win. I know – you might be thinking, “But what if it downpours during our ceremony?! How is that a win?” Besides the age-old superstition of rain being lucky on your wedding day, I’m a firm believer that your elopement day is what you make it, no matter the conditions – which is why I put together this whole-ass guide to how to embrace “bad” weather on your elopement day. Bright blue skies? Congrats, you get to bask in the best of the best! Gloomy and rainy? Woohoo, you get the true Bali experience!

Get in the right mindset beforehand
If you’re planning your entire elopement around the assumption that it’ll be sunny & clear as can be, you’re already getting started on the wrong foot! It’s all about getting in the right mindset beforehand so that there’s no way you could be shocked, surprised, or thrown off if the weather doesn’t cooperate how you want it to. It’s going to be way better for you to plan for the possibility of rain 6 months in advance of your elopement and be pleasantly surprised by sunshine when the day arrives, rather than the other way around. Weather is never guaranteed, no matter what season you choose to tie the knot, so be sure to have a different measurement for success. So my suggestion “Frame your day like this: if you get married, it’s a win. Seriously, remember that this day is about so much more than the view. Be present in the moment and I promise, it’ll be one of your all-time favorite days”.

Let go of control + be ready to adapt
Trust me, I know how it feels to need to be in control and to have a hand in everything that happens – but unfortunately, that’s just not how life goes! And your elopement day likely won’t be any different. You can plan every teeny-tiny detail, create 3 different timelines, or even hire a planner to do it all for you, but at the end of the day, you usually just gotta throw your hands up and release that control, my friend. At least something is bound to happen that is outside of your control, be it a long line of traffic on the highway or an unexpected road closure – so just like I mentioned above, you need to expect it in order to embrace it. Adventure elopements aren’t just about the epic views and the incredible hikes: the word “adventure” is in there for a reason. You need to be ready to adapt at any moment and truly embrace the adventure as it unfolds – because isn’t that why you planned an adventure elopement in the first place? To release yourselves from outside pressure, to give up tradition for the sake of a more authentic experience? Part of that is also releasing your control at a certain point and realizing that you can’t change everything – and realizing that before your elopement will be WAY better than realizing it when you have to change your ceremony location at the very last minute due to circumstances out of your control.

Trust your Planner
If you’re feeling anxious about all the possibilities that could impact your elopement day, lean on your planner and other vendors to support you! It’s incredibly important that you trust your vendors in the first place, but that trust especially comes into play when external circumstances throw all your plans to the wind. Trust that I know it’s disappointing to miss out on a view, or to be warmer/colder/wetter than you hoped for. I know how much pressure there is to make this day perfect, and I know that it’s scary to think you might not get the photos you wanted. But you hired a professional for a reason– the weather doesn’t faze me! I work rain or shine, baby. I’m going to make sure you look damn good no matter what the skies decides to throw at us.