Gig prep... lick finger...hold it in the air.

Outdoor events warrant considered planning and frequent updates on potential weather circumstances.

I generally pay attention to the 14 day forecasts and daily updates from a week out through the day before.

Our production company does outdoor festivals Spring thru Fall.
We never check the forecast too far in advance.
On the day of the event...if it is NOT raining when we wake up...we go and set up.
If it is only raining a little, we go and set up.
The REAL decision only comes when we look at the RADAR and see something bad coming.
(we use the Blue Sky app)
These festivals have too much invested to cancel on a whim.
So we will play in the rain, as long as the band is under cover.
As soon as we get lightning or thunder....we stop.

I had an outdoor ceremony/reception in central Washington (Chelan) in late July this summer. 90 degrees forcasted a month out and it stayed that way. I loaded up my cooler with dollar store blue ice, bought a couple laptop coolers and microfiber towels. Wrapped the blue ice in the towels and placed them directly infront of the laptop cooler to attempt to keep the laptop from overheating. I even went so far to get an app to track the PC temps and did a test run in a room in the house where I cut off the AC, about 84 degrees with success. The ceremony went off without a hitch and once the sun went down everything was fine but I was certainly a little stressed over the whole situation. The previous summer I had an iPad go into overtemp mode right before the wedding party was to walk down the aisle. Now I'm laptop all the way for ceremonies.

Now that I have everything I need for that scenario I think I'll lay off looking at the weather that far in advance, too much stress over something I really can't control.

djcrazychris said:

Welp....looks like it is going to be a very nice day.... around 70 and sunny for ceremony at 3pm..... im djing til 11....so the outdoor dancefloor could possibly be at about 50 degrees by 9 or so.... guess i will just have to keep them warm from dancing.

my gear is going to be inside... but basically in front of a giant garage doorway... bout 12 to 14 feet high...so i might as well be outside when it comes to the cold

cc

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If you don't already have it, you need this:

Raining steadily here in MD for the 1st time in 2 months....

djcrazychris said:

The weather down there just did a major flip... afternoon rain now....i dont know how these brides gamble on the weather... 9 times out of 10 it will break your heart

cc

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Several years back, I was having a sales meeting with a bride and her family. She wanted an outside wedding ceremony and reception. I tried for a while to talk about backup plans and finally just asked her, "What are you going to do if it rains?" Her answer was classic........."Oh, it's not going to rain on MY wedding day."