“The overall climate of Belize can be described as sub-tropical. The humidity while high, is seldom oppressive for long and is most noticeable along the coast. The mean annual humidity is 83%, but many days the humidity is masked by the cooling sea breezes. The Belize coastal area is exposed to southeast tradewinds averaging 10-13 knots and attain an uncanny consistency during the month of July”.  For climate patterns by months, please visit here.

We have 2 seasons: Dry season (January-May) and Rainy season (June-December).

I had an unfortunate experience this week that I want to share with you. I prefer to make my customers aware of all possible scenarios and I always like to have a plan B in case of weather.
Now, what you read above about the weather is a broad generalization and there are of course exceptions. In fact the weather here more often follow the exceptions than the rules!  Although June – December is considered the rainy season, most days are filled with sunshine with little or no rain. Whilst January – May is the dry season, yet we had tropical rain for 14 hours straight one day in February. Of course this happened to be the same day I had a wedding to shoot! My bride and groom were fantastic and just adjusted to the weather. They had a dry ceremony and then enjoyed a wet photoshoot! The entire wedding party danced in the rain taking in the spirit of the day.

Back to this week. Tana & Travis decided to choose Belize as a Destination Wedding because of my photos at  the spectacular Mayan Temple, Xunantunich. Everything was planned and ready and I even mentioned to Tana that I wouldn’t  mind even if it rained a little. Of course, when it’s raining you can’t have a regular photoshoot. Everything is different but I was still aiming for a few shots. It never occurred to me that if it’s been raining heavily for several days, the river surrounding Xunantunich could be flooded and because there is a manual ferry it is not safe to pass (due to the height of the river and how fast it is flowing!). Based on this, the entire Mayan site was closed. Even if we found a way to cross the river, the site was still closed.
So the day before the wedding, I found out that the river and the Mayan site was closed. I spoke with Tana and Travis and they decided that they still wanted to get married that day and were open to my suggestions for an alternative location.
My Plan B was an alternative Mayan ruin Cahal Pech. This site is the closest one to Xunantunich (around 30 minutes) and it was open. But Tana and Travis told me that if not Xunantunich, they didn’t want another Mayan ruin. They were staying at one of the finest resorts in the country, so I suggested they have the wedding there. Our Mayan Temple Wedding became a Jungle Wedding! It was incredible! The ceremony was on the top of a hill and the view was spectacular with the Mayan Mountains in the backdrop. Following their ceremony they released Blue Morpho butterflies before heading to the butterfly farm for more photos. They finished off with a romantic picnic and horse ride. Their wedding was unique and truly amazing!

Anything can happen on your wedding day, but with a little flexibility, you will still have YOUR day!

Enjoy!