Dry season or rainy season: what it changes for an outdoor reception

In Togo the season is not something you choose: a wedding date is set by family constraints, not meteorological ones. What you put up outdoors, on the other hand, can be decided with full knowledge of the facts. Here is what each period actually demands.

November to March: the dry season

This is the high season for receptions, and for good reasons: little rain, mild evenings, usable outdoor spaces.

What it demands anyway:

• Dust. The harmattan, from December to February, lays a fine veil over everything left outdoors. Table dressing is done as late as possible, and cloths go on after the tables are set up, never before.
• Light. Night falls quickly and without a long dusk: plan lighting for 6.30 p.m., even if the reception starts at 5.
• Availability. This is when stock goes fastest. Saturdays in December and January are booked four to six weeks ahead, against two for the rest of the year.

April to June: the long rainy season

The rain arrives abruptly, often in late afternoon, and lasts an hour or two.

What it demands:

• A marquee, always, even under a clear morning sky. An hour of rain on a fully dressed set-up means the reception is lost.
• A floor. Soaked grass becomes impassable in heels and unstable under table legs. Decking, or at the very least a technical mat, across the whole reception area.
• Side sheets. A marquee without sides protects from nothing as soon as the rain is driven by wind. Plan for them, even if you never unroll them.
• A fallback point for the sound system and the electrics: technical equipment does not tolerate what furniture tolerates.

July to August: the short dry season

A relative lull, cooler and often overcast. It is the most comfortable window for an outdoor cocktail: little rain, less heat, no dust.

The one point to watch is ambient humidity, which marks linen and chair covers if they spend the night outside. Take-down happens the next morning, not the day after that.

September to October: the short rainy season

Less water than in June, but continuous humidity.

What it demands:

• Dry storage for anything made of fabric. A tablecloth put away damp comes out stained, and the stain does not come off.
• Vigilance on outdoor electrics: extension leads raised off the ground, protected connectors, the board under cover.
• Drying the equipment before it returns to stock — that is our business, but it explains why a take-down in the rain takes longer.

Three rules that hold all year

A marquee is not a weather expense, it is insurance. Its cost against the total budget of a reception is small; the cost of a ruined set-up cannot be recovered.

The ground matters as much as the roof. A marquee on land that does not drain protects from the rain that falls, not from the water that rises.

Plan the electrics twice. The mains, and a generator. A power cut during the speeches is not a technical incident in the guests' eyes, it is the memory of the evening.

We set up outdoor receptions all year round, June included. The difference between a reception that succeeds in the rain and one that is ruined does not come down to the weather: it comes down to what was planned three weeks earlier.