The Best Month to Get Married, According to 10 Years of Weather Data

For most of the United States, October is the best month to get married. In our analysis of 2015–2024 daily data from Open-Meteo/ERA5, October is the driest month of the year in Charleston, Savannah, Asheville, Nashville, New Orleans and New York City, and its average highs sit in the comfortable 19–26 °C range. But "best" depends on where you say I do: San Diego and Napa Valley are almost rain-free in summer, the Mexican Pacific coast is driest in spring, and Europe's sweet spots are June and September.

This guide is built on our own dataset: ten years of daily weather data (2015–2024) for 76 popular wedding destinations, taken from the ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo. For every place we counted the share of days per month with at least 1 mm of rain (about 0.04 inches, enough to wet chairs and hair) and the average daily high. Every number below comes from that table.

What is the best month to get married in the US?

October is the best month to get married in most of the eastern and southern US, because it is the driest month there while still being warm. The summer storm season of the Southeast is over, and the cold has not arrived yet.

The contrast with summer is striking. Charleston had rain on 22% of October days but on 62% of August days. Savannah drops from 73% in August to 25% in October. New Orleans goes from 69% in July to 26% in October. If you love the idea of a June wedding in the South, the data says you are choosing one of the wettest stretches of the year.

The West plays by different rules. California has a Mediterranean climate with wet winters and dry summers, so June to September is the safe zone there. The desert Southwest is dry almost all year, but its summer highs are brutal. That is why there is no single answer for the whole country, only a best month for your destination.

Driest month for popular US wedding destinations

Here is the full US part of our dataset. "Rain days" means the share of days in that month with at least 1 mm of rain, 2015–2024. "Best months" are the months with the lowest rain share among those with average highs between 18 and 29 °C (64–84 °F).

Source: Weather Witch analysis of 2015–2024 daily data from Open-Meteo/ERA5.

Three patterns jump out. First, the Southeast and Mid-South (Charleston, Savannah, Asheville, Nashville, New Orleans) all peak in dryness in October. Second, the Northeast is fairly even all year, with rain on roughly a third of days in most months, so temperature matters more than rain there. Third, the driest month is not always the best month: Scottsdale is driest in April, but our "best" pick is November because April already averages 30 °C and the summer months go far beyond that.

Best time of year to get married, region by region

The best time of year to get married is the season when your region is both dry and mild, and that season moves around the map. Here is how the data breaks down.

The Southeast: fall wins clearly

If you are planning a wedding in Charleston, Savannah or New Orleans, fall is your season. Summers here bring hot, humid afternoons with frequent thunderstorms: Savannah had rain on more than half of the days from June to August (53%, 59% and 73%). By October that falls to about one day in four. Early spring is a solid second choice; Savannah's March sits at 31% with an average high of 22 °C.

Look at the Charleston wedding weather page or the Savannah wedding weather page for the full month-by-month picture.

The mountains: September and October

Asheville and Nashville both list September and October as best months. Asheville's July is the wettest month of the year (50% rain days), while September drops to 29% and October to 24%. Fall color is a bonus, but note that Asheville's October average high is 20 °C, so evenings at elevation get cool. Plan for blankets rather than fans. Details are on the Asheville wedding weather page.

The Northeast: summer to early fall

In New York City, the Hudson Valley and on Cape Cod, rain days are spread fairly evenly through the year (mostly 29–43%). What changes is temperature. The Hudson Valley averages 3 °C in January and 28–29 °C in July and August, so the best months there are June, August and September. New York City's best months are May, September and October; its July is the wettest month at 43%, often in the form of short summer thunderstorms.

California and the West: summer is the dry season

California flips the eastern calendar. Napa Valley had rain on 2% of June days and 1% of July and August days, but 33% of December days. San Diego is similar, with 1–2% rain days from June to August. In Napa, our best month is June; July and August are just as dry but average 30 °C. For a vineyard wedding in October, the rain share is still low (10%), which is one reason fall harvest season is popular there. See the Napa Valley wedding weather page.

The desert Southwest: spring and late fall

Scottsdale, Sedona and Las Vegas are dry most of the year, so heat is the real limit. Las Vegas averages 38–41 °C from June to August. The best windows are April and October to November (Las Vegas) or April and May (Sedona). Scottsdale gets a small summer rain bump in July (16%) and August (15%) from the monsoon storms.

Best month for a destination wedding in Mexico and the Caribbean

For Mexico and the Caribbean, the best months to get married are roughly December to April, because that is the dry season and it lies outside hurricane season. The Atlantic hurricane season officially runs from June 1 to November 30, according to the National Hurricane Center, with its peak in late summer and early fall.

Our rain data shows the same rhythm, sometimes dramatically:

Source: Weather Witch analysis of 2015–2024 daily data from Open-Meteo/ERA5.

Puerto Vallarta is the most extreme case in the whole dataset: 0% rain days in April, 86% in August. Los Cabos stays relatively dry even in its wettest month, but September also falls within the eastern Pacific hurricane season, so a spring date is still the safer bet. In the Riviera Maya, Cancun and Tulum had rain on three out of four September days.

Punta Cana and Montego Bay show something worth knowing: even their driest months have frequent rain (50% and 41%). Caribbean showers are often short and tropical, but plan a covered option anyway. For a deeper look at a single resort area, see the Cancun wedding weather page.

Best month for a destination wedding in Europe

For a European destination wedding, June and September are usually the best months: they avoid the wet spring and late autumn and skip the hottest weeks of July and August. Mediterranean summers are very dry, but in inland Italy and Spain the heat can be a bigger risk than rain.

• Tuscany: best in June and September. July is the driest month (17% rain days), but averages 31 °C. May is the wettest month (43%), which surprises many couples who picture spring in Tuscany. See the Tuscany wedding weather page.
• Lake Como: best in July, August and October. The lakes are wetter than the coast; Lake Como had rain on 57% of May days and 53% of June days. The Lake Como wedding weather page has the full year.
• Amalfi Coast: best in June (18% rain days, 26 °C). July is drier at 11%, but November reaches 52%.
• Santorini and Mykonos: nearly rainless from June to August (Mykonos had 0% rain days in July, Santorini 1%). Santorini's best months are May, June and September.
• Provence and the French Riviera: Provence had rain on just 6% of July days; its best months are April, June and September.
• Mallorca: best in April, May and October. Interestingly, September is the wettest month there (30%).
• Paris, London, Dublin: rain is spread through the year. Even the driest months (Paris July 28%, London August 31%, Dublin January 40%) see rain often, so a solid plan B matters more than the date. For UK couples, our guide to the driest place in the UK compares regions and months, and our St Swithin's Day data check looks at July.

Other factors besides weather

Weather is only one piece of choosing your wedding month. These factors often decide it in the end.

1. Price and peak season. The driest, mildest months are usually peak season, and venues price accordingly. October Saturdays in the Southeast and June Saturdays in the Mediterranean book up early. Off-season months, Fridays and Sundays often cost less; ask venues directly for their off-peak rates instead of relying on averages.
2. Daylight. Days are much longer in June than in October or November. A late-afternoon fall ceremony may have golden-hour light but less time for outdoor portraits afterwards. Check sunset time for your date and build the timeline around it.
3. Guest travel. Holiday weekends make travel easier for some guests and pricier for everyone. Destination weddings in the Caribbean's dry season overlap with winter vacation demand, so flights and hotels fill up.
4. Your own life. School calendars, work peaks and how long you want to be engaged often matter more than a few percentage points of rain.
5. Heat. A 0% rain day at 37 °C is not an easy wedding day. That is why our "best months" only include months with average highs between 18 and 29 °C.

How to check the weather for your exact wedding date

Monthly averages are a starting point; your actual date and venue are what count. Here is how to narrow it down:

1. Start with the month. Use the table above, or the wedding weather by destination hub for all 76 places in our dataset.
2. Check your exact date. Our free rain odds tool looks up the historical weather for a specific date and place, so you see how often it rained on your day in past years.
3. Decide your plan B early. If your month has rain on a third of days or more, book a tent or indoor option now. Our outdoor wedding rain plan walks through it, and the wedding tent cost guide helps with budgeting.
4. Watch the forecast only in the last week. Forecasts beyond about seven days are unreliable; our guide on the rain forecast for your wedding day explains when to trust it.

A note on the data: ERA5 is a reanalysis dataset produced by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and available through Open-Meteo's historical weather API. It describes the weather on a grid, so a venue on a hilltop, a beach or a lakeshore can differ a little from the numbers here. Ten years is long enough to show the seasonal rhythm, but no dataset can tell you what will happen on one particular afternoon.

And if you have picked your month and still feel nervous about the sky, you are in good company. Some couples bury a bottle of bourbon, some hang a teru teru bozu, and some book our personal wedding weather ritual, cast for your date and place in the nights before, with photo proof and a written blessing. We are honest that no ritual controls the weather. It is intention and comfort, and it pairs well with a good tent.

The bottom line

The best month to get married is the month when your destination is dry and mild. In the eastern and southern US that is October, the driest month in Charleston, Savannah, Asheville, Nashville, New Orleans and New York City in our 2015–2024 ERA5 analysis. California is safest in early summer, the desert Southwest in spring and late fall, Mexico and the Caribbean from December to April, and the Mediterranean in June or September. Pick your month with the data, check your exact date, and keep a plan B, because even the driest month is not a guarantee. Read our guide to rain on your wedding day for everything else.