So you've booked your venue and now your next thing to do on your wedding list is to book your photographer. Here's how the majority of my conversations with inquiring brides go:
Bride: Hey! I love your wedding photography! Are you available on Dec 13?
Me: Yes, I'm available! Do you know how many hours you will need?
Bride: I am thinking 6 hours.
Me: Ok great! What time is your ceremony?
Bride: We are thinking 4:30pm.
Me: Oooh, have you checked the sunset time??
Here are 4 Things to Consider when Planning your Ceremony Time:
Day Light Savings Time
Currently, we move the clocks back one hour in November and then forward one hour in March. The days already naturally get shorter as we move into the fall and winter, so this change just accelerates the process.
Winter Weddings: Timing the ceremony for winter weddings can be more challenging since it gets darker so much earlier. Most people want to create a wedding timeline where the wedding ceremony and a normal dinner time naturally flow from one to another. Say the sunset is at 5pm in the winter, the latest you want to do your ceremony is 3:30pm. That could make for an early dinner and early wedding end time. If you push your ceremony later so that it's dark when it's over, most couples just opt to do a 1st look prior to the ceremony to get all their wedding photos done at that time.
Summer Weddings: The opposite can be true of summer weddings. In late June, the sunset can be at almost 9pm here in Texas. If you time your wedding ceremony to sunset, your wedding reception and dinner will begin way too late. In this scenario, you have a lot more flexibility to choose your ceremony time. I usually suggest just adding a quick 5-10 min to the timeline to take sunset photos when it's time at some point during the reception. Another option is to do a split couples shoot. We can take half of the couple photos at the regular time (after family or during 1st look) and schedule the rest during the golden hour.
Golden Hour
Golden hour is the one hour time period before the sunset as well as the one hour of time after the sunrise. Golden hour light can be split into 2 types:
1st 30 min: The beginning of golden hour can be characterized with soft and romantic light. It can have a dreamy or hazy quality. The shadows are softer and everything has a certain glow to it. You certainly want to time your couple photos to begin closest to the beginning of the golden hour to ensure you are getting the best light of the day.
Last 30 min: This is the best time for sunset photos. Even after the sunset time, the sunset will continue to peak.
Location
While the sunset may be at 8pm on a particular day which would make golden hour beginning at 7pm, your location may affect the light. If your wedding in a downtown area with lots of tall buildings or surrounded by mountains, your last light opportunity may be much earlier than calculating golden hour from the sunset time.
Sunset Weddings
If you are dying to have that romantic, fading light during your ceremony, just borrow the winter wedding model and do a 1st look before the ceremony. You will be able to have all your couple wedding photos done before the ceremony so that as the last light fades for the day, you can spend that moment having your 1st kiss.
If you are planning to do any outdoor or natural light photos after the ceremony, make sure that the sunset time and season have been considered.
My Best Advice
With the exception of summer, I have found that timing the ceremony 1.5-2hrs before sunset time will give you plenty of time before the sun is gone.
If you time your ceremony 1.5 hours before sunset, it looks like this:
Ceremony- 30 min
Family Photos/Wedding Party Photos- 30 min
Couple Photos- 30 min
1.5 hours before can be a tight fit and doesn't allow for anything to run behind schedule, but it does align your couple photos with sunset. If you want to align your couple photos with the beginning of golden hour, then 2 hours prior to sunset works best.
Here is an example of 4 different kinds of light ( Golden, Sunset, Day, Night)
Which do you want for your couple photos?
Which do you want for your ceremony?
Tiffany Hopwood Photography is a wedding photographer that can help you prepare the a custom wedding timeline personalized for your day. We specialize in intimate weddings, elopements and destination weddings. www.TiffanyHopwoodPhotography.com
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