I’ve been chatting with my November brides about their wedding day schedules recently and we’re suddenly realizing that the dwindling daylight may greatly affect picture-taking. November 2nd marks the official end of daylight savings this year and that means sunsets at 5pm or earlier for a couple months! (Depressing, right? Darkness before you even eat dinner? Blah.)

Because I’m a natural-light shooter and prefer to take pictures with as much daylight as possible, I’m going to encourage my couples to “fight the light” when planning their wedding day. How do you do that? CONSIDER THE SUNSET!

(Sunset from our house this past summer!)

First, decide what’s more important: Lots of outdoor portraits in daylight or your venue. I know it seems like an unfair comparison, but some venues have restrictions on ceremony and reception times that could really affect your photography time. Take churches, for example. Churches may have one set time for wedding ceremonies because of evening masses or worship services. If they only allow weddings at 3 o’clock in the afternoon and the sun is going to set at 5pm, it’ll be a tight squeeze trying to fit in the ceremony, receiving line, family pictures, outdoor fun and formals with the wedding party, bride-groom portraits and travel time to the reception. If you’re set on that church and want lots of time for outdoor portraits during daylight, consider an earlier wedding date. Even a few weeks could make a difference in the amount of daylight!

Another suggestion is to consider a first look. If you’re set on a venue with a time restriction that could lead you into dark hours for picture-taking, a first look could be a nice solution. See your soon-to-be spouse before the ceremony and take care of all wedding party fun and formals and bride-groom portraits ahead of time…before the daylight goes away. It’s a non-traditional route, yes. But it’s a great way to have both pictures and daylight…and have your cake and eat it, too. 🙂

There’s also another reason one could consider the sunset when planning their wedding. Portraits during “golden hour”! “Golden hour” is the last hour before sunset on a sunny day. The light is warm, glowy, and the sun is on its way down instead of overhead like at mid-day when light is harsh. Such light is super flattering for outdoor portraits, so if you want to avoid the harsh light and really make your photographer happy, schedule your ceremony and reception start times so your wedding party fun and formals and bride-groom portraits can happen within an hour or two of sunset. That’s when you can get pictures like this…

I know this is one more thing for you to have to consider or “worry about” when planning your wedding day, but I don’t think you’ll regret it! Would you rather have pictures in the dark? Or no outdoor portraits at all?? Think about it. 🙂 Happy wedding planning, y’all!