THE BEST CEREMONY TIME FOR YOUR BEACH WEDDING
If you are planning an outdoor beach, garden or hinterland wedding in Byron Bay you need to consider you ceremony time. This is often an after thought but the decision can make or break your day.
Choosing the best ceremony time for your outdoor wedding or elopement all comes down to beautiful light. Most people have a camera phone now and are a little more savvy about good lighting. Good natural light will create the perfect selfie! Same goes for your wedding day. It’s all about good lighting.
Some wedding venues will offer a midday wedding so they can book 2 x weddings in one day! This is terrible advice. Opt for a mid-week wedding or elopement to avoid this!
ADVICE: ceremony 2 hours before sunset or 30mins before sunrise.
WHY?
- Softer lighting for photography
- You and your guests are comfortable – avoid sweat, squinting and fainting!
- These timings lead nicely into your reception
GOLDEN LIGHT
Golden light is that magic time at sunrise and sunset. This is when your photographer will schedule your portraits. It’s soft and flattering. You can download our Golden Light Guide with visual examples of real couples in SOFT v HARSH lighting!
We avoid midday weddings like the plague. In fact, we refuse to do them. The sun is at its highest point in the sky casting directly down your face. This creates really harsh shadows across your face: hollow eyes, unflattering nose shapes and this light will show every detail in your skin. Skin texture can’t be fixed with makeup. Texture is a nice way of saying: pimples, acne scars, wrinkles and so forth. These will be highlighted in midday sun.
Your photographer can battle this by using a flash to fill in the shadows. Honestly, who wants a flash distracting you throughout your ceremony? Nothing beats soft, flattering light for your wedding photography.
You will find 99% of all wedding photographers portraits were shot at Golden hour. These are the hero images you will share, print and frame.
THINK ABOUT YOUR GUESTS
You will likely have a wide range of guests at your wedding elopement that may include babies through to the elderly. You guests will be outside for over an hour. They are all dressed up. You want their experience to be positive, not counting down the minutes until they can find shade.
I have seen many people nearly faint waiting outside in heat waves!
My pet peeve is sunglasses! As a wedding photographer I think I repeat the words “Please take off your sunglasses” a million times throughout family portraits. Sunglasses might look “cool” but they date VERY quickly. You don’t want to look back at your wedding photos and see sunglasses on faces, heads and pockets. Especially if they are out of date… think about the types of sunglasses that were cool in the 80’s or 90’s? How will you feel looking back at your photos in 5, 10 or 20 years?
Sunglasses cover people’s emotions. We can’t capture people’s authentic emotions when they are hiding behind sunnies!
Tips:
- Have a table with refreshments and a small grazing platter for guests
- Ask your Celebrant to make an announcement before you arrive to ask everyone to turn off their mobile phones AND remove their sunglasses
- For the Bride/Groom – don’t wear sunglasses at all on the wedding day so your eyes adjust and you aren’t squinting
BEAT THE SWEAT
Ugh, sweat. It’s humid, you are nervous and wearing a lot of layers! It really doesn’t matter if it’s summer or winter, it is hot and humid all year from the Gold Coast to Byron Bay. You want to feel comfortable during your ceremony not worrying about sweat patches.
If you are prone to sunburn a Golden Hour ceremony will save you from turning red during your vows!
YOUR TIMELINE
Majority of people have an afternoon ceremony followed by sunset portraits as newly-weds and then their reception. This timeline has worked well for many decades!
The only potential issue is Summer when the sunsets around 7-7.30pm.
We recommend a 5pm ceremony time, this works fine for elopements.
If you have a wedding it means dinner will be served a little later than usual. An alternative option is to start your reception around 6pm and then duck out for sunset portraits. A professional photographer should be able to capture you on location within 15mins.