Best Time of the Day to get Married, For the Best Photographs

There is no right answer as to what time of the day is the best time to get married. This is a very personal choice. There is however a more important issue regarding choosing the right photographer, who can handle the light and produce stunningly beautiful pictures at the specific time that you want to get married.

I have done morning-, afternoon- and evening weddings and the only difference is the expertise needed in using the type of light during that time of day, to create soft, even, quality light in which to photograph.

Let me explain a little more…

Photography is all about Light, as describe by its name: Photo = Light and Graphy = Drawing, thus Photography = Drawing with Light.

With wedding photography the photographer is constantly looking for the most flattering light in which to photograph the bride and bridal couple. A beautiful bride with a beautiful background is utterly useless if there is a harsh shadow falling right over the bride’s face. And this is where the skill and knowledge of the photographer comes in.

The quality of the light during the day is constantly changing. It starts out at sunrise as a nice and warm colour tone (which is very flattering for photography) and moves through to a very white colour at midday and then slowly back to a warm colour tone again in the late afternoon. The last hour before sunset is usually referred to as the “magic hour” as this is the most flattering light of the day. No wonder most people prefer to have there photographs taken during this time of day.

Morning weddings usually starts at about 9am, when the sun is already up. After the church ceremony, flower blessing and family photographs the couple photographs usually commence at about 11am. As we were told from a very young age, this is the warmest time of the day (so slap on the sunscreen or stay indoors until about 3pm). More importantly for photography the sun is shining straight from the top and creates the ‘raccoon eye’ circles under your eyes. This is obviously not the ideal circumstances.

A good photographer will be able to compensate for these tricky lighting situations using different techniques to reflect light from somewhere else to rectify this. The same goes for the shadows that fall from trees at this time of day, that creates a ‘leopard spot’ effect on whoever is underneath that. You will need a photographer that knows how to compensate for that.

Even if you decide to get married in the middle of the night a good photographer should be able to work with external light sources (other than just a straight on-camera flash) and should still be able to create beautiful well exposed images, that you can cherish for years to come. Th same goes for the unfortunate rainy day that might be your big day. Your photographer should be able to bring a plan B, that enables you to have your pictures taken indoors with external lighting.

So, what time of day you get married is a very personal decision and should stay your decision. All comes down to the photographer you choose and what skills they have to create beautiful photographs from difficult and easy lighting situations.

When you meet up with your photographer be sure to discuss the time you are planning to get married and make sure your photographer can deliver whatever it takes.

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