Have you started the destination wedding planning process yet? If so, you’ve started to realize how many decisions you have to start making with the resort. One of those decisions is what time of day your wedding should be. Some brides pick an arbitrary time without thinking much about it. There are a few important factors, though, that you should consider when picking the time of day for your destination wedding.
Times available through the resort
Of course, there’s only so much control you can have when it comes to scheduling your actual wedding ceremony time. Most resorts only have specific times during the day that they have their weddings on. This is usually later in the afternoon between the times of 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm.
Being aware of these allotted times will give you a good frame of reference as far as how long your wedding day activities will take. With that in mind, consider the below activities when deciding on your wedding time.
Planning around other activities
There will be other aspects of your wedding day that will affect the time of day for your destination wedding as well. Here are a few things you’ll want to think about:
- Your hair and makeup
- Getting ready with your bridesmaids
- First look with your fiance
- First look with your father
Of course hair and makeup will be the longest part of preparing for the day. If you’re getting both done in the resort spa they should have a good idea approximately how long it will take.
Getting ready with your bridesmaids is really up to you as far as how long it will take. Personally, after I got my hair and makeup done we ordered some sandwiches and champagne for our room. We had a great time together before preparing for the ceremony.
If you plan on doing a first look with your fiance or your father before the ceremony make sure you’ve allotted time for that. Of course neither one should take very long, but if you have a photographer capturing this moment it will need to be planned.
Create a wedding day itinerary
Knowing how much the activities of your wedding day will take will make it easy to then create an itinerary for yourself and your wedding party. For a destination wedding, most brides start by getting their hair and makeup done and go from there.
Thankfully, with a destination wedding you don’t have to worry about running errands or transportation like you do a traditional wedding.
Here’s a sample wedding itinerary to get you started:
Your photography session
Here is where we really want you to pause and think about what time you’d like your photos after the ceremony to be. Most destination wedding photographers STRONGLY suggest having them done two hours before sunset.
We’ll go over this in more detail below, but an easy way to figure out that time is by Googling “sunset + location + month of wedding.” Knowing this information gives you a pretty good idea of when your ceremony time should be based on how long it will take and when you want to be within that perfect photography time.
Our destination wedding photographer’s advice
So, why is it so important to know when the sunset is during your destination wedding? Out of all the destination wedding photographers that we’ve talked to this was not only a recurring topic, but an important one to be able to get the photos you hope for.
Our post, “20 Pieces of Advice from Leading Destination Wedding Experts” has multiple photographer’s advice that we think is worth checking out. This is an amazing resource to hear from photographers on how to get the best photos possible. Whether it be the time of day, how much time you need, or other requests, we strongly encourage you to check it out.
To summarize, we’ve included photographer’s advice specifically when it comes to the time of day for your photos:
Monica Lopez Photography:
“One of the most important things as a photographer is to have a good timeline taking in consideration the sunset time during the wedding day. Why? The best light for photos happens during the “golden hour.” This is when the light is not strong, but softer, and you get some beautiful golden tones – in the tropics, this is also the time when the weather starts to get fresher.
I recommend planning your ceremony 2 hours before the sun sets – allowing for ceremony, family portraits and romantic portraits before the sun goes away. If you want more than 1 hour for your romantic photos, just move earlier your ceremony time.”
Dean Sanderson:
“Time your wedding ceremony so that it is 2 hours before sunset. Anything more than 3 hours before sunset, and it could be scorching for you and your guests. Anything less than 2 hours before sunset and you will be rushed to get your photographs finished before the reception. For the perfect ceremony, plan your wedding 2 or 2.5 hours before sunset.”
GGG Photo:
“For each day of the year, depending on the location in the globe, there is a perfect time for each part of the wedding day. Brides and Grooms should allocate at least 2 hours for the “getting ready” part before the ceremony and after that’s over they must have at least 45 minutes to 1 hour for group shots, depending on how many guests they bring. The photo session for the newlyweds on the surroundings of the venue should be at least 1 hour, allowing the photographers to be able to create unique situations and awesome pictures. Again, the great pictures take preparation.”
With your hair and makeup, first looks, and our photographer’s timing advice in mind, does that give you a clear picture as to when the time of day for your destination wedding should be? We hope so, but if you need further help please don’t hesitate to contact us here. We’re here to make sure you have the most perfect destination wedding possible.