The Benefits of Sunset Portraits on your Wedding Day

 

Golden hour portraits, or sunset pictures as we like to call them, are by far one of my most favorite times during a wedding day. We get to take our couples and sneak out of the reception for 15 minutes of pure bliss. This is usually the first time our couples have been alone for a minute since they got married and it is a refreshing time for them to just enjoy the moment and be together. We always do this right at sunset during the golden hour, and it truly is my favorite part of a wedding day.

 

We plan the sunset pictures into the timeline of your day in advance and make sure the wedding planner, DJ and caterers know exactly when this time is so there aren’t any surprises when we take you two outside for the pictures. Doing it this way means we know exactly how the pictures will fit into the activities of the day. When we sneak away for those 10 to 15 minutes it is just you two, and us.  During this time we are able to take in the gorgeous landscape of your venue and the golden hour of light generated at sunset to produce romantic images of your wedding day.

 

All the couples that book with us cannot wait to do sunset portraits with us on their wedding day. Many of our couples tell us it is one of the things they look forward to most. They can’t wait to have those quiet moments with each other and enjoy the sunset on their wedding day.  I know Scott and I we planned our entire wedding day around when the sun would set on our venue at Hatteras Island in North Carolina.

 

You might think we were a little nuts to plan our wedding day around the sunset, but when you are both wedding photographers you know about those golden moments at sunset. And when you are getting married on the beach, the sunset plays a huge role!  We did all of our portraits and family portraits about an hour to an hour and a half before sunset.  We had timed it out perfectly so our first dance was right as the sun was sinking below the horizon and the cotton candy colors of the Outer Banks sunset were painting the sky. It was magical.

 

You do not have to plan your entire wedding day around what time the sun sets – but if you do, that is totally okay by us! We know that in Ohio, sunset times can be all over the place, and that is why we make sure to schedule it into the timeline so that even if you get married at 2:30 in the afternoon and all of your portraits are in the afternoon, you still have romantic golden hour pictures later on in the day.

 

Below are just some of our favorite sunset pictures! We hope you enjoy seeing them as much as we did taking them!