Summer Wedding Photography
How to get the Best Summer Wedding Photos
The three most popular months for getting married in England are July, August and September, and just by looking at some of this stunning Summer wedding photography below, you can see why! The light is fantastic, the days are long, and when the British weather is on your side, there’s nothing better. Almost half of all weddings in the Summer are on a Saturday, with Friday being the next most popular day. Midday Summer sun is great with a glass of iced Pimms, but can be a bit of a nightmare for photos. Harsh light, heavy shadows and the sheer heat are all great reasons to avoid a noon photoshoot. But with a little planning, and the right photographer, your wedding photos will be stunning.
It’s All About the Light
Because of the longer hours of daylight, Summer weddings tend to be in the afternoon. This can work really well for the photography, making the best use of the great light you get in the time around sunset – known as the Golden Hour. Once you know the date of your wedding, you can check the sunset time here. As long as the skies are clear, the best light will be around an hour before sunset. Now you need to decide what kind of wedding photos you want, and then you can start planning the rest of the day around this.
Timings for a Summer Wedding
Most of my clients value great, story-telling Documentary Wedding Photography. They want natural and fun photos showing what it was like to be at their wedding. If this sounds like you, then you might want to have a later ceremony, so that there’s a couple of hours relaxing time for your guests around Golden Hour.
Here’s an example timetable for a mid-July wedding, based on using the best light for when the Bride and Groom will be enjoying relaxed time with their family and friends. Sunset is at around 9:15pm, so the best light will be from around 7:30pm – 8pm
- 13:00 Bride’s Preparations
- 14:00 Groom’s Preparations
- 15:00 Ceremony Starts
- 16:00 Cocktail Hour
- 17:00 Family Group Photos
- 17:30 Wedding Breakfast
- 19:30 Free Time With Guests (Start of the great light)
- 20:45 Couple Portraits
- 21:15 Sunset
- 21:30 First Dance
