Sunset Wedding Photos
Golden light, long shadows and a sky turning pink behind the two of you
A sunset wedding is built around the last hour of light. Golden hour starts roughly an hour before sunset, when the sun drops low enough to wrap faces in warm, soft light and throw long shadows across the grass or the sand. Then the sun touches the horizon, the sky goes gold, pink and violet, and for fifteen or twenty minutes after it has gone the blue hour turns water and city lights electric. The timing changes a lot around Australia: a midsummer sunset in Melbourne comes after half past eight thanks to daylight saving, while Brisbane, with no daylight saving, is dark before seven.
The sunset weddings in this collection include Georgia and Michael’s rooftop wedding at Prince Deck in St Kilda, where the afternoon gave way to a gold-and-pink sunset over Port Phillip Bay, and Anna and Brendan’s Whitsundays wedding at Coral Sea Resort in Airlie Beach, with a reception on the jetty as the sun went down behind the hills across the bay.
Photographing a sunset wedding
Check the real sunset against your horizon, not just the published time: hills, trees and buildings can take the sun away twenty minutes early. Plan to finish the ceremony at least an hour before sunset, then keep twenty to thirty minutes free for portraits in that last light; we usually step out again between courses for the sky itself. Facing into the low sun gives a warm glow and flare, while a single light behind or beside the couple keeps the colour in the sky once the sun is gone. On the coast, bring a wrap for the breeze that often arrives with it.