Despite the fact that there’s a surprisingly warm weather front this week, I can’t help but think of our next wintery day (aka tonight… thank you Maryland weather for taking us from 65 degrees to snow this evening) and wedding planning for this next year!  You see, I have a few late-fall, early winter weddings next year and there are always a few questions that I’m asked about planning a winter wedding!  To me, winter weddings are always so perfect because they’re cozy and by default have an extra element of romance – think lots of candles, long gowns & sleeves, and/or warm jewel tones.  I mean, how can you go wrong?  Especially because there’s also almost always a chance for snow, too!

 

I mean, can’t you see why I love winter weddings?!  But, like with all good things, there are a few complications – winter weddings can be hard to plan for because of the sunset!  Lots of weddings are evening weddings which works in June when the sun sets at almost 9pm, but when the sun sets at 4:00pm, that creates a different story!  So here are three tips to think about when you’re planning your winter wedding – answering the most frequently asked questions!

 

1. Do we have to do a first look? Hi hello, if you know anything about me, you know that I myself actually didn’t do a first look at our wedding, so I never push a couple either way with the exception of for winter weddings whose ceremonies start after the sun has already set!
2. When is the best time to plan for sunset portraits? The ideal time to start shooting is 20 minutes before the sun actually sets!  That means that we should be onto your couple’s portraits a few minutes before then to make sure we have plenty of time!
3. What happens if we go off schedule?  First things first, I typically encourage couples to add a little extra cushion to their timeline so that hopefully that’s never an issue, but if that does happen, the best thing we can do is rearrange the timeline a bit!  Family formals can be moved to an indoor location instead of an outdoor one after the sun has already set!

 

I hope that was helpful friends!  To my sweet former brides, what else should people think about who are planning a wedding after day light’s savings?