Leaving your reception for night photography

Sunset photos and night photos, if done correctly can be an amazing addition to the edited wedding photos delivered on your USB and can make your photobook come to life. In order to achieve this, you may have to duck out of the reception for around 15 minutes.

In summer, with day light savings, the sun does not set until around 7:30pm to 8pm. This is the ideal time to duck out for some sunset photos. It is best if there is a little bit of natural light left in the background, otherwise the background will be completely black which is not great. Usually receptions will start at 6pm to 6:30pm so it will be up to you weather you want to incorporate sunset/night wedding photography into your reception timeline.

I always leave this up to the bride and groom. They may want to just stay at the reception and enjoy the company of their guests which is perfectly understandable. If you want to duck out for some sunset shots, allow around 15 to 20 minutes for this as setting up the off camera lighting required can take some time. The wedding photo above was taken about 5 minutes before complete darkness, if we had waited a little bit longer, the background would have been completely dark and not have had the same effect. Your wedding photographer should know when the best time is to start sunset/night wedding photos so talk to them if this is something you wish to happen.