Timeline question - sunset at outdoor wedding

Our ceremony should be pretty short, definitely no longer than a half hour. Do you think this timeline is okay, or too crammed? My only concern is FH is still undecided on whether or not he wants to do a first look, which would allow us to do pictures before the ceremony. I feel like if we do not do a first look, 5:30-6:30 for cocktail gives us a good hour to take pics, with bride and groom pics being closer to sunset, which we want.

Thoughts?

I'm doing our ceremony at 4:30. Our sunset time is around the same, but I wanted to make sure we would be able to sneak outside for sunset pics. If that's something you're wanting to do, it would be during dinner for you.

So if I did our ceremony at 4:30 it would push everything back a half hour so:

Ceremony - 4:30

Cocktails - 5-6

Dinner - 6-7

Reception - 7-11

How would that look?

It feels a little cramped. I feel like most weddings don't start at the exact minute they are scheduled for

The sunset was at 6:28 PM for our wedding.

Our ceremony was from 5:30 PM to 6:00 PM. Cocktail hour was from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM, and we took pictures during that time. It worked out perfectly.

ETA: We wanted the sunset to happen while we took pictures so we could capture that in the background of the photos. And we did a first look so that helped us not feel too rushed.

MrsVoegs17 - I think your timeline sounds good; I wouldn't go *too* much earlier otherwise the sunlight may be too harsh (or who knows, you may have an overcast day and it won't be harsh earlier in the day). I got married on October 10th and sunset was around 6:40pm and we had our ceremony at 6:00pm. It wasn't more than a half hour (probably less than that). We had cocktail hour from 6:30-7:30 and took some more photos during the cocktail hour (didn't even use the full time). It depends on how many more photos you want after your ceremony. Get your photographer's input for the timeline and how long he/she thinks he/she will need for photos

Do you ONLY want sunset pics of the bride and groom? I would do a first look for you two and then do extra pictures at sunset.

Do you have enough time to ask your photographer? Your vendors are a wealth of info! Mine pretty much set up our timeline for us (well, and the fact that our venue is open to the public and closes at 5, so we couldn't start earlier). She looked up the sunset and was able to make recommendations. Though I do have to say that is with us doing a first look.

@Dianna, I definitely want some pictures with the sunset in the background, but since our ceremony is outdoors I just didn't want it to be too dark for the ceremony. Which if we want the sunset for pictures after the ceremony, if it were too dark for the ceremony it'd be too dark for the pics. My head is spinning a little around this and I just talked to FH and he said he for sure does not want to do a first look, so now I need to account for family pictures in that timeframe as well.

You pushing up your ceremony doesn't help you with doing sunset pics during dinner. LOL.

We are not having a scheduled sit down time so it's easier for us. We are doing heavy passed apps and then stations all night so I'm not on a tight schedule.

You pushing up your ceremony doesn't help you with doing sunset pics during dinner. LOL.

We are not having a scheduled sit down time so it's easier for us. We are doing heavy passed apps and then stations all night so I'm not on a tight schedule.

@Sullivan.. good point, we are doing a buffet line too so we will just tell the venue what time we want to begin serving dinner and people can just get their food whenever? So confusing. I took a few weeks off of wedding stuff and now everything seems really overwhelming haha.

Even though it says sunset is 6:41, it will not be dark at that time. I made sure to pay attention to this this past October. For my date, average sunset was around 6, if I remember correctly. It was still light out at 6.

I would definitely talk to your photographer and see what he/she thinks.

OK.. I'm thinking...

Ceremony - 5:30 (should only last about 15-20 min)

Cocktails - 6-7 (this would allow time for pictures and a few minutes for sunset pics)

Dinner - 7-8

Reception - 8-11

@Dianna thanks, I have a call into the photographer as well. This is what I get for finding a deal on invites that expires tonight. LOL

I've read a few places that the 'golden hour' for photography starts 1 hour before sunset/1 hour after sunrise: http://www.photographymad.com/pages/view/the-golden-hour-in-photography

I wouldn't rush it if you aren't sure yet of the timeline you want. Vistaprint will likely run that deal again before June/July when you would need to send the invites out.

@Ambrok .. thanks!!! That calculator says the golden hour starts at 6:04 and lasts 38 minutes. I talked to my photographer and she says she will only need an hour or so to do all of the pictures. so I think this might work:

move the Ceremony to 5:15 (should only last about 15-20 min, this will pad our picture time and give us about an hour and a half for pictures)

***IS A POTENTIAL HALF HOUR GAP BETWEEN THE CEREMONY AND COCKTAIL HOUR TOO MUCH?***

Cocktails - 6-7

Dinner - 7-8

Reception - 8-11

@FallBride.. those are gorgeous.. that's EXACTLY what I want!

Your timeline starting at 5:30 sounds good, IMO.

I agree that Vistaprint will likely have another similar promotion in the future. Better to have it right than reorder it again.