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How to plan your wedding day around the light
Golden hour is not a myth, but it is also not the only good light. Here is how we build a timeline that gives you both.
By Elena Marlow · 7 min read
The single biggest difference between a good set of wedding photographs and a great one is not the camera. It is the timeline. Light changes every hour, and a day built around it looks calmer, warmer and more like you.
Start with sunset
Look up the sunset time for your date and location, then work backwards. We like twenty minutes for portraits about an hour before sunset, and five minutes outside just after it.
Protect the morning
Getting ready usually happens in hotel rooms with one window. Ask for the room with the most light and keep it tidy. It sounds small. It changes everything.
Leave room for nothing
Build two fifteen-minute gaps into the afternoon. Nothing is planned. That is where the best photographs happen.
Elena Marlow
Founder and lead photographer at Ostrelle. Writes about light, planning and the people in front of the camera.
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