What time should my outdoor ceremony start in October?

Do you have a photographer? He helped us w/ours. He let me know when the sun would go down, where the sun was comnig from, so I knew where to have the ceremony outside, etc....

I'm getting married earlier in the month and we're going with 2:30p. I think 5p is definitely too late and 4p might be pushing it as well. If the sun is too low in the sky, you're going to end up with the sun in someone's eyes, which can really ruin the experience. It can also means shadows falling across your face in weird ways.

I would definitely go earlier, especially if you have pictures planned for after the ceremony. Pictures always run longer than expected and you're going to find yourself racing against the sun.

We are getting married on the same date and had the same concerns, we opted for 4 o'clock even though it will be pushing it for pictures afterwards. We just didn't want the reception to end too early.

We are having our ceremony at 3:30 on Oct 1. I definitely wanted it to still be daylight. Our reception is a half hour drive from the ceremony, so our reception still won't start until 5:30 with dinner at 6

If it were me, I'd want my ceremony to end by about 5-5:15 so I could have some time for sunset pictures, UNLESS you want the sunset as a backdrop for the ceremony itself.

Missy, if you've looked at a chart that says the sun sets at 5:39 does it need to be adjusted for daylight saving time?

I don't know where your wedding will be, but here in Fla. the sun will set at 6:49 on 10/29. And that means the top of the sun will dip below the horizon at 6:49.

So, I'm officiating a beach wedding at 6:15 that day. We'll be done the ceremony by 6:30 and that leaves almost 20 minutes for the photographer to get pictures as the sun is setting. Of course, it won't get dark immediately so s/he'll have more than 20 minutes for photos.

We're getting married in a Vineyard and we are having our ceremony start right at 4pm, You can research a little and find out the temperature and average sunset time in your area.

4 so that way you will still have some daylight to take pictures outside after the wedding.

Savannah we are date twins. I haven't even thought about this question yet. We are doing first look and most pics before the ceremony so I haven't thought about it yet.

Oh wow Missy, Savannah, Heather and I are all date twins or um quints lol. I think there is another one out there too..Anyways yea I'd say no later than 4..how long is your ceremony going to be, that will factor into things..I'm indoor ceremony and first look/some pics before and am starting at 4.

Are you in a warm area? You may want a back up plan incase its gets pretty cold.

Thanks for your help everyone. I am getting married in AZ so yes it will be a warm area. Probably in the high 80s. I have emailed my photographer to get her opinion on this. It sounds like from everyone's feedback I should go with a 4:00pm start time at the latest....thanks again!

Oo AZ lucky! lol. I'm in PA. I'll be happy if it doesn't snow :-)

This is something FH and I researched prior to deciding on ceremony start time as we want sunset pics. We start our ceremony at 5:30 (will allow an extra 5 minutes for any late arrivals). That way we will be done by 6:00 at the latest and will have a good 1/2 hour for pics with some day light.

Missy-- I'm in Glendale, where are you?

Mine is going to be outside and we are starting at 4pm.

Mine is in November outside on a golf course as well and it starts at 4:30 we checked what time the sun sets and that is how we scheduled the ceremony. Because I want a shadowed sunset picture.

We went with 3 so we have time for everything at the reception.