A Backyard Wedding And How Lighting Impacts Your Wedding Day

A backyard wedding and how lighting impacts your wedding day:

Last Summer, I headed south of Boston to Dagny + Jeff’s backyard wedding. We found magical light at a local park during their newlywed portrait time (my favorite time of your day). Dagny is a wedding photographer too, so I was thrilled when she brought me to one of her favorite photography spots! Pro or not, light is an essential part of your wedding day. It completely impacts the feel of your wedding photographs, and good light can help to create the dreamy glow you’re imagining for your day. Some quick tips to think about when contemplating the layout of your day:

1. Direction Of The Sun For Ceremony

This one is simpler than you may think. Just keep the sun behind the spot you’re wanting to say your vows at. Your guests might need to squint a bit, but you and your love will be in perfectly flat light, which is best for ceremony photographs. Better yet, say your vows in a forest, or with a building behind you that blocks the sun well.

2. Time Of Your Portraits

If you’re waiting until after your ceremony to have your photographs taken, don’t make the ceremony time too close to sunset or we’ll lose light and that will decrease the number of photos we can take! I tell couples to plan on having their wedding ceremony 2 hours prior to sunset, that way family portraits and other post-wedding photos are in even, flattering light.

3. Reception Lighting

It’s a given that artificial light will likely need to be used for photography at your reception, but the addition of lighting can make a big impact on the mood of the space. I encourage couples to add bistro lights, candles, or other warm lights to their venue spaces to create ambiance in the room. It is also important that the key areas of your reception space – the cake cutting, toasts, and first dance areas, are well lit.

I hope those little tricks can help you to create a dreamy scenario for your wedding photographs. Check out the portrait location in this wedding for inspiration!

If you are planning on having a backyard wedding, I hope you learned how lighting impacts your wedding day! Let me know if there’s other small wedding tips you guys want to learn about in the comments below!

Want to see some other great venues in Maine? Check out my fav wedding venues here! And make sure to check out Dagny’s photography website as well!