The golden hour: the most beautiful light of your wedding
In the hour before sunset the light turns golden and soft. That is when the portraits are made that open the album first.
Lazar Mihajlović
Published: 30 July 2026
There is a part of the day when light stops being ordinary. The sun drops low, the shadows stretch and soften, and everything around you takes on a warm, golden tone. Photographers call that period the golden hour, and I wait for it at every wedding I photograph. It is short, it passes unnoticed if it is not planned for, and that is exactly why it deserves its own place in the timeline.
If you take only one piece of advice about photography out of the whole planning, let it be this one: leave fifteen minutes in the timeline for portraits before sunset. Here is why those fifteen minutes are worth more than any other block in the schedule.
What the golden hour is and when it starts
The golden hour is the period of roughly forty five to sixty minutes before sunset. The sun is low on the horizon then, so the light does not fall from above but from the side, through a thicker layer of atmosphere. That is why it is softer and warmer than at any other time of day. No special location is needed for it: the same space that looks ordinary at noon looks completely different in this light.
The exact moment depends on the date. In July the sun can set after half past eight in the evening, in October already around six, and in December in the middle of the afternoon. That is why the time of sunset is the first thing I check when I receive a wedding date.
Why that light is the most beautiful
Midday sun falls straight from above, creates hard shadows under the eyes and makes people squint, and the colors look washed out. The golden hour does the opposite: the light comes in low and soft, the skin takes on a warm tone, and the background melts into a golden haze that no editing can faithfully recreate from a midday frame.
That is also the reason why these frames suit the Romantic Story brand most. Warmth, a gentle shadow and a filmic tone appear on their own in that light, and the editing only carries them through to the end. If you like that warm, filmic look of an album, chances are you have just recognized yourself.
Fifteen to twenty minutes is enough
Couples often worry that the portraits will make them miss half of their own party. They will not. These frames do not need an hour: it is enough for us to slip away together for fifteen to twenty minutes, usually in the break between courses, when nobody is missing anything. And if the venue has a courtyard or a view to the west, it is all done a few steps from the table.
Couples tell me afterwards that those fifteen minutes before sunset were the calmest part of the day. For the first time since morning they are alone, in silence, and only then does it sink in that all of this is really happening.
There is no posing in the classic sense. You walk and talk, I do my part. The light does half the work, your calm does the other half.
How to bend the timeline around sunset
Check the time of sunset for your date and let that be the first piece around which the schedule is built. I write more about how to arrange the whole day without rushing in the text about the timeline, and the principle is simple: dinner and the toasts can move by half an hour, sunset cannot.
Pay particular attention to autumn dates. In September and October the sun sets noticeably earlier than people expect, so the block for portraits often falls in the middle of dinner. If that is known in advance, the schedule adapts without any drama. Usually it is enough to move the entrance into the hall or one course by half an hour.
What when it is cloudy
A cloudy day does not cancel the golden hour, it only dresses it differently. Clouds work like an enormous diffuser: the light is soft from every angle and excellent for portraits at any time of day. The colors are quieter, the mood more intimate, so the photographs take on a different but no less beautiful character.
And right after sunset comes the blue hour, the short period when the sky darkens into a deep blue. For couples who like slightly more dramatic frames, that is a gift at the very end of the day. The lights of the venue and of the city are only just coming on then, so even a cloudy day ends with frames nobody had planned.
Lazar Mihajlović Photography
Sunset on your date is already scheduled
All that is left is for us to fit around it. Send me the date and the location of your wedding so we can check availability and plan the light.
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