Something happens to bridal hair the moment it is photographed at golden hour, and it is worth planning your ceremony time around. The last hour of light is warm, low, and directional, and it makes every style look better than it has any right to.
Why: low sun comes in at an angle, which means it rakes across texture and creates shadow in the folds of an updo. A style that looks flat at noon reads dimensional at six. That is a free improvement, and it is why Palm Beach ceremonies cluster in the late afternoon.
The catch: golden hour is short, usually forty minutes, and your ceremony will eat most of it. If you want portraits in that light, the ceremony has to be earlier, or the portraits have to be first-look portraits before the ceremony. This is a conversation with your photographer, and it is worth having before you set the time.
The second catch: hair that is finished at eleven and photographed at six has been through seven hours. Golden hour rewards hair that still has shape, so a style built on structure looks better late than one built on surface product.
My recommendation for spring and fall Palm Beach weddings: ceremony at four-thirty, portraits at five-thirty, and hair finished with enough resilience to look freshly done at six. That combination is the single highest-return decision in the whole plan.
If you want help timing the day, inquire with your date and tell me your photographer's sunset time.
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Paige is the bridal and event hair artist behind Majestic Hair Bespoke, serving Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Jupiter, and the greater Palm Beach County area. Book your wedding or event hair and makeup .