Happy Friday, fam!!! Anyone else feeling like they need a vacation after the holiday week?! I’m heading into a Saturday engagement session (in one of my favorite places–Penn State!!) and a day off!! It is the time of year where I am starting to schedule engagement sessions for my 2019 clients, and it got me thinking that it would be great to do a quick post to detail the perfect way to time your engagement session!
Engagement sessions typically happen in the two hours after sunrise and the two hours before sunset when the light is gorgeous and glow-y. I know looking at the time of summer sunrises is intimidating and early, but I promise that it is SO worth it for the gorgeous morning glow (and for smaller crowds–looking at you, DC National Mall!). It is so important that we are prioritizing good light over location because we can make almost any location look gorgeous with amazing light! I am currently shooting sessions on weekday mornings because my weekends are reserved for weddings and personal time! I do have select evening availability too.
As you’ll see below, start times can really vary between times of the year! When I am working on scheduling an engagement session with a couple, I always check the sunrise and sunset time before we officially settle on a meeting time. A quick Google search with the date and location or a quick search on SunriseSunset.com usually does the trick. Once I know what time the sun rises, I know about what time we will need to meet because we’ll typically meet at the sunrise time! Once I know the sunset time, I’ll subtract two hours to determine our meeting time.
Average Engagement Session Start Times Throughout the Year in DC
Please know that these are just average times to give you an idea of what to expect and that sunrise and sunset times change based on month, time of year & Daylight Savings Time!
Winter
Morning: 7:30AM | Evening: 3PM
Spring
Morning: 6:30AM | Evening: 6PM
Summer
Morning: 6AM | Evening: 6:30PM
Fall
Morning: 7AM | Evening: 5PM
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