What is the best time to get married?

Choosing the best time of day to get married is a MAJOR topic. While we believe there is no ideal wedding schedule, we have a ton of info to share with you on this subject.

If you’re planning your wedding, you’ve surely asked yourself at some point, “what is the best time to get married?”; and the answer to this question (and to most others!) is a huge: “IT DEPENDS!”

Historically, the timing of the wedding reception was determined by the religious ceremony schedule. Luckily, today there are multiple options to have more control over this, so we decided to split this content into three general categories. Keep reading until the end because the last option will surely interest you (it sounds like clickbait, but it’s not; it’s for real!).

Best time to get married: How long does a wedding last in Argentina?

Before we continue, it’s worth answering this question, even if only approximately; because to choose the best time for your wedding, you first have to know how long your party will last!

While there are endless variations, there is a “general consensus” that a party lasts 8 hours, which are added to the ceremony time. In general, then, a wedding party lasts about 9 hours in total, approximately.

So, returning to the main topic (Best time of day to get married in Argentina), we are going to give you our opinion on the three main variations:

Daytime weddings:

Having a completely daytime wedding will surely imply a more “relaxed” atmosphere, where it will be quite positive to think of a place where you can take advantage of the outdoors, since there isn’t much sense in being indoors during the day where you cannot enjoy the breeze and the sun. (If you still haven’t chosen your location, we recommend reading our article: how to find the ideal venue for your wedding)

Main characteristics of daytime weddings:

• They are usually scheduled with a ceremony at midday (approx. 12 / 1 / 2 PM) and the party goes until approx. 9 / 10 PM, or even a little later if the next day is a holiday.
• Thinking about guests, especially the ladies, it forces them to get ready veeeery early from the first hours of the morning.
• More connection with nature.
• They tend to be more relaxed, “chill” events.
• Regarding photo and video, you have natural light all day long.
• They have fewer “club-style” dance hours (some venues have blackouts to “simulate” a night dance floor).
• They end early; this can be good or bad depending on your personal taste!
• It is a kid-friendly wedding format, as the time invites them to participate without falling asleep in a row of chairs.
• The Dresscode tends to be more informal and with comfortable clothes.
• If your wedding is in the middle of summer, the “heat” factor can be something to keep in mind; conversely, if it’s in winter, having it during the day can help you enjoy the—perhaps few—rays of sun you might get.

Super tip: if the wedding is during the day and outdoors, ensure there are several shaded areas! We have covered events where this wasn’t well planned and all the guests were crowding into the shade of the only little tree that provided some relief from the direct sun :P.

Evening/Night weddings:

On the other hand, strictly evening weddings “invite” more to a party situation, ideal for lovers of a nightclub-like atmosphere and the classic “dancing until dawn.” These are “old school” weddings; they remind us of when ALL weddings started with the religious ceremony between 8 PM and 10 PM approx., and then to the venue, to dance all night long.

Main characteristics of night weddings:

• They start quite late; from the guests’ perspective, it leaves the whole day free, although since they also finish very late, everyone will need to sleep in a while longer the next day.
• It doesn’t matter much if the venue has outdoor space, as being at night, those areas aren’t used as much; everything can happen directly inside the venue.
• They tend to be more “elegant” or “formal” events, and while it doesn’t necessarily have to be like that, they lend themselves more to a traditional wedding format in terms of dinner with formal tables, timing, etc.
• Regarding photo and video, obviously there will be almost no natural light footage since it’s all at night.
• Since there is no natural light, it is important that the different spaces are well-lit so that everything looks beautiful. (This can be considered an “extra expense”)
• In general, these are weddings that invite you to build a timeline with loooots of dancing 🙂
• The Dresscode tends to be more solemn and elegant.
• They end very late, you will probably have to block off the following day on your calendar because you will need to recover 🙂

Best time to get married? Sunset weddings (The best of both worlds):

We’ve saved this final option for last, which involves planning the wedding to start during the day (let’s say around 5 or 6 PM), capturing the entire sunset, and continuing for several hours into the night, ending around 1 or 2 AM.

Thinking about it from a visual perspective—which is our department!—it is perhaps the best option because it has a bit of everything: during the getting-ready photos, the ceremony, and ideally part of the reception, there will be natural light, and then as night falls, everything will shift into a livelier party atmosphere for dancing. This is particularly important if photo and video coverage is one of your priorities. If you’ve already done the homework of choosing your ideal photographer, you’ll surely make this decision consciously 🙂

Characteristics of sunset weddings:

• They start at an “intermediate” time, neither too early nor too late: around four to six in the afternoon, depending on the time of year.
• It combines a “chill” informal vibe for the ceremony and reception, but once it gets dark, it pairs very well with a formal dinner if you prefer.
• If the venue you’ve chosen has outdoor spaces, you’ll be able to make the most of them for both the reception and the ceremony if you decide to hold it there.
• They end relatively early, at a very friendly hour that won’t ruin your entire next day, and still leaves room for more celebrating if you have the energy.

As we always like to clarify, please keep in mind that the content of this article is OUR opinion, which is of course biased as it is analyzed largely through the lens of photography and video. However, in this particular case, through years of experience, we have noticed there are many good reasons to lean towards this mix of daytime and nighttime wedding.

Above all, planning everything within these approximate times will result in having much more VARIED material. A daytime ceremony allows us to capture all those images with beautiful natural light, but by the time night arrives, we’ll have already gotten our fill of shots with the best daylight, and we’ll be able to have (also!) those nighttime dancing photos and videos that we love so much. In short, having day and night shots will give the final collection a diversity of moods and lighting situations.

And while we’re at it, TAKE NOTE of this super tip: BE CAREFUL with planning the ceremony “at sunset.” We all have that imaginary picture of golden sunsets, with the last rays of sun filtering through the leaves of the trees… the thing is, that divine light lasts BARELY a few minutes. What ends up happening in practice is that by scheduling the ceremony exactly at those edge hours, it’s likely that nightfall will catch us at the least expected moment. And believe us, we don’t want that to happen!

In all these years, we’ve had countless conversations with brides who insistently Google “what time is sunset?” to time the ceremony exactly at that minute, and this really doesn’t work that way!

Sunset times are highly variable and depend on a number of conditions, for example: the venue’s location, its orientation, whether or not there are tall buildings around, and above all, it changes significantly if it’s a clear day, totally cloudy, or partially cloudy…

So, we always suggest trying to give yourself as much time as possible, so that you can count on natural light even after the ceremony finishes, allowing you to take photos and videos and enjoy the daylight for at least a while longer (for example, during the entire reception).

Furthermore, this way you don’t have to worry about lighting the ceremony (and reception) area, because if it’s early, you’ll be totally sure there will be enough light. One less expense!

What is the best month to get married in Argentina?

Finally, we didn’t want to fail to mention this topic related to timing, as the choice of month will influence the final decision.

In Argentina, high wedding seasons go hand in hand with the weather: almost all couples prefer the “milder” months, avoiding the extremes of cold and heat…

Around mid-to-late February, the first high season of the year begins, with March being the main month, and it practically ends by late April / early May.

Then, starting in May, the volume of events begins to drop, picking up strongly in September and remaining that way until mid-December, with November (along with March) being the months with the most events of the year (by far!).

Still, this is only a generalization, as there are winter weddings, mid-summer weddings, and weddings in all four seasons of the year (luckily!).

Conclusions on the best time to schedule a wedding:

If you’ve made it this far (first of all, thanks for reading!), you can probably guess our conclusion and recommendation regarding the best time to get married. But keep in mind that the most important thing, as in all aspects of your wedding planning, is that you choose what you feel most identified with and comfortable with.

While it’s great to hear and take in all the recommendations from different vendors, if you have always imagined a nighttime wedding, go for it! And the same goes for any other decision you have to make about the wedding.
Remember that on our website we have a blog dedicated entirely to giving you tips for organizing your wedding, (there is also quite a lot of information on our Instagram profile); and at the bottom of this page you have the contact form to write to us if you have any doubts or questions.

We hope this article has been useful!