Golden hour is the soft, warm light so many couples love in their wedding photos. In New Zealand, when it arrives depends on your date, your town and the hills around your venue. Sunset can come before 5pm in June, or after 9pm in the south at New Year.

Auckland and Waikato photographer Marie Richards describes golden hour as roughly the first hour of light after sunrise, and the last hour before sunset plus about 20 minutes after. The sun sits low, and she says the light is softer and more flattering than the harsh early afternoon sun.

How sunset moves through the year

Daylight saving does a lot of the work. Clocks go forward an hour at 2am on the last Sunday in September and back an hour at 3am on the first Sunday in April. So sunset jumps by an hour overnight at each change.

You can see it in the tables from the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand (RASNZ). Auckland’s sun sets at 7.15pm on 1 April and at 6.01pm on 11 April, once the clocks have gone back.

In summer, the further south you are, the later the light lasts. On 1 January, RASNZ lists sunset at 8.43pm in Auckland, 8.57pm in Wellington, 9.14pm in Christchurch and 9.31pm in Dunedin. Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) has early January sunset at Bluff, near Invercargill, at about 9.40pm daylight time.

Winter evens things out. On 20 June, RASNZ lists sunset at 5.11pm in Auckland and 4.58pm in Wellington, with Christchurch and Dunedin both at 4.59pm.

RASNZ says the times barely change from year to year, but they assume a level horizon. Hills and mountains can hide the sun sooner.

Working back from sunset

Start with the sunset time for your date and the nearest centre. RASNZ covers Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, and LINZ publishes tables for other places around the coast. The LINZ tables are in standard time, so add an hour during daylight saving.

From there, Marie suggests two ways to plan. You might hold a mid-afternoon ceremony with family and wedding party photos straight after, then slip away with your photographer after dinner and before speeches. Another option is a late afternoon or early evening ceremony, with your wedding party photos taken in golden hour itself.

Either way, she says, you’ll have about an hour before sunset and around 20 minutes after. She suggests making sure your photographer has checked the sunset time for your date and scouted the best spots for that light.

Your venue matters as much as the clock. Queenstown photographer Patrick Fallon set out a sample autumn timeline with a 3pm ceremony, and he expected to lose direct sun at the Coronet Peak photo spot around 5.30pm, well before true sunset. So he planned the couple’s portraits there for just before then.

Planning for early winter dark

Winter light has its own charm. Patrick writes that in Queenstown “we lose the sunlight a lot earlier than you think” because the sun is low and the mountains cast shadow. He suggests holding your ceremony earlier than you would for a summer wedding, so the photos are done while there’s still light.

He also loves shooting in winter, because the low sun makes location photos more dramatic and flattering. If your reception doesn’t start until late, though, finishing photos early can leave some waiting around, so it helps to line the two up.

He suggests warm food and drinks for the bridal party between the ceremony and the reception, and jackets so everyone, the bride included, can cover up between photos.

However your day falls, a sunset time and a good chat with your photographer will get you most of the way there. If golden hour lands in the middle of dinner, slipping out for 20 minutes is entirely up to you. The light will be there either way, and so will the two of you.