VDW ToolsWedding Sunset Calculator
Find the best light for your wedding ceremony
Choose your date and destination to see when the sun sets and when to start your ceremony for golden-hour portraits.
ExampleSaturday, April 17, 2027 · Cancún
Suggested ceremony start
6:15 PM
Local time in Cancún
Based on a 20-minute ceremony, 10 minutes to reach the portrait spot and 15 minutes of portraits that end 5 minutes before sunset. Adjust timing
- Golden hour
- 6:37 PM – 7:21 PM43 minutes of warm, low light. It begins before sunset and lasts 13 minutes after it.
- Sunset
- 7:07 PMThe sun goes down toward the west-northwest (282°).
- Portrait window before sunset
- 6:37 PM – 7:02 PM24 minutes of golden light you can use before sunset, keeping a 5-minute buffer.Your 15-minute portrait block: 6:45 PM – 7:00 PM.
- Civil twilight ends
- 7:30 PM
Showing an example: Saturday, April 17, 2027 in Cancún. Choose your wedding date to see your own times.
Light preview
Sun elevation through the evening, in local time
Check the time your venue offered
Resorts often offer fixed ceremony times. Enter the one you were given to see what it leaves for portraits.
Between 12:00 PM and 9:00 PM, local time in Cancún.
Enter a time to compare it with the suggested 6:15 PM.
Adjust timing20 · 10 · 15 · 5 min
Starting values describe a typical beach ceremony. Change them to match yours.
Keep or share this result
The link holds only your date, destination and timing choices.
How these times are calculated
These are astronomical times. They come from the position of the sun on your date at Cancún city centre (21.153° N, 86.843° W), and are shown in the local time of the destination: Quintana Roo stays on UTC−5 all year, with no daylight saving time. Buildings, terrain, palm trees and clouds can change the light that actually reaches your ceremony space.
- Sunset: the centre of the sun 0.833° below the horizon. This standard allows for the radius of the sun and for average bending of light by the atmosphere.
- Golden hour: the sun between 6° above and 4° below the horizon, a convention used by photographers. It starts before sunset and ends after it.
- Blue hour: the sun between 4° and 6° below the horizon. Civil twilight ends at 6° below.
- Checked against U.S. Naval Observatory data for all five destinations on dates spread across the year: sunset and the end of civil twilight match within one minute.
U.S. Naval Observatory: rise, set and twilight definitionsPhotoPills: golden hour and blue hour
| Moment | Local time | Sun |
|---|---|---|
| Suggested ceremony start | 6:15 PM | Sun 11° above the horizon |
| Ceremony ends | 6:35 PM | Sun 7° above the horizon |
| Golden hour begins | 6:37 PM | Sun 6° above the horizon |
| Portraits begin | 6:45 PM | Sun 4° above the horizon |
| Portraits end | 7:00 PM | Sun 0.8° above the horizon |
| Sunset | 7:07 PM | Sun 0.8° below the horizon |
| Golden hour ends, blue hour begins | 7:21 PM | Sun 4° below the horizon |
| Civil twilight ends | 7:30 PM | Sun 6° below the horizon |
Sunset direction: west-northwest, 282° from north. Most beaches on this coast face east, so the sun usually sets behind the beach, over land or lagoon.
- Cancún Cancún city centre 21.1527° N, 86.8426° W
- Costa Mujeres Costa Mujeres resort area, north of Cancún 21.2818° N, 86.8202° W
- Riviera Maya Puerto Aventuras, midway along the Riviera Maya 20.5117° N, 87.2342° W
- Tulum Tulum town 20.2112° N, 87.4628° W
- Isla Mujeres Isla Mujeres town 21.2542° N, 86.7467° W
The best time for a beach wedding ceremony in Cancún
In Cancún the sun sets as early as 6:04 PM in late November and as late as 7:33 PM in early July, so the right ceremony time moves by about an hour and a half through the year. A ceremony that starts about 50 minutes before sunset ends in soft light and leaves portraits inside golden hour.
Sunset in Costa Mujeres, Isla Mujeres, the Riviera Maya and Tulum is within 5 minutes of Cancún. The table shows the middle of each month; choose your date above for the exact evening.
| Month | Sunset | Golden hour begins | Suggested start |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6:27 PM | 5:54 PM | 5:35 PM |
| February | 6:45 PM | 6:15 PM | 5:55 PM |
| March | 6:57 PM | 6:27 PM | 6:05 PM |
| April | 7:07 PM | 6:37 PM | 6:15 PM |
| May | 7:18 PM | 6:47 PM | 6:25 PM |
| June | 7:30 PM | 6:58 PM | 6:40 PM |
| July | 7:32 PM | 7:01 PM | 6:40 PM |
| August | 7:17 PM | 6:47 PM | 6:25 PM |
| September | 6:50 PM | 6:21 PM | 6:00 PM |
| October | 6:23 PM | 5:53 PM | 5:30 PM |
| November | 6:06 PM | 5:34 PM | 5:15 PM |
| December | 6:08 PM | 5:35 PM | 5:15 PM |
Before you set the time
How long before sunset should a beach wedding ceremony start?
About 50 minutes before sunset for a 20-minute ceremony: that leaves 10 minutes to reach the portrait spot and 15 minutes of portraits that finish 5 minutes before the sun sets. A longer ceremony should start earlier by the same number of minutes. Adjust timing above does the arithmetic for your date.
Is golden hour the same as sunset?
No. Golden hour is the stretch of warm, low light around sunset. With the definition used here it begins about half an hour before sunset on this coast and continues for about 15 minutes after it. Portraits planned before sunset use the first part.
Does the sun set over the ocean in Cancún and the Riviera Maya?
Usually not. Most beaches on this coast face east, toward the Caribbean, so the sun sets behind the beach, over land or lagoon. Some places face west, such as parts of Isla Mujeres and Costa Mujeres. The light is still soft and warm near sunset; the direction of your ceremony space decides what is behind you.
Do Cancún and the Riviera Maya change their clocks?
No. The state of Quintana Roo has stayed on UTC−5 all year since 2015, with no daylight saving time. In winter that is the same as U.S. Eastern time, and from March to November it is the same as U.S. Central time.
How accurate are these times?
The astronomy is accurate to within a minute for the reference point of each destination. What changes at a real venue is the horizon: a building, a hill or tall palms to the west hide the sun earlier, and cloud can soften or remove the golden light. A planner confirms that on site.
You choose the hour. We plan around it.
We’ll confirm how the light falls at your venue and coordinate the ceremony, portraits, guest flow and reception as one plan.
- 01
The real light at your venue
We check which way your ceremony space faces, what stands between it and the sun, and the backup plan for rain or wind.
- 02
One clock for every vendor
Your photographer, officiant, musicians and florist work from the same timeline, built around the light.
- 03
Guests in the right place
Arrivals, seating and cocktail hour are timed so no one waits in the sun or misses the vows.
- 04
A reception that follows
Dinner, toasts and the first dance move with the ceremony time you choose.
What we coordinate depends on the planning service you choose.
The planning form opens with your destination. You can review everything before you send it.
