Las Vegas Wedding Timeline: Best Ceremony Time for Every Month of 2027

A December wedding in Las Vegas loses its light before most people would guess. The sun sets at 4:27, which means a 3:00 chapel ceremony leaves about an hour for everything that needs daylight. In June the opposite problem applies: the light is still harsh at 6:00 and it is often well over 100 degrees. The fix in both cases is the same: pick the ceremony time from the sunset, not from habit. Here is that time for every month of 2027.

Ceremony start times for 2027

Computed for the 15th of each month. The start time is sunset minus 2 hours 45 minutes. For a full wedding, that leaves room for the ceremony, family photos, cocktail hour and a portrait walk that lands in golden hour.

The jump between February and March, and the drop between October and November, are daylight saving time starting and ending. If your date sits near either change, check the sunset for your exact day.

A chapel ceremony is a different clock

Most of the table assumes a full wedding with a cocktail hour. A Las Vegas chapel ceremony is often ten to fifteen minutes long, booked in a fixed slot, with the party moving on to dinner afterward. For that kind of day, the rule changes: book the chapel slot so that you walk out roughly an hour to ninety minutes before the table's golden hour. That leaves time for photos outside the chapel, the drive, and portraits in the warm light.

In October, for example, a 4:00 slot at Chapel of the Flowers or Little White Wedding Chapel works better than the table's 3:19, because the ceremony is shorter and golden hour is at 5:29. In December, the same thinking puts the slot around 2:15.

The four seasons of a Las Vegas wedding

Winter, December through February. The coolest and, for many couples, the most comfortable months, with mild afternoons and cold nights. The cost is daylight: under ten hours in December, and a sunset before 4:30. Plan every outdoor photograph before 4:00, and put everything else indoors after dark. That is not a problem in this city, which is at its most photogenic right after sunset.

Spring, March through May. Our favorite outdoor season. Days warm into the 70s and 80s, the desert sometimes blooms, and the table's ceremony times move into the late afternoon. Spring is also windy, and gusts across the valley are the most common reason outdoor vow audio fails. At an open garden like Springs Preserve or Rainbow Gardens, we mic both of you and the officiant with windscreens and run a backup recorder.

Summer, June through August. Extreme heat. Afternoon temperatures well over 100 degrees are normal, and the asphalt and stone hold the heat into the night. An outdoor ceremony in summer should start no earlier than the table's time, keep guests in shade, and be short. July and August also bring the monsoon, with occasional sudden storms, wind and dust in the afternoon or evening. The safer summer plan is an indoor ceremony at a resort, like The Wedding Salons at Wynn, and a quick portrait walk at golden hour.

Fall, September through November. September can still be very hot. October is the month we would choose: warm afternoons, cooler evenings, and a 6:04 sunset that lets the whole day happen at a humane hour. November drops back an hour with the clock change, so the ceremony moves to early afternoon.

Desert, Strip, or both

Las Vegas gives you two completely different portrait backdrops within a short drive, and they want different times.

• The desert wants golden hour. The low sun turns the rock and sand warm, and the light is soft enough for faces. The well-known spots outside the city each have their own rules on permits and hours, which we check before promising anything.
• The Strip wants the twenty minutes after sunset, when the signs are on and the sky is still deep blue rather than black. This is the blue hour, and it is the most distinctive shot a Las Vegas film can have.

If you want both, the order is fixed: desert at golden hour, then drive back for blue hour. That takes planning, a car waiting, and about ninety minutes end to end.

First look in Las Vegas

For chapel weddings, a first look rarely matters: the ceremony itself is short and the day is built around the portraits afterward. For a full wedding at a venue like Stallion Mountain or The Grove, we recommend one from November through February, when the time between ceremony and dark is short. From March through October you have enough evening light to do it either way.

How many hours you actually need

• An elopement or chapel wedding with dinner: 4 hours. Getting ready shots for the last half hour, the ceremony, portraits in the desert or on the Strip, and the first part of dinner. That is The Aubade at $1,200, with a highlight film and raw footage.
• A small wedding with a reception: 6 hours, The Verse at $1,400, filmed in 4K with an extended edit.
• A full wedding at a garden, club or resort: 8 hours, The Reverie at $1,500, our most popular, with an Instagram highlight and drone footage of the venue where it is permitted. Drones are restricted in much of the Strip corridor, so on a resort day we would plan that footage elsewhere.
• Desert and Strip portraits plus a full reception: 10 hours, The Sonnet at $2,000.

Additional hours are $125, and a second videographer is $500. Our guide to wedding videography cost explains what changes between collections.

How we would plan it

An October elopement. Coverage from 3:00. Chapel ceremony at 4:00, photos outside the chapel, then a drive to the desert for golden hour at 5:29 and sunset at 6:04. Back to the Strip by 6:30 for blue-hour portraits, and dinner from 7:00. Four hours.

A May garden wedding at Springs Preserve. Coverage from 12:55 with getting ready. First look at 3:00, wedding party photos, ceremony at 4:54, family photos and cocktail hour, then the portrait walk at 7:03 through sunset at 7:39. Reception and dancing until 8:55. Eight hours.

The full plan for the city is on our Las Vegas page. Our collections and prices are published, there are no travel fees, and a $500 deposit reserves your date and comes off the total.

Atavia Weddings is not affiliated with or endorsed by any venue named here. Sunset and golden-hour times are computed for the 15th of each month in 2027; weather descriptions are typical patterns and vary year to year.