Miami Wedding Timeline: The Best Ceremony Time for Every Month of 2027

The single most useful number in a Miami wedding plan is the ceremony start time, and it moves by almost three hours across the year. Set it right and the portraits land in golden hour, the guests are not standing in the worst of the heat, and the film has a natural arc from bright afternoon to evening. Set it from habit, at 6:00 because that is what a friend did, and in December you are saying vows after dark. Here is the time we would pick for each month, and how the rest of the day falls around it.

Ceremony start times for 2027

Computed for the 15th of each month. The start time is sunset minus two hours and forty-five minutes: a thirty-minute ceremony, family photos, a short cocktail hour, and the two of you outside when the golden hour column says.

Notice the jump between October and November. Daylight saving time ends in early November, and the start time drops by more than an hour. A couple who books a 4:00 ceremony for mid-November because it worked for an October wedding will get their portraits in the dark.

Miami's two seasons

Miami does not really have four seasons for planning purposes. It has a dry season and a wet season, and they set the shape of the day more than the calendar does.

Dry season, roughly November to April

This is the stretch most couples aim for, and with reason. Humidity is lower, the afternoons are warm rather than heavy, and rain is less frequent. The cost is short days. In December the whole schedule compresses: a 2:47 ceremony means getting ready starts around eleven, and by 5:32 the sun is gone. The evening half of the day is entirely indoor or lit, which is fine, but it means the outdoor portraits are a short window you protect, not something you squeeze in.

March and April are the sweet spot. Starts move back to around 4:44 and 4:58, the light is long, and the weather is usually kind. If your date is flexible, these are the months we would point you at.

Wet season, roughly May to October

Hurricane season officially runs June through November, and the wet months overlap it. Most days are not storm days, but afternoon thunderstorms are common, often building after lunch and clearing within an hour or two. That pattern is useful to know. A ceremony at the table's start time sits right in the window when storms tend to pop up, so every outdoor plan in these months needs a covered backup that is ready, not theoretical. We also find that the light after a summer storm passes is some of the best of the year, and we keep the portrait walk flexible so we can move it ten minutes to catch it.

Heat matters more than rain. In July the start time is 5:29, and the air at that hour is still very warm. Guests in the sun for a thirty-minute ceremony feel it. Shade, water, fans, and a short ceremony are all kindnesses. For the film, it means we keep the getting-ready and family photos indoors and save the outdoor time for the moments that need it.

First look or no first look

In Miami we usually recommend a first look, and it is mostly a heat and storm decision. A first look an hour before the ceremony lets you do the couple portraits and the wedding party photos while the light is still workable, indoors or in shade, and frees the cocktail hour for guests. In the wet season it also hedges against a storm: if the sky opens at five, you already have the portraits.

Without a first look, everything after the ceremony has to happen in the window between the end of the vows and sunset. With the start times in the table, that window is about two hours and fifteen minutes in every month, and it has to hold family photos, the wedding party, the cocktail hour and the walk. It is tighter than it looks, and in the wet season a single storm can take half of it. If you want the reveal to happen at the aisle, we will make it work; we just plan the family list tightly.

Where the portrait walk goes

Golden hour in the table is about thirty minutes before sunset. That is when we take the two of you away from the reception for ten or fifteen minutes. Where depends on the venue:

• At a bayfront venue like Briza on the Bay or the Ritz-Carlton Coconut Grove, the bay is to the east, so the sun sets behind you, not over the water. We face you toward the water and its reflected colour.
• Under the oaks at Villa Woodbine, it gets dark sooner under the canopy, so we start the walk a few minutes early and find the open edge.
• On a rooftop like the Cruz Building, you get the sky in every direction and the wind that comes with it.
• At an open farm venue such as Longan's Place, the horizon is clear, and the last ten minutes before sunset are often the best of the day.

How many hours you actually need

We would rather tell you this straight than sell you hours you do not use. Count from when you want the film to start to the last moment you care about.

• 4 hours (The Aubade) covers a ceremony, family photos, portraits at golden hour, and toasts. It works for a small wedding or an elopement-sized day, or a winter day where everything happens close together.
• 6 hours (The Verse) covers getting ready for the last hour, the ceremony, golden hour, toasts, first dance, and the first stretch of dancing. For a dry-season wedding with a 3:00 ceremony, this is often enough.
• 8 hours (The Reverie) is where most Miami summer weddings land, because the late start pushes the reception later. A 5:28 June ceremony with getting ready from 1:30 runs to about 9:30 at eight hours. It also adds drone footage of the venue.
• 10 hours (The Sonnet) is for a full day: hair and makeup from the start, a long reception, and the send-off.

An additional hour is $125 if the night runs long, and a second videographer is $500, which we recommend if the getting-ready rooms are in different buildings.

How we would plan it

A February wedding with a first look. Getting ready from 11:30. First look at 2:15, wedding party and couple portraits until 3:00. Ceremony at 3:29. Family photos at 4:05, cocktail hour, then a ten-minute walk at 5:42 and the sunset at 6:14 from wherever the venue opens to the west. Dinner, toasts, first dance, and dancing until 9:30. That is ten hours of a full day; six hours from 2:00 would cover everything from the first look through the first dances.

A July wedding without a first look. Getting ready from 1:30, indoors. Ceremony at 5:29 in shade or under cover. Family photos at 6:05, cocktail hour, portraits at 7:41 for golden hour, inside before the 8:14 sunset. Toasts and first dance by 8:45, dancing until 9:30. Eight hours.

The rest of the Miami venues, and the full table, are on our Miami wedding videographer page. The wedding day timeline guide covers the parts that are the same in every city. Our pricing is the same in Miami as anywhere else, with no travel fees, and a $500 deposit reserves the date.

Sunset and golden hour times are computed for the 15th of each month in 2027 and shift by a few minutes across each month. Weather notes describe typical patterns and vary year to year.