A Santorini sunset
Want a romantic sunrise/sunset wedding? Or want to stay away from high noon? Or want to have your formals taken at sunset so need to know when to start the ceremony?
Check this site out for the sun’s activities on the day in which you’re interested. (Not listed: the sun’s yoga and tennis schedule.)
There are other sites. This one as well.
And, if you don’t know the exact definition of sunrise/sunset (does it count as ‘setting’ when the sky starts changing colors? Or when the sun touches the horizon? Or does that mean it’s fully gone? The sun has set?) try this site for explanations.
Straight from that great site, I’ll tell you this:
Sunrise and sunset conventionally refer to the times when the upper edge of the disk of the Sun is on the horizon, considered unobstructed relative to the location of interest. Atmospheric conditions are assumed to be average, and the location is in a level region on the Earth’s surface.
Does that make sense?
A Japanese sunset
I checked multiple sites for the time of a Santorini sunset on June 1, 2011. 8:40-8:43 PM. So I’m wondering – when should my ceremony start if I want fantastic colors? Should I start at 7?
Those getting married in Santorini – If you are planning far in advance, you are in luck. You can check out a live (refreshed every 60 seconds) view of the sunset on the caldera at this website. I found it a couple weeks past my wedding date (as in, I found it around June 14th, 2010), which means that’s pretty much when the sun will set next year. So I was able to see when the colors actually started happening. — 7:30ish.
I certainly don’t want to start my ceremony that late, so… start the ceremony at 6:45? ….
A Hawaiian wedding sunset
Note for other destinations — do a simple google search to see if your location has a live camera feed. If you don’t see anything, email your coordinator and ask if they know of any live feed.
Another tip for other destinations – check out the iSpy app on the iPad. It’s an app that is connected to cameras all over the world. Not only is it really frackin’ cool, but your destination may be on there.
Great detective work!