Official sunset
The calculator estimates the normal sunset time for the selected venue and date using the venue’s latitude and longitude.
Wedding planning tool
Wedding Sunset & Golden Hour Planner
Estimate sunset, golden hour and when the sun may disappear behind the hills at four featured Dunedin and Otago wedding venues.
Use the calculatorPlanning better light
Beautiful portraits often come down to timing.
Official sunset is helpful, but in Dunedin and Otago the hills, valleys and coastline can change when the best light actually disappears. This simple planner gives couples a practical starting point for planning portraits, golden hour photos and wedding day timelines at some of our featured venues.
Calculator
Choose your venue and wedding date.
Venue
Estimated light times
Official sunset
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Sun behind hills
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Golden hour starts
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Best portraits
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These times are planning estimates only. Cloud, wind, exact ceremony position, trees, buildings and season can all change the real light on the day. The “sun behind hills” time currently uses a venue-based local horizon estimate rather than live terrain scanning.
How it works
Local hill adjustment
Because featured venues often lose sunlight before official sunset, each venue has a conservative local-horizon adjustment. This can be refined later with measured terrain data or real-world observations.
Need help planning?
Planning a relaxed wedding starts with a realistic timeline.
Use this planner as a starting point when thinking about ceremony timing, family photos and couple portraits. If we're photographing your wedding, we'll help refine the timeline around your venue, season, weather and priorities.