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Photographer's concerns about heat in June

flash2angieflash2angie member
First Anniversary First Comment
in Nevada-Las Vegas
Hi Knotties! I've been following this board for a while and I really appreciate all the valuable insights I've gained. I woke up to a concerning email from a prospective photographer, so I thought I'd see if anyone here might weigh in with their opinions about the heat factor.

We are planning our wedding for June 22, 2016. We will have the ceremony at 6pm in the backyard of a private residence (under a shaded area with ceiling fans) immediately followed by cocktail style reception. Food and beverage will be set up inside and there should be plenty of room to roam/mingle inside if it's really too hot to be outside (I hope as it is listed as 6000 sq ft and looks large in the photos, but I haven't seen it in person.) It's VRBO #3804025 if anyone is interested.


We want to do portraits before the ceremony at Calico Basin or Downtown, and I knew it would be hot, but this photographer is making it sound pretty dire. Here's the email:

"To be honest, I advise all persons considering weddings during the summer months to limit outdoor exposure because the heat can be extreme and our sun often feels like being directly inside an oven set at 350F while having a giant blowdryer blasting you from 2 inches away.  I advise limiting exposure.  Nighttime doesn't have the direct sun factor, but it's still warm outside.  Anytime I do engagement sessions (as an example) during summer, I begin the shoot around 5am because that's the only truly comfortable time of day."

So, of course now I'm feeling like we are making a huge mistake and need to rethink everything! Obviously I don't want our guests to be uncomfortable. :( What do you all think? Do any of you have experience with summer outdoor weddings and/or taking photos out in the heat? Did you survive???! ;)
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Re: Photographer's concerns about heat in June

  • vegasgroomvegasgroom mod
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Answer First Comment
    If only the ceremony will be outside, I wouldn't worry about the guests too much.  We got married in June (11th) and our venue had an outdoor balcony overlooking the strip; once the sun went down, we'd see guests spend decent amounts of time out there, but not many used it prior to the sun going down due to the heat.  The avg temp towards the end of the month is over 100 so I wouldn't plan any lengthy parts of the event for outside.

    If the weather is what it typically is at that time of year, I personally wouldn't want to do a photo session outside right before my ceremony.  It would make me sweaty, and I wouldn't want to be sweaty in my tux before the rest of what will be a long day and evening, with many pictures.

    Married in Vegas - June 2011


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  • damnthetorpedoesdamnthetorpedoes member
    First Answer 5 Love Its First Comment Name Dropper
    Just got back from getting married in Vegas and I hate to say it, but your photographer is only exaggerating a little.  :/  Days really do feel like being inside an oven if you're outside for more than about 10 minutes, and the wind does feel like a blow dryer. After dark (~8 PM while we were there) was a mixed bag. We had 2 nights in the low 80s/high 70s that felt great, and the rest felt basically the same as the days -- 95 does not really feel that different from 105.

    Shooting photos in town might be OK if you're being followed in a car that's blasting the AC the entire time -- get out of car, take a couple pictures, run back into car. If you're going to do Calico Basin I would definitely follow his suggestion to do it at dawn, or else visit separately at a different time of year and do it then. This is not weird at all by Vegas standards, lots of people do an indoor wedding in the summer and formal photos outdoors at a different time of year. We might go back ourselves next spring to do the very same thing. 

    If you want to do an outdoor ceremony in July and want to keep the guests comfortable, I would keep it to max 10 minutes, make the dress code casual so that no one's suffering under a suit jacket (etc) if they don't want to be, and have the house set up so that everyone can immediately go back inside as soon as it's over. I really don't want to sound mean or tell you that everything you want is wrong (there are plenty of other forums on TK for that, amirite), but if this isn't what you guys want then I would move the wedding to a different time of year.
    Hope everything works out! The house DOES look really awesome. :)
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  • flash2angieflash2angie member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    Did you both do all your photos indoors? I just really wanted to get some Vegas elements in them, but if we turn into hot, sweaty messes, I don't suppose it would be worth it. :) Maybe we could set up a separate early morning session the day before for the fun Vegas photos. Thanks for your input!!
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  • damnthetorpedoesdamnthetorpedoes member
    First Answer 5 Love Its First Comment Name Dropper
    edited August 2015
    Yeah, we did all our photos indoors except for about 5 minutes on the front steps of our ceremony venue. I'm a very sweaty type and didn't want to take any risk of being soaked and gross!
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  • trm358trm358 member
    First Comment 5 Love Its First Anniversary First Answer
    I got married on June 27th this year and it was very uncomfortably hot, even at 7pm. We were only outside to transfer from Aria to our shuttle and I was so sweaty. It was not a good feeling, especially with a big dress. I would advise just trying to stay away from outside events based on my experience.
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  • vegasgroomvegasgroom mod
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Answer First Comment
    flash2angie said:
    Did you both do all your photos indoors? I just really wanted to get some Vegas elements in them, but if we turn into hot, sweaty messes, I don't suppose it would be worth it. :) Maybe we could set up a separate early morning session the day before for the fun Vegas photos. Thanks for your input!!
    We did engagement photos in Vegas early in the year when outside was not a big deal, and we did 1st anniversary photos a few weeks early (late May) when it was also good, but on wedding day we kept it all inside to avoid the heat and me getting sweaty.

    Married in Vegas - June 2011


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  • silverblade005silverblade005 member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its Name Dropper First Comment
    I got married on August 1 and we scheduled a separate day after the wedding to do photos when the sun was setting. It was tolerable but not one of those cooler nights so by the end my husband very sweaty and over it.
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  • flash2angieflash2angie member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    Sounds like we will do a 5am session the day before to hopefully avoid the heat. Thanks everyone!
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