Vermont wedding sunset and light calculator

Sunset is the fact that shapes the wedding photographs, and it is the one couples look up first and use least well. The calculator gives the official times for a date and a Vermont town: sunrise, the start of golden hour, sunset and the end of civil twilight. Then it does the useful part.

Enter a ceremony start and length, and it tells you how long before sunset the ceremony ends. One caution belongs beside every result. These are flat-horizon times from the NOAA solar equations.

A valley venue loses direct sun earlier and a lakeshore keeps it longer, and only your venue or photographer can say by how much. Ask them, and use this to check the arithmetic.

Worked example: sunset and light

For Saturday, September 18, 2027 in Burlington, with a ceremony starting at 4:00 pm and lasting 30 minutes:.

How the sunset and light works, and its limits

The calculator runs the NOAA solar-position equations for the date and the coordinates of the town you choose: it works out the sun's declination and the equation of time, then the hour angle at which the sun crosses each altitude. Sunrise and sunset use the standard -0.833 degrees. Golden hour begins when the sun is 6 degrees above the horizon, and civil twilight ends when it is 6 degrees below.

Times are US Eastern civil time, with daylight saving applied from the second Sunday of March to the first Sunday of November.

What it does not know

Terrain. The times assume a flat horizon at the town's coordinates, not at your venue. A valley loses direct sun earlier and a lakeshore keeps it later, and only the venue can say by how much. It does not know cloud, and it does not choose a ceremony time for you.

Vermont wedding sunset calculator: golden hour and dusk: limits

Results are accurate to about a minute, which is more than enough for planning and less than a photographer's own scouting. It uses the town's coordinates, not the venue's.

What is golden hour, and when does it start?

The period when the sun is low and the light is warm. The calculator treats it as beginning when the sun is 6 degrees above the horizon and shows that time.

Why does my venue lose the sun before the calculated sunset?

Because the calculation assumes a flat horizon. Hills and ridges block direct sun earlier. A valley venue can lose it well ahead of the official time.

When does civil twilight end?

When the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon. After that it is dark enough that most outdoor activities need artificial light.

Which Vermont towns can I choose?

Nine, spread across the state from Brattleboro to St. Johnsbury. Pick the nearest one. The difference across the state is a few minutes.

Does cloud change the sunset time?

No. Cloud changes the light, not the time the sun crosses the horizon. An overcast evening looks darker sooner, but the calculated sunset is the same. Ask your photographer how they plan for cloud.

Do sunrise and sunset change much across Vermont?

By a few minutes between the north and the south, and between the east and the west. The larger variation is by season.

How early does it get dark on an October wedding?

Enter an October date to see. In autumn the light goes quickly, so a late ceremony can finish in the dark.

Do you use the venue's coordinates?; No. It uses the coordinates of the town you choose. A venue a few miles away differs by a minute or two.

Where does the calculation come from?

The NOAA solar-position equations, run in your browser with a 0.833 degree allowance for atmospheric refraction at sunrise and sunset. Nothing is sent anywhere, and the same code produces the worked example above.

When the light goes on a Vermont wedding Saturday

Between the third Saturday of June and the third Saturday of October 2027, the Burlington sunset moves from 8:41 pm to 6:07 pm. That is 2 hours 33 minutes of daylight gone. A ceremony that starts at 4:00 pm and runs half an hour ends 149 minutes before sunset on 18 September and 97 minutes before it on 16 October.

The gap shrinks fast, and the light that remains is low. Across the state the difference is small: on 19 June the sunset in Manchester and in St. Johnsbury are 1 minute apart.

The bigger variable is the ground. These are flat-horizon times, and a valley venue loses direct sun sooner than any table shows.

Sunset by Saturday in three Vermont towns, 2027.

Sunset in three towns on six Saturdays in the 2027 season, and when golden hour begins in Burlington. Computed from the NOAA solar equations, in Eastern time, on a flat horizon.

15 May

8:13 pm; 8:09 pm; 8:08 pm; 7:31 pm.

19 June

8:41 pm; 8:35 pm; 8:36 pm; 7:56 pm.

17 July

8:34 pm; 8:29 pm; 8:29 pm; 7:51 pm.

21 August

7:49 pm; 7:46 pm; 7:44 pm; 7:10 pm.

18 September

6:59 pm; 6:58 pm; 6:54 pm; 6:20 pm.

16 October

6:07 pm; 6:08 pm; 6:03 pm; 5:28 pm.

What a 4 pm Vermont wedding ceremony leaves before sunset.

Take a ceremony that starts at 4:00 pm and runs 30 minutes. It ends at 4:30.

On 19 June that leaves 251 minutes before sunset. On 16 October it leaves 97.

The photographs after the ceremony need that light. Ask your photographer where they want the couple and when, and give them the sunset for your date. The sunset and light calculator works out any date and any of nine towns.

Why the venue's own horizon matters more than the town

The three towns above differ by 1 minute on the longest evening. A ridge behind a venue can cost far more than that. Every time here assumes a flat horizon.

Seating and tables

Enter a guest count and seats per table to get the number of tables, an even seating split, and spare chairs using the inputs you choose.

Catering tax calculator

Work out the Vermont tax on a wedding catering and bar bill: 9% meals, 10% alcoholic beverages, with an optional additional 1% when confirmed applicable to that address and transaction.

Vermont wedding tax, capacity and license tools

What each one computes and what it will not do.