Hey! super thrilled to have you here. My name is Glenn Guiao from Pink Penguin Studios.
My now-wife and I got married in Wilmington in 2025. As a professional wedding photographer I am extremely lucky to have friends and family who chipped in our wedding. We would’ve been in debt without them haha
First off, I want to thank Dev from Detailed Event Visions who set up my arch. Flowers from Floral Designs by Sol. Hilary for the photography. Many thanks to my friends at the Thai restaurant who worked super hard to get everything together. Eddie who was the officiant for the day.
Brina and I had a blast!
What to expect
Couples Planning a Wedding in Wilmington
If you’re planning your wedding in Wilmington, congratulations! I hope everything goes very smoothly for y’all.
Local Couples Thinking of Getting married in Wilmington
If you’re thinking of getting married in Wilmington, and you’re a long-time local, yes everything can get very expensive very quick. There are incredible(and expensive) wedding venues like elusive Wrightsville Manor, Airlie Gardens, The Atrium, Hotel Ballast, Sycamore Bend, to name a few that may run you between $9,000-$15,000.
Out of Towners getting married in Wilmington
If you’re also thinking of getting married in Wilmington, and you’re from out of town, welcome!
This article is for Out of Towners getting married in Wilmington.
The best times to get married in Wilmington
December - March. Sunsets at 5:00PM. March, at 6:00PM. You’ll need to shift your ceremony at 3:00PM. Meaning that everyone will need to get ready sooner,
October - November. We are in the 50s in the evening, sunsets at 6:30, meaning that, if your ceremony starts at 5:00, your family photos starts 15 minutes after, it is cold. but it is also the most popular time to get married.
I wrote a simple sunset calculator from Chatgpt. Pick a date, grab your location, it computes sunset plus recommended times for get ready, newlywed photos, family photos, and dinner.
Sunset in Wilmington Calculator
Pick a date: Sunset in Wilmington: —
Timeline
- — Getting Ready
- — Ceremony
- — Cocktail Hour
- — Family Portraits
- — Newlywed Portraits
- — Sunset
- — Dinner
—
Wedding Venues in Wilmington
If I’m being honest, if you’re looking for a wedding venue in Wilmington, The Knot and Weddingwire are still king. You can use Zola too. Probably the main reason why you’d want to search a wedding venue online is for their photos. What other photographers have photographed in the past.
Wedding Vendors
Wedding Planners
Once you have picked out your wedding venues, I’d definitely pick out a wedding planner/photographer. Wedding planners in Wilmington are scarce. Many venues provide their own planners already for example, The Elia has Brittney Raquel, The Atrium, St. Thomas Preservation Hall, and City Gardens has Devon from Detailed Event Visions, and 128 South and Bakery 105 are with Laura. Wedding planners are usually availability based, it just so happens that they have worked there prior.
Wedding Photographers
Just saying, I am completely biased on this one. I love everything about weddings. However, there is definitely no shortage of photographers in Wilmington.